A Star Is Enshrined

In past pages of this blog and Carol Anne's http://itsfiveoclocksomewhere.blogspot.com, we've often mentioned "Zorro", the very talented and accomplished Etchells sailor who used to help out with tips and advice when Carol Anne was learning to helm her boat. The help was extremely much appreciated, more than we could ever put in words. We still have much to learn about the boat, which can be subtle and yet brutely demanding. I know I'm still mostly a beginner and very much at sea in a race on this boat.

Trying to sail and race a boat like this on one's own is a lot like trying to learn brain surgery out of a book. The attempt isn't very pretty and is hugely hard, painful, and frustrating. If a prospective Etchells sailor doesn't have a mentor or source of friendly advice, and doesn't have tons of time to commit to being on the water continually, day after day, year after year, he or she might be smart to give up the idea and go cruising or at least race a simpler boat.

In addition to being very likely the best sailor in our part of the world, Zorro is also a former track and field megastar, who established many records in his sport. He was previously enshrined in sports halls of fame in his home state of Ohio and in west Texas. More recently, he was enshrined in the sports hall of fame at his university.

We didn't have an opportunity to attend, so unfortunately this note doesn't have pictures. But it would take some good pictures, or better yet video, to give some appreciation of what a big occasion this hall of fame ceremony was. Several sailing club members who were close friends of Zorro were invited to the ceremony and found themselves in for a real treat.

The event was held in a posh athletic backers' facility adjacent to the university's football stadium, and participants were treated to a steak dinner catered by the Outback Grill. A lot of the local who's-who movers and shakers were said to be present.

One attendee reported that a crowd of a hundred and fifty or more got to watch the dozen or so attendees give their remarks. Some of the inductees were not especially good at giving a talk to a large group. But, a couple of the honored athletes engaged the crowd quite successfully. A woman racer did well in her talk. Yet, the most engaging, charismatic, crowd-pleasing, and successful speaker, the star of the show, was none other than Zorro himself.