Worth his salt

There is no salt in Lake Mascoma, but there's a genuine old salt in one of the boats that regularly takes to its waters. Over the past 15 years, Arthur E. Allen Jr. '32 has piloted the Dartmouth sailing team out of the shoals of near-extinction onto the high seas of championship status. In the process, Allen has spent many an afternoon on Lake Mascoma, surveying his team from a Boston Whaler as time-hardened as its skipper.

In 1969, the College's sailing team was a moribund outfit with a few dilapidated, homemade boats, a decaying boathouse that was littered with old couches, and a defeatist attitude that bowed to the powerhouses of Boston, Long Island Sound, Narragansett Bay, and Annapolis. All that changed when William Hurst, then commander of Dartmouth's NROTC program, decided to revive the team. Art Allen, who had just retired to Hanover from a career in investment banking, volunteered his services. "I saw a need that had to be fulfilled, and what was more natural than to help?" he recalls modestly.

x J His help was anything but modest, however. He has assisted Hurst with coaching, acquired new boats, renovated the facilities, and, most importantly, contacted alumni in order to raise funds for a cause that he views as extremely worthy. All this has been done in a quiet, behind-the-scenes manner, yet it has garnered results far beyond the dreams of those who stood on the docks of the Dartmouth Corinthian Yacht Club in 1969. Fifteen years later, Dartmouth Sailing boasts one of the most complete collegiate sailing facilities in the nation, and it is consistently one of the most competitive schools in New England.

Yet, according to the members of "the sailing team from the hills," these tangible contributions are only one aspect of Art Allen's association with the team. Allen has also inspired the team to stunning levels of achievement. "He is our guardian angel," states Duncan Todd '74, who captained the Dartmouth Yawl Team which captured the Kennedy Cup in the National Big-Boat Championship in 1974. "I guess you'd call him the typical 'old salt/ " reflects current cocaptain Steve Hartmann 'B5. "Just seeing him out on the lake every day makes you realize that this team is pretty unique." And Chris Jacobs '85, the other co-captain, says, "I think he means a lot to all of us because he's a naturally enthusiastic person without being blatantly so."

Allen's leadership style relys more on his quiet dedication than on explicit direction. Indeed, Duncan Todd sees his former coach's greatest asset as "his ability to lead from the background. He doesn't see a need to take credit, he just wants to get the job done."

Today, the team participates in one of the most active schedules in Dartmouth athletics. On any given weekend during both fall and spring, as many as 30 sailors participate in up to six different regattas all over the East Coast. Practices are held four days a week, and at times the practice sessions become so intensely competitive that the actual intercollegiate events resemble Sunday cruises.

In the early years though, the task wasn't as easy as simply putting winning sailors on the water. In fact, no one was on the water at all until Allen and Hurst purchased 12 Interclub dinghies in 1971, enabling the team to practice for the first time. Until then, Allen and Hurst would ship freshmen off to regattas without ever having seen them sail a strategy that produced sometimes disconcerting discoveries about the abilities of supposedly experienced recruits. The two coaches had trekked to a sailboat manufacturer in Massachusetts and returned to Mascoma with one bright red boat strapped to the roof of Art Allen's station wagon. They liked that boat so much that they immediately ordered 11 more. The additional boats were white, and thus that lone red Interclub occupies a significant position as the first boat of Dartmouth Sailing. Despite persistent team rumors of its possible my stic qualities, the- coach in the Whaler has no patience for such frivolous pursuits. "Now some people will tell you that the red boat is faster, and others will tell you that it's the slowest one in the fleet," he observes with a touch of whimsy. "But being able to hold practice was a major turning point for this team. After all, we're as much a varsity sport as anyone else, and we need to have a full commitment from our undergraduates."

Duncan Todd remembers the early seventies as a time of unremitting challenges to morale. He says Allen's "biggest job was trying to keep up the team's interest and build the facilities." That early work paid off in 1974 when Todd and seven other Dartmouth sailors won the Kennedy Cup — an achievement which Allen calls "glorious . . . After all," he points out, "how many Dartmouth teams win national championships?"

In 1978-79 the team purchased 12 more boats this time high-performance Flying Juniors. And, just this past fall, 12 additional FJ's were added to the collection, making Dartmouth's one of the largest collegiate fleets in the nation.

However, there was a period in 1981 when consideration was given by the College to terminating the varsity sailing program. Once again, Allen's commitment and his many years of work on the program paid dividends. Allen approached President McLaughlin. The determination of the septuagenarian coach must have been convincing; the sailors were granted a reprieve. Allen took over as full-time head coach, still without pay, and simultaneously raised a large endowment by contacting members of his class and other friends of sailing. Dartmouth Sailing was on its way to becoming a non-funded varsity sport, powered by Allen's commitment and perseverence. But despite the comparative wealth of the team once it became endowed, the sailors continued to pride themselves on their economy. Hotels and restaurants are not included in their travel budget. Friends' floors and ham sandwiches take the place of such highdollar items, for, as Hartmann states, "the more we save, the more we sail."

Allen's efforts toward preserving the sailing program and establishing an endowment for it are noteworthy enough in themselves. However, they become truly legendary feats upon the realization that they were accomplished during a year in which Allen was in and out of Mary Hitchcock Hospital for four separate operations a triple heart bypass, a stomach bypass, a hip reconstruction, and a massive blood transfusion. And though Allen returned the head coaching job to Hurst a year ago, he continues to play an active role in all aspects of the team's management, attending practice sessions regularly and following the team's progress with tenacious attention to detail.

In addition, at 73, Allen himself is still an avid sailor. He and his wife sailed their 48-foot wooden yawl, Capella, up and down the East Coast for 23 years, and he insists that Maine constitutes the "finest cruising ground in the world." They sold the boat this past fall because they felt that after 50 years of sailing "it was time to do something else" such as chartering yachts in Denmark and Scandinavia. Capella is now in the hands of two-time world sailing champion Dave Curtis, and Allen says they were "glad to sell the boat to such a good sailor. But it really is like losing a member of the family," sighs its former captain.

But though Allen has lost his Capella, the sailing team has not lost its capella which is the name for one of the brightest navigational stars in the heavens. For Art Allen has indeed been a guiding light for sailing at Dartmouth.

Allen's own view is typically understated: "We just want to get the maximum number of people we can competing against other colleges. This way we're developing sailors for the rest of their lives." This egalitarian approach breeds an enthusiasm for the team on the part of all its members. Although there are good sailors, there are no stars. "This is the way it should be," continues Allen. "We've struggled over the years, but I feel very strongly that the steady improvement of this team is due to a love of sailing, not just a love of winning."

For his own part, Allen sees his involvement as having been personally rewarding. "I'm really just an amateur coach and a professional alumnus," he observes. "But whenever you're with undergraduates almost daily, you inevitably remain a little younger. And although my contemporaries consider me to be quite liberal, the undergraduates, as well as my children and grandchildren, think I'm awfully conservative. That's probably the ideal position. It's a great way to retire."

In 1977, Allen's commitment and service to Dartmouth were recognized with an Alumni Award. "You are the youngest old man of the sea, and among the most devoted Dartmouth men on land or sea," the award citation reads. Although there may be no salt in Lake Mascoma, the spirit of the sea is present at Dartmouth in good measure, thanks to Art Allen. *s?

Arthur Allen '32 has spent ten years of "retirement" as coach of the Dartmouth sailingteam, spending many an hour on the waters of Lake Mascoma and .winning a nationalchampionship in the process.

Joseph Berman, a junior who has competedwith the sailing team for three years, hasworked during leave terms as a summer-camp sailing instructor and a public relationsintern in the mayor's office in Indianapolis,his hometown.