David Vail
USMS Pool All American Honors – 4 Relay
USMS Top Ten Achievements – 84 Individual, 39 Relay
As a kid I snorkeled for scallops in Long Island’s Peconic Bay. But I got a late start in competitive swimming as a sophomore at Shaker Heights High in Cleveland. Senior year, I made the Ohio state finals in the 200-yard individual medley.
At Princeton, I was a journeyman backstroker, freestyler, and water polo player. Three highlights of those younger years were:
Swimming on a 400-yard freestyle relay that set a Princeton record while losing to Olympian Steve Clark and his Yale crew.
Serving as assistant to legendary Yale coach Phil Moriarty and his great mid-60s teams, while in grad school.
Coaching Uganda’s Makerere University swim team to third place in the Pan-African Games when I was a Rockefeller Foundation economist.
My Masters swimming also started late. At Bowdoin College, I served as faculty advisor to the water polo club and later Charlie Butt’s swim teams. But other activities – kayaking, cross-country skiing, and road racing – held my attention until stress fractures brought me back to the pool at age 50. I learned about innovations like goggles and pull buoys and lots more about stroke mechanics, body alignment, and race psychology.
Although I took pride in winning at least one event at every New England championship I entered, New England records and national Top 10 rankings only became routine after I had shoulder surgery at 65 and talented competitors began to fall by the wayside. Since 2013, my training and competition have had ups and downs as I’ve coped with two cancers and some heavy-duty meds. At age 81, I think of myself foremost as a lucky survivor.
I’ve managed seven second-place national rankings in backstroke and freestyle but never made All-American because a few superstars my age just won’t quit. I’ve swum on four All-American relays with fellow Maine Masters members and have managed to win four golds, eight silvers and a bronze medal at the National Senior Games. In 1998, on a research sabbatical in Sweden, I trained with Stockholm’s Lidingö IFK club and swam in the Swedish short course championships, winning four individual events and contributing to two victorious relays.
Masters swimming is much more than racing: I’ve enjoyed being our Bowdoin workout group’s USMS contact person, collaborating with Bowdoin coach Brad Burnham to organize our fall meet, and hoisting a pint with MESC mates.