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After that, he will head back to Long Island Sound for weekend sailing in Aileen, with races twice a week. Then, of course, there is the defense of his North American all-class title, which will be sailed off in a series of elimination races and finals in the next two months. But to an ardent yachtsman like Shields, the sailing season never ends. The compulsively competitive yachtsman dreams up new reasons for getting out in his boat, regardless of weather.
In 1932, Sailor Bill Taylor, managing editor of Yachting* conceived a plan for racing dinghies in the winter, dubbed it "frostbite" racing. This chilly, spray-dashed sport, with its quota of icy dunkings, takes place on days when even the most avid snowbird golfer or polar bear swimmer sits by the fire.
Corny Shields, naturally, was one of the charter members of frostbite dinghy sailing. Late this fall, Corny's little sea-green beauty named Dainty—Shields at the tiller and some neighborhood youngster along as crew—will take up where it left off last spring. Corny, who would "sail pumpkin seeds if I could find competition," sees nothing unusual about his year-round sailing compulsion. To Corny Shields, as to most other sailors, the sport is the thing, no matter what hardship is involved. Hardship? "Why," says Corny, "I keep so warm sailing that little dinghy that most of the time I don't even bother to wear winter underwear."
† An old longshoreman's definition which still has some validity: "You gets any sort of craft you please, fill her up with liquor and see-gars; you gets your friends on board and have a good time—and that's a yacht." *Although, this week, on corrected time, the winner in the 32-boat fleet appeared to be the small (39 ft.) ketch Staghound. *Until the 1850s, both British and U.S. racing yachts were typically constructed on a "cod's head and mackerel tail" plan, i.e., full bow, lean, clean afterbody. The America, designed in 1851, reversed the plan with a sharp prow and filled-out afterbody, became the prototype of modern racers. *And the only sportswriter ever to win a Pulitzer Prize (for his New York Herald Tribune coverage of the 1934 America's Cup races).