USMCA Class President Steve Kopf
Self-confessed speed freak Steve Kopf has been racing Melges 24’s for nearly ten years and has just been elected to the presidency of the US Melges 24 Class Association. IM24CA press officer, Justin Chisholm, caught up with Steve after his election to talk about the challenges facing the US class right now and his plans for the future of the Melges 24 in the USA…
IM24CA: Tell us about your background in the Melges 24 Class?
SK: I started sailing the Melges 24 in spring 2006 and my first boat was USA-489. I purchased my current boat - USA-773 - just before the 2008 North Americans. Our team is primarily based in Charleston, South Carolina. My tactician – Michael Miller – is a pro sailor and a twelve year veteran of the US Sailing Team. He and Steve Hunt (tactician on Alan Field’s WTF) campaigned 470s along with many of the other top names in the class, including Gabrio Zandona, Mark Ivey, and David Dabney.
The name of my boat – Blur – which stems from my hectic bicoastal, work hard, play harder lifestyle. I am a partner in a renewable energy development company that has offices in both Charleston and Portland, Oregon. Consequently I spend lots of time travelling. But always find time to sail!
I grew up in the junior sailing program at Severn Sailing Association in Annapolis. My coaches were Jonathan Bartlett – now at North Sails - and Susan Dierdorff Taylor, who went on to win a 470 Worlds and Rolex Yachtsman of the Year in 1987. I really had the racing bug through my teens, but my dad bought me a windsurfer for my sixteenth birthday and that was the beginning of the end for my competitive sailing at that point.
After college I travelled extensively to the Gorge and Maui to windsurf and just became addicted to high-speed sailing and wave riding. I lived in Switzerland from 1999 to 2001 and got my first Melges 24 ride on Lac Leman in about three knots of breeze – but that is all it took! Later that year we did the legendary SNIM regatta in Marseille. It was blowing twenty-five knots and it was then I realized that the Melges 24 was just like windsurfing – but you could do it with friends. This is when I decided that I needed to get back into competitive sailing. I still windsurf and have recently picked up kite boarding, but I am exclusively racing the Melges 24.
IM24CA: What is your honest appraisal of the challenges facing the Melges 24 class in the US? What are your initial thoughts on how to face these challenges? What do you believe are the key strengths and weaknesses of the US class?
SK: I think all classes (and most other sports and leisure activities) experience peaks and valleys in popularity and growth. It is just a matter of realizing where you are and where you want to go. I think the key to building a sustainable class is to ensure that you have participation at all levels. Strong local fleets encourage new entrants, while top international events also draw some of the best sailors in the world. I always tell my non-sailing friends that being a part of the Melges 24 class is like an amateur golfer being able to sign up to play the Masters. Where else do you get the opportunity to sail against so many world-class sailors?
In my mind the two keys to continued growth are firstly to build local fleets and secondly to organize top-notch events. Those are the two key areas that are the focus of the new class officers.
IM24CA: Do you see anything in the way the European Melges 24 class is run which you feel could be implemented in the US?
SK: I think the Volvo Cup concept is brilliant. Schedule a small number of well run events in great locations and sit back and watch how many people show up!
We are trying to do something similar in advance of the 2011 Worlds in Corpus Christi. Dubbed “The Road to Corpus”, we are working on a series of regattas that culminate with Worlds next May. We are still working on all of the details, but hope to announce a schedule in the near future. I hope that the schedule will entice many of the European teams to bring their boats to the US for Key West in January and stay through Worlds. Much like the Volvo, we are trying to schedule well run regattas in nice venues that offer great sailing conditions. The goal is to have between eighty and one hundred boats on the line in Corpus Christi.
IM24CA: What more do you feel the US class could do to attract new owners into the class?
SK: Again, local fleet building is critical and it will take the dedicated work of locals to help build strong Melges 24 bases around the US. The Southeast and upper Midwest have very strong local fleets, with many members participating in National and International events. Two of the new class officers – Chris Farkas and Andre Peixoto – are working hard on the West Coast to rebuild fleets there. Much like the Volvo Cup initiative, they are focusing on organizing a few top-notch regattas grouped together as the California Cup. The California Cup (www.california-cup.com) consists of San Diego Race Week in May, Tahoe Race Week in July, and San Francisco Race Week in August. These guys have lots of enthusiasm and are doing the right things to reinvigorate the west coast fleets.
IM24CA: What can be done to help attract more Corinthian teams to the US class?
SK: I think the US has a very good mix of both Corinthian and Pro teams. Take for example David Dabney’s Conejo Racing Corinthian team from Charleston. They are a bunch of twenty-somethings, a few years out of college sailing and they kill it. My advice to the older owner/drivers would be to recruit some young guns to their crew. Dinghy sailors thrive in the Melges 24, as they understand weight placement and how to roll tack and jibe. They are also generally very good at boat-on-boat tactics and usually come out ahead.
IM24CA: What would your pitch be to prospective Melges 24 owners looking to join the class in the US?
SK: I don’t really have a catch phrase or an elevator pitch, but I think I can sum it up in a few words: high-performance, fierce-competition, and lifetime learning. Also, life is too short to go slow.
Look forward to seeing you all on the water soon!