The King of Lightnings

Back in the day, when we were Lighning sailors with the Surf City Yacht Club, we sailed against some pretty big names in the Lightning Class. There was one guy though who dominated for a decade or more. His name was Bruce Goldsmith. Occasionally Jack or Howard would beat him (epecially when the race was on Barnegat Bay) but Bruce Goldsmith was king. He was known as the "Living Lightning Legend." Unfortunately he died last week in a sailing accident during a race on Lake Erie. There has been a lot written about him the past few days but I just wanted to forward one story I read that I think tells much about the kind of guy he was as well as the talent he has as a sailor....



Bruce, with his luminous charisma was the life of every party. Everyone felt they were Bruce's friend- and they were. He had the amazing knack to make anyone feel special, welcome and a part of the gang.

But perhaps what was most extraordinary about Bruce was his ability to "keep it all in perspective". No matter what was happening around him, Bruce made sure he held everything in perspective. It seemed that for Bruce, life was always too short to not enjoy it to the fullest... and that was his greatest talent and lesson for all of us.

In one race, a “number” of years ago, Bruce taught us many lessons, but again, "perspective" was the most valuable lesson. I was crewing with my brother in a Lightning North Americans and we were super deep, with a whole 2 boats behind us, in the last leg of the last race. ..We were struggling with the whole "keep it all in perspective" thing for sure. Interestingly enough, Bruce was just ahead of us (that would make him 3rd to last!) and evidently he could tell we were struggling with "perspective" and needed some coaching. Bruce turned around, opened up his cooler and smiled. "C'mon guys, lighten up a bit. It’s just a race." and he chucked us 3 beers.

We then watched Bruce round the leeward mark and proceed to sail through the fleet that last weather leg, nailing one shift after another, sailing around one boat after another...until he worked his way back to the top 5 .

What you need to appreciate is that with that top 5 finish, Bruce and his team sailed themselves back into the lead, the overall win and Bruce's 4th Lightning North American Championship victory.