1985 World Championship - Nassau, Bahamas

1985 World Championship - Nassau, Bahamas

The following results are from the Star Logs. Starting with 1977 frequently only yacht numbers were given. The last time both yacht numbers and yacht names were given was 1989. In later years sometimes, fleet designations were omitted. In these cases some of the more obvious fleet designations were supplied. Also from time to time only last names were supplied. First names, where known, were added.

Results

Place	No.	Skipper		Crew			Fleet		Daily Places		Pts.

  1	6960	Bill Buchan Jr	Steve Erickson		PS		 2   6   2  dnf  5   2	 30.7

  2	6972	Steven Bakker	Ko van den Berg		Hol		 5   8   3   3   2  14	 38.4

  3	7074	Paul Cayard	Ken Keefe		WSFB		 1   1  14   6   6  11	 40.4

  4	6990	Augie Diaz	Marshall Duane		BisB		 3   2  11  15   7   5	 48.7

  5	6951	Werner Fritz	Vincent Hoesch		CBM		10   5   4  11  14   3	 56.7

  6	7036	Giorgio Gorla	Alfio Peraboni		LdC		18   3   7  12  dsq  1	 60.7

  7	7076	Albino Fravezzi	Oscar Dalvit		SG		20  15   5  24   1   6	 68.7

  8	6985	Andrew Menkart	G. Dolan		WS		16  17  30   1   4  13	 72

  9	7109	Alan Adler	Crystoph Bergman		RW		19  13   8   8   8   8	 75

 10	6804	Peter Wright	Terry Bowman		SLM		 6  10  16  25  12  12	 85.7

 11	6378	Ed Adams	Tom Olsen		NB		 9   9  10  13  16  dnf	 87

 12	6877	Peter Sundelin	Stephan Kallin		Sand		14   7   6  18  26  15	 89.7

 13	7051	Hubert RaudaschlAndreas Denk		SMA		12  14  22   9   9  33	107

 14	7055	Achim Griese	Michael Marcour		KF		15  11  19   5  30  29	108

 15	6982	Alexander Hagen	Matthias Borowy		KF		 8  dnf  9  10  33  23	113

 16	6783	Joser SteinmayerReto Heilig		ZU		36  27   1  35  24   9	119

 17	6921	Vincent Brun	Bob Billingham 		SDB		 4  dns 40   4  27  20	121

 18	6769	Kent Carlsson	Fredrik Lindblad		ST		33  12  23  20  20  19	124

 19	7064	Mark Reynolds	Hugo Schreiner		SDB		dsq dnf 17   2   3   7	131.7

 20	7065	Steve Kelly	Myles Pritchard		N		25  22  43  14  11  30	132

 21	6576	Roberto BenamatiGiuseppe Devoti		Gar		35  25  24   7  15  43	136

 22	6496	John Dane III	Fred May		NOG		30  dnf 48  19  13   4	142

 23	7105	E. de SouzaRamosRobert Rittscher		GuB		23  40  12  31  35  18	149

 24	7087	Larry Whipple	Kirk Utter		PS		44  18  36  33  17  16	150

 25	7012	Ross MacDonald	Bruce MacDonald		EB		28  37  dnf 23  19  17	154

 26	7050	Peter Ficker	Sergio Nasoimento	SP		26  20  29  21  38  32	158

 27	6984	Ted Hovey	Neil Foley		Mid		21  24  60  16  40  28	159

 28	7060	Peter Scheel	J. da Silva Jordao	GuB		17  16  34  42  22  57	161

 29	7033	Cattaneo Adorno	Daniel Wilcox		Gua		31  31  18  32  24  35	167

 30	7059	Peter Wrede	Uli Seeberger		Lub		11   4  dsq 22  dsq 25	171

 31	6970	Alberto Zanetti	Eduardo Farre		OL		 7  30  64  29  39  37	172

 32	7015	Stephen Gould	William Keller		WSFB		29  19  56  58  18  22	174

 33	6789	Mats Johansson	Bengt Bengteson		Vin		43  26  26  26  60  27	178

 34	6850	Hans Vogt Jr	Thomas Buedel		CBM		24  dnf 28  45  41  10	179

 35	6997	Argyle Campbell	Jay Butler		NH		39  28  27  dnf 28  31	183

 36	7082	Willy Kuhweide	Felix Meier		Zug		40  21  44  27  23  47	185

 37	7018	Ch. Scheinecker	C. Holler		Att		13  dnf 15  36  44  52	190

 38	7014	Michael ClementsRobert Burton		EBV		38  45  ymp 17  31  51	193.8

 39	6633	John Ulbrich	Chris Rogers		BisB		27  32  67  28  32  46	195

 40	6946	Joachim HellmichAndreas Gerlach		Moh		37  29  20  40  45  42	198

 41	6966	Uwe von Below	Franz Yehorsich		HF		22  34  22  49  41  dsq	198

 42	6977	Colin Bate	Grant Crowle		SY		42  33  25  48  50  24	202

 43	7111	Rob Maine III	Richard Rundle		SLM		dnf 35  31  39  47  48	230

 44	7008	William Parks	Reid Krakower		SLM		50  38  39  44  34  dns	235

 45	6962	Gene McCarthy	Glenn McCarthy		PPL		59  46  72  50  29  26	240

 46	7089	Anthony HerrmannMark Herrmann		NB		49  50  21  62  37  53	240

 47	6911	Gary MacDonald	David Winkler		CLIS		32  41  ymp 53  55  45	243.8

 48	4789	Larry Suter	Todd Raynor		HB		55  47  38  ymp dnf 44	260

 49	6756	G. Calegari	Miguel Costa		BA		45  43  62  38  49  55	260

 50	6730	Pedro Bulhoes	Rodrlgo Meirelles	PA		54  52  45  34  48  54	263

 51	6600	Sune Carlsson	Stellan Westerdahl	RS		47  dnf 63  37  46  40	263

 52	6477	Ingvar BengtesonGunnar Dahl		Vin		dnf dnf 13  30  56  56	266

 53	7102	Joseph LondriganThomas Londrigan		LS		53  44  dnf 54  54  39	274

 54	6971	Durward Knowles	J. Woodside		N		41  dnf 32  52  dnf 41	277

 55	6912	Hans Wallen	Bengt Andersson		Kat		dsq 23  41  dnf 53  49	277

 56	7057	Heinz Nixdorf	G. Borowy		Moh		70  39  47  dsq 58  34	278

 57	6775	Dierk Thomsen	Axel Reuter		Glu		61  58  37  46  52  58	281

 58	6907	Bruno Marazzi	Ueli Keller		Int		46  dsq 68  59  43  38	284

 59	6991	Lee Kellerhouse	William Bridge		SDB		57  56  66  56  36  50	285

 60	7006	Joe Bainton	R. Pepiak		Sun		60  51  42  43  66  65	291

 61	6976	Detlef Kuke	Stephan Wagner		BF		65  60  46  47  51  dnf	299

 62	7122	Peter D. SiemsenL. A. C. Veiga		Cop		71  53  50  51  59  61	304

 63	6796	J.M. MacCauslandJay Tyson		CR		64  42  55  61  57  dnf	306

 64	7095	Hank Rowan	Jack Fitts		LG		dnf 54  59  41  65  67	316

 65	6313	Joseph Roberts	Joseph A. Roberts	WS		dnf 57  57  57  61  60	332

 66	7090	Steve Kling	Alan Drew		WS		48  dnf 49  68  64  66	325

 67	6672	Peter Gale	Ernie Lawrence		PP		51  48  35  dnf dns dns	326

 68	7098	Frank E. RaymondDaniel T. Lencioni	WH		62  dnf 58  64  dnf 36	331

 69	6965	Daniel Adler	Alberto Guarischi	RdJ		34  36  dns dnf dnf dnf	343

 70	6521	Thorn Cook	William Nigey		CLIS		58  dnf 51  dsq 67  63	350

 71	6478	Peter Stockmayr	Dr. Peter Greiner	ZuW		66  61  69  69  63  62	351

 72	6963	Dave Williford	Steve O'Connell		AN		dnf 59  dsq 60  62  59	351

 73	6964	John Chiarella	Robert Cook		Sun		63  62  71  70  68  64	357

 74	6121	Richard Burgess	John Wulff		GrL		69  55  62  66  dnf dnf	363

 75	7137	Harry W. Walker	David Dickey		SB		72  dnf 61  67  70  69	369

 76	6770	Bernardo Silva	Jorge Goncalves		Por		68  dnf 65  63  69  dns	376

 77	6620	John W. Allen	John Ahlquist		WH		67  dns 70  65 dnf  68	381

 78	6943	Rod Montster	Rolf Heinecke		LOC		56  dnf 53  dnf dns dns	382

 79	6582	Tim Owens	Alan Hudson		LMac		52  dns dnf dnf dns dns	406

 80	6933	R. Roellenbleg	Fritz Girr Jr		Sta		dns dnf 54  dnf dns dns	408

Regatta Report
by Stan Ogilvy

William E. Buchan is the current world's champion of the Star Class. With his Olympic crew Stephen Erickson he topped a fleet of 80 boats to take the Gold Star at Nassau in November 1985. This bald statement is only the beginning, or perhaps better the climax, of the extraordinary Buchan story. Never before has any similar chapter been written in Star history.

It is Bill Buchan's third Gold Star, which alone places him in exceedingly exclusive company: Agostino Straulino has won three, and Lowell North four. Bill's three World's Championship wins have been spaced over 25 years, the first being in 1961 and the second in 1970. In this same period he was also World's runner-up three times and third four times. He is the current Olympic gold medalist, 1984. During all these years he has been running a successful business that is not yachting oriented, and he and his wife Karen have raised a sailing family that includes son Carl who is also an Olympic gold medal winner.

At the age of 50 Bill Buchan seems to be at the absolute top of his form. "After he won the Olympics," said Karen Buchan at Nassau, "Bill gave up Star sailing. That lasted about three weeks!" He had attained what most top skippers consider the highest goal. But Bill is unique, even among top skippers. He races Stars because he loves them; for him Gold Stars and medals are not the end of life but only fine achievements along the way. He has said, "Sailing is a demanding sport, but you cannot just drift from regatta to regatta. You get your act together and you go, working nights, sailing when you can and carrying on with your life. Results come from mental toughness that you get from working and the discipline of following a program."

"Bill Buchan must be the world's coolest Star sailor," remarked Starlights in 1984. To win the 1985 World's he needed all of that cool and more. Many skippers from time to time can say they would have won the World's if. In 1985 Bill would have won the World's by 16 points if he had not been dismasted. But he was dismasted, in the fourth race, under the most distressing circumstances, and still won by 8 points with a final score of 2-6-2-5-2, in a series full of excitement with the outcome hanging in the balance until the very end.

Our Nassau hosts and the Nassau climate provided a magnificent week of sailing. Every day there was wind, usually plenty, indeed too much when racing had to be suspended for two days to let a hurricane go by. The Notice of Race had predicted temperatures of 67-80 Fahrenheit. They turned out to be nearer 75-85 with lots of sunshine, prevailing easterly trade winds, blue sky and warm water. Occasionally a tropical rain shower swept across the course, or part of the course, but soon afterward the sun would reappear.

Some years ago Gerard Lambert, of J Boat fame, wrote: "Nassau, I feel sure, is an official preview of heaven, displayed to persuade us to mend our ways so we may get tickets to the real thing." Although the island has developed as a tourist resort, it is still one of the world's finest sailing areas- many think the finest for Stars. The initial predictions were for a somewhat reduced attendance because the locale was so far from the populous European Star centers.

But Nassau's fame is worldwide and its attractions too great to resist. A turnout of 80 boats, one more than in 1984 in Portugal, carries a significant message. The European Championship in Denmark last summer also drew a large fleet, 65 boats. These attendance figures in major Star events in a year that was still three years away from the next Olympic Games show a healthy and continuing interest in Stars that transcends any appeal that may be added during an Olympic year.

We had 70 boats in the last World's held at Nassau in 1976. Tales of that fine series must have been spread around. The caliber of the 1985 fleet was even higher than usual, including five previous Gold Star winners, among them Giorgio Gorla defending, nine Silver Stars and many other winners. The depth of talent is indicated by the positions of the Olympians who finished first through fifth in the 1984 Games. In the World's they placed 1st, 14th, 6th, 18th and 13th respectively.

Preliminaries
The tune-up race on Thursday, November l4th, was separated into two divisions. Current Olympic gold and silver medalists Buchan and Griese took firsts in their respective divisions. It has been a Star superstition that to win the tune-up presages bad luck for the main event. Buchan was obviously no more bothered by this myth than he was bothered by anything else.

By Friday the work of our tireless official Class Measurer Joe Knowles, who supervised all measuring of the 80-boat fleet, had been completed. Now the yacht club parking area had to be cleared to give the Nassau Police Band room to parade at the flag raising ceremony. The apparent ease and dispatch with which all trailers were removed and then afterward restored to their numbered places was typical of the efficient organization of the whole event. All functions both ashore and afloat went without a hitch during the entire week. A large part of the credit for the management of the races goes to Race Committee Chairman Bobby Symonette and his fine supporting team.

Things seemed to go equally smoothly ashore under Commodore Percy Knowles of the Nassau Yacht Club, with many competitors frequently offering their help when it was needed. The event was officially opened by Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling, who said, "Today the sky is right, the wind is right, and I'm sure you'll find the competition is right." There was a tropical storm brewing down off Puerto Rico somewhere, but nobody wanted to think about it. No hurricane had ever struck Nassau during the last half of November for 50 years.

The racecourse at Nassau is a good three miles to windward (east) of the yacht club, on a body of water six to eight meters deep. Although surrounded by distant shoals and low islets, these are all so far away that the eastern horizon is completely free of land and, except for the absence of ground swells, the area gives the impression of being open ocean. The relatively shallow water creates a steep choppy surface condition with a rough and often confused wave pattern. The anchorage at the Nassau Yacht Club not being large enough to contain all the boats, about half the fleet tied up in the "Creek," an ideally sheltered private anchorage about a mile east of the club.

First Two Races
All starting lines were a little over half a mile long and absolutely square to the wind. Day after day the huge fleet spread itself over the entire length of line. Duplicate signals were displayed and sounded from the port end by committee member Commodore Percy Knowles aboard his powerboat. Recall chase-boats went after premature starters, but the skippers fully understood their obligation to re-start if over too soon. The I-flag calling for Round-the-Ends return was always flown for the first start, and in the event of a general recall the Z-flag signaled "Sudden Death" for the second start. Under this rule anyone over the line after the 5-minute gun is automatically disqualified without any chance to re-start. It definitely puts the brakes on the over-eager pushers. A square line greatly reduces the problem of premature starts to begin with, and the Z-flag seemed to cure it entirely.

The first race began in virtually ideal conditions, about 18 knots of steady wind from the northeast. The competitors reported oscillations of only five to ten degrees in wind direction. After one general recall, two boats were over on the second try. These two were informed of their disqualification at the first windward mark. That lesson was all that was needed: no more boats were over at any second start for the remainder of the series, and some races even had an "all clear" first start.

In general the International Jury expressed pleasure at the cleanness of the racing and the sportsmanship of the fleet. There were few protests, some of which were required mainly to establish fault because of a damaged hull. There were no acrimonious hearings. Most cases produced little or no disagreement as to the facts. Every night after one or two short hearings the Jury was able to adjourn, and its members proceeded to the evening's entertainment- not always the case at a World's Championship, where the hearings have been known to extend into the small hours.

Paul Cayard and Ken Keefe led the first race all the way, with Buchan and Erickson working up to second after rounding the first mark fifth. Augie Diaz finished third in a breeze that by this time had dropped to about 14 knots. In this race, as in all the others, the first boat completed the course in about 2 hours 20 minutes. The rest of the fleet usually finished within the next 15 minutes, a small span for such a large number of boats.

As the boats beat slowly out to the starting line against rising seas, conditions for the second race the next day appeared to be marginal, the wind hovering close to 25 knots with rough seas. By this time Hurricane Kate could no longer be ignored, its effects being already evident. Still a long distance away, the center was definitely approaching the Bahamas and the Race Committee was anxious not to lose an available racing day. The wind strength was quite manageable for this group of 80 seasoned skippers; but combined with rough seas the conditions resulted in many casualties as about 10 boats were dismasted, counting one or two spars that stayed in the boat but were bent beyond repair. John MacCausland worked late into the night replacing spreaders and repairing rigging.

Perhaps because of the desire to stop slamming around and get the race under way, there was no general recall. Five boats over too soon near the committee were all identified and notified by the chase-boats. The first leg was slow, taking the first boat 40 minutes to complete, but that time was quickly made up on the exciting planing reach- seven minutes from Mark 1 to Mark 2. Chairman Bobby Symonette always lengthened the first leg by setting the starting line 3/4-mile to leeward of the regular leeward mark (option under Star Rule 34.4). This succeeded in spreading the boats at the first mark just enough to avoid jams as tight as those that usually occurred in the 1984 series in Portugal.

Paul Cayard won the second race the hard way. In the lead down the first wild reach, he arrived at the jibe mark to find it located to leeward of the accompanying marker yacht and drifting farther to leeward all the time. Just then it was picked up by a patrol boat, an altogether frustrating experience for the leader in a World's Championship race. Cayard had to turn and beat back to the marker yacht which was by this time displaying code flag M: "Mark missing, round this boat. " He had lost about seven places. Undaunted, he and Ken Keefe got down to business and worked their way up to third at the next windward mark and first again at the finish, a remarkable feat under the circumstances. The reigning Spring Championship Silver Star winner now had two first places in two races.

Hurricane Kate
The hurricane was moving steadily closer and all precautions had to be taken. On the Monday that would have been the third race day, procedures were begun shortly after dawn to get the boats out of the water. By mid-day all Stars were on their trailers, snugged down with their rigs out, an exceedingly efficient performance made possible by the rapid and competent operation of the trailer tractor. At the Creek the owners of the two properties adjacent to the hoist generously allowed the hauled boats to remain on their lawns over night. Even so, all those trailers, stored at the Yacht Club, had to be hauled to the Creek for use there.

That evening the Ministry of Tourism party was held despite stormy weather and heavy rains. Later the same night the hurricane passed 160 miles to the south, the highest winds at Nassau reaching around 50 knots.

The next day, Tuesday, the whole operation had to be repeated in reverse as the winds moderated and the sun came out again. Skippers and crews worked to re-rig and re-launch while others, who had already finished that part of their job, pitched in to help with the big task of returning all the Creek trailers to the club parking area. IGC Chairman Bill Parks drove a pickup truck back and forth on this mission for five hours. By evening the wind had moderated to 25 knots and with the hurricane-heading west toward the Gulf of Mexico the wind direction moved into the southeast. Governor General and Lady Cass welcomed the large gathering to an elaborate party at Government House.

Racing Resumes
Bobby Symonette's Race Committee scheduled only one race for Wednesday, electing to hold a double header on Thursday and use one of the makeup days (Friday) for the finale. All of this went off exactly as planned. Although some might have considered finishing through two double headers to finish the series on schedule, Symonette, with perfect confidence, counted on the good breezes to continue and the weather did not let him down. Saturday, the day after the final banquet, turned up with a flat calm, the first one in 12 days.

Wednesday's race, in intermittent rain squalls and sunshine, got away on the first start because of the usual perfect line. No one was over at either end, only one stray in the middle who apparently anticipated a sag that did not develop. This was the only race with a major windshift, 15° to the left on the way up the first leg. All boats near the port lay line overstood. Bill Buchan, in the middle, hit it just right to round first. The next time up the same thing happened but to a lesser extent near the windward mark, and the Swiss champion Josef Steinmayer picked off Buchan to round first and hold it to the finish. Bill's second was enough to give him the Vanderveer Trophy (series leader after three races) by two points over Cayard (14th today), and 8 more over Diaz.

Buchan Stages a Miracle
Thursday proved to be an exciting day, and certainly one of the most eventful in the lives of Bill Buchan and Steve Erickson.

A double header with the first race starting at 10:30 meant no loitering over breakfast. Everybody knew by now that the Race Committee fired all guns on time, and that when Bobby Symonette said 10:30 he meant it. The line was flawless, as usual, but half the fleet crossed it about three seconds too soon. The second start was away clear in 18 knots from the southeast. The race was Andy Menkart's all the way. Buchan moved from third to second during the second round, and then at the start of the final windward leg disaster struck: a shroud let go and the mast went over the side. Let Bill tell the story:

"It was a dreadful feeling. Our first thought, of course, was, 'There goes the series.' In any other race it wouldn't have been so bad; we were in pretty good shape and could still throw out one race. But another was coming up, back to back, with only one leg left of this race. Very fortunately for us, Basil Kelly happened to be right there in a fast powerboat. He came alongside and asked what he could do to help. A very quick conference determined that there was not time to tow the boat all the way in and back out again. Instead, Steve jumped aboard the powerboat and he and Basil roared off to the Creek for our spare mast, which was all rigged and ready for such an emergency. " Again luck favored them; the Creek was about a mile nearer the racing area than the club, where the mast might have been.

"They must have made it to shore in about 10 minutes and made the return trip, against the wind, in maybe 20 minutes, because in just over half an hour they were back with the new mast. Meanwhile I had un-rigged the broken spar and cleared away the mess. We switched masts and stepped the new one. I was a bit concerned that something might be loose or missing aloft, but everything went together like clockwork. We had the sails up and were sailing around 20 minutes before the start of the next race."

Twenty minutes! With most of that time required for getting organized, calming down their nerves and planning the start, that left about five minutes for tuning the rig, something that takes most of us more like five hours. And all this in choppy seas with the boat bouncing all over the place. Asked whether stepping the mast was the worst part of the ordeal, Bill said, "Not at all. The worst was worrying whether Basil and Steve could get back in time. It was a great relief when they appeared with the mast. We knew we still had a job to do, but we knew how to do it. "

They certainly did. Who else could have done it, and follow it up by sailing another race as if nothing much had happened and coolly finish fifth? For this second race the wind abated to 12-14 knots. In these more moderate conditions the fleet stayed bunched together, and great clumps of boats would create a calm condition at the bottom of each run from which it was hard to extricate one self. Steve Bakker and Ko Vandenberg finished second, and suddenly everyone realized that their steady record of 5-8-3-3-2 looked very good indeed. This unheralded pair from Holland were now only one point behind Cayard's 1-1-14-6-6 after each had dropped his worst race. Third was Buchan, only three points back with 2-6-2-dnf-5 thus far. Among these three, it was clearly anybody's series going into the finale.

(Bill Buchan, after reviewing this report, has the following comment about the broken mast incident: "Actually Basil's wife Paula and Steve raced into shore and Basil stayed with me on the boat to clean up the mess. What was neat, was that when we were set to go, Basil jumped overboard and swam away, just like in the movies. I'll never forget him.")

It was a tired lot of skippers and crews who sailed into the moorings after dark that night.

The Last Race

On Friday the last race was started in the mildest wind of the week, not more than 10 knots. It had not settled in at 10:30, the time set for starting so that contestants would have the afternoon to pack boats for shipping. The result was that a last minute shift toward the south spoiled the start, and the crowd at the committee end had no place to go but over too soon. Symonette quickly corrected the line so that it was perfectly square and ready 15 minutes later for another picture book second start, all clear.

The race was not such a cliffhanger as it might have been. Provided nobody ran into any disasters, the series was almost decided at the first mark. The luck of both Cayard and Bakker had run out while Buchan's still held. Bill said he benefited by a ten-degree shift toward the east on the first leg. This was defending World's Champion Giorgio Gorla's day as he rounded first and held that position to the finish. Buchan was second at the first mark, with both his principal contenders well down in the fleet. All he and Erickson had to do now was to hold together and finish in a respectable position.

Or was it all they had to do? At the last leeward mark, still comfortably defending second or third place, they noted that the first five boats were all tightly bunched with the order not really stabilized. Precisely what could Buchan afford'? A quick calculation revealed that Cayard was fairly safely tucked away because his other bad race was a 14th. But Bakker's was an 8th, so no matter where he finished today he could count that 8th and still be in good shape. In fact Buchan and Erickson must finish fifth or better to win the series.

As soon as they realized this they stopped coasting, turned on the steam and finished a clear second, to take home the Championship with a few points to spare. This ability to produce the necessary extra turn of speed when the pressure was on characterized their performance during the 1984 Olympic races. That series was predominately light and some Star sailors wondered what the gold medal winners would be able to do in a real breeze. At Nassau they found out. Erickson weighs 225 lb. (102 kg) and Buchan 217 lb. (98 kg.). "Just right,'' says Bill. It was certainly right for Nassau in 1985.

They were popular winners. At the prize presentation Bill made a short heartfelt speech in which he tried to express how much the Star Class has meant to him for 25 years. One of the younger skippers afterward remarked, "I'm so glad it was Bill who had the chance to say those words. We youngsters win once in a while, which is all very well, but when Bill Buchan in his modest way talks about Stars and World's Championships it really goes deep and touches us all."