What’s Missing from U.S. Yacht Racing?

You have to hand it to the Chinese, they’ve got a pretty dynamic country right now. Gazillions of people are coming out of poverty, and with so many of them flush with money, they are jumping into many traditional Western world pursuits — such as yacht racing — with some unusual twists. U.S. football style cheerleaders, for example, to encourage the yacht racers to do better.

The above photo was sent to us by Larry Weinhoff of Synergizer, who got it from his Polish friend Marchin Grzeslo, who lives and races the Bob Perry designed Flying Tiger 10 Meters in China. Grzeslo took it at the Shangri-la Cup, which was competed for at Quindao at the end of September in the Flying Tigers. We could tell you that the teams from Maersk and Asahi Beer finished one-two, but what you really want to know is if there are going to be cheerleaders at the Rolex St. Francis Big Boat Series next September. Confucius say, "Why not?"