By David Schmidt

Baseball, pro cycling, and … sailing? It seems that these sports now have something more in common besides being time-honored recreational pursuits. Performance-enhancing drugs have long plagued these other games (remember the size of Barry Bonds’ head at the beginning of his career?), but now pro sailors are also being tested for tomfoolery.

So far, the biggest name to have gotten nabbed is Simon Daubney, Alinghi’s headsail trimmer, although it should be noted that three other sailors are also serving ISAF sanctions for doping violations. In Daubney’s case, instead of finding erythropoietin (EPO) or other performance-enhancing goodies in his system, what they found was that (big surprise!) some sailors are partial to the odd recreational substance in their off time. Daubney, took two drug tests this summer, both of which he failed due to trace amounts of a recreational substance (two metabolites of cocaine). While Daubney purports that he never intentionally broke the law (there has been speculation that this “false positive” might be the result of a “spiked drink”), and took a polygraph test which showed his chances of lying being 0.01%, the fact remains that he could face a two-year suspension from the Cup.

While Daubney’s case is the first high-profile drug-related “bust” in pro sailing in a long time, it brings forth the interesting scenario that as boats evolve, and sail area continues to increase, everyone aboard, from the grinders to the foredeck crew face increasingly tougher physical requirements in order to play at a top level. Much has been written about the number of rpm’s that a modern AC grinder can pump out; the problem, however, is stopping a potential arms race of steroid-enhanced power training so that our sport does not suffer the same sort of disgrace that other pro sports have shouldered.

The logical answer, of course, is mandatory drug testing. The quandary, however, is that sailing has long been a gentleman’s pursuit governed by a Corinthian sense of honor. For this fine tradition to continue, modern pro sailing must consider the ramifications of mandatory testing and decide if the ends justify the means. While few sailors are likely to begrudge a bit of “recreational fun” off the water, the hard truth remains that sailing, as a whole, will be worse off if performance-enhancing drugs become the program du jour.

To be clear, what is at stake here has nothing to do with a sailor potentially partying in his/her off time. Rather, professional sailing -- be it the AC, the TP52 circuit, or well-sponsored solo sailors -- has found itself at a crossroads where it must decide if Corinthian honor alone is enough to keep the lads honest, or if stricter measures are needed. So, as Berti and Cousin Larry wrangle over the legal procedures of the Cup’s next defense, the sailing community itself must consider what – if any – formal procedures are needed to ensure that the sports good name remains intact.

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