49er Articles

I had the opportunity to interview Jonathon and Charlie McKee about their 20-year careers as Olympic sailors and about the exciting new sailing class called 49ers that they raced in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. 49ers are high performance sailing skiffs that literally fly along at speeds unheard of in small sailboats and requiring the utmost skill, not just to compete, but simply to keep the boat upright in a stiff breeze. Imagine a wide, flat, open 16-foot-long boat with immense sails ripping through the water at 15 or more miles per hour with both members of her crew suspended on wires from the mast, only their feet in contact with the boat, and their bodies stretched out a mere 24 inches above the water. That is Olympic 49er sailing.

Based on the interviews, I wrote a number of articles covering various aspects of the sport and the McKees’ involvement – a personal profile of the McKees and their incredible sailing careers, how the McKees helped bring 49er sailing to the US from Australia, the abundance of top US 49er sailors from the Puget Sound (7 of the top 10 US 49er sailors are from the Seattle area), how sailing has become both an extreme sport and an international professional sport, the McKees’ 2000 Olympic campaign, and their results from the 49er World Championships in March, 2000. I could also slant articles toward editorial objectives specified by individual publishers. Color photographs (like the one to the left provided by Team McLube's Ron Rosenberg) illustrating what I have asked you to imagine above may accompany the articles. For more samples of the photographs and for additional information on the McKees and their sponsor Team McLube, see the Team McLube web site (Caution - This site has many active features implemented in Java. If you have a browser that doesn't support recent Java features, following this link my result in errors).

My most recent opportunity to photograph 49er racing was at the Subaru Gorge Games, July 7th through 9th, 2000 (click on the thumbnail picture with the yellow sail to read about the 49er event). The McKees raced to a second place finish in the event that featured a strong international field competing for $10,000 in prize money.

If you think you might be interested in bringing the exciting sport of Olympic 49er sailing and the incredible sailing careers of Seattle’s own McKees to your readers, please email me.