Maris Stella Yacht Club and Crabbing SocietyWednesday, November 17, 2004
Not Just a Sunday Stroll around the Bay
One thing that Captain Dave left out was that there was a party at the club after the race and trophys were presented to the first three finishers by the club president. During the presentation Tom consoled those that finished in the back of the fleet by explaining that they shouldn't feel bad about their performances because they were sailing against experienced and competitive sailors and that the top five finishers in the Capri 22 group are all "very good sailors."
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Representin'
It may be November in some parts of the world (well, technically, it's November here too), but in San Diego there are still sailboat races to be raced. And so on Sunday Dave, Ross, & Midshipman Krabby, representing the Maris Stella Yacht Club, entered a Capri 22 in the 2004 Harbor Sailboats Fall Fleet Race.
The format was a course around channel buoys from mid-Harbor Island to the northeast tip of Shelter Island, then across the bay, then down past the Coronado Bridge, and finally back up to the western tip of Harbor Island — roughly 10 nautical miles. Boats of all sizes were welcome to enter.
Since larger boats go faster, the start was staggered according to boat capabilities. The 22s were to go off the line at 11:30, the next largest a couple of minutes later, and so on. Chaotic as that may seem, the start turned out to be a little more so as the race committee only set up the line at about 11:20, and at some distance from where everyone had gathered. The committee was determined to hold to schedule, however, so boats turned on engines just to reach the line on time, a planned 10-minute gun was never sounded, and much pre-start maneuvering went by the wayside. Even so, that didn't excuse our having left ourselves in position to be luffed up at the committee-boat end by our old friend Steve McNally and, as a result — how shall I say it — "nudging," "grazing," "kissing" the committee boat itself. Doh! Penalty turn for you, Captain Dave!
But after that we sailed well enough, remaining near the front at the first several marks. The long leg from Shelter Island down past the Coronado Bridge was downwind with crews winging the jib (that is to say, holding it out by hand on the side opposite the main) in a breeze that freshened enough to raise whitecaps on the bay (a much rarer occurrence here than on Barnegat, with our much deeper water and typically lighter winds). Many crew members complained of sore arms at the after-race party. The lead boats (us among them) were initially close enough to hail one another, but near downtown, where the bay widens, they separated into two groups on opposite sides of the course. Near the bridge they converged again and incredibly everyone seemed to be in the same position and the same relative distance apart. Everyone except, that is, for Frederic Hayem — you remember him, the one who you never see anything of him except his transom? Well, we couldn't see anything of him except his transom. Somewhere way ahead.
We rounded the downwind buoy and started some hard tacking (remember, whitecaps, strong breeze) and had a "moment." Somehow we slipped back and lost quite a few boat lengths and positions. But we kept sailing, regained much of what we had lost, and found that Frederic was untouchable, so was the second-place boat (that pesky Steve), but we were neck and neck for third (out of 15 boats, by the way) with a guy named Sheldon Black. We would gain a bit, he would gain a bit; we'd have a good tack, he'd get a good lift, and so on until...we ended a two-and-a-half-hour race with him crossing the finish line 15 seconds ahead of us.
Ah, but all was not lost: It turns out that in that chaotic start Sheldon crossed the line early by about a boat length and a half and never came back to start properly. A race committee would typically, I gather, assess a three-minute penalty for that; our committee had already resolved to be "nice" and assess only a one-minute penalty, but even that was enough to give us the third.
Results and pictures are at this link.
There's been some talk already about the 2005 Spring Fleet Race: Ross might join the club and enter his own boat, and we might be recruiting some high-quality east-coast crewing talent. Waddaya think?
The format was a course around channel buoys from mid-Harbor Island to the northeast tip of Shelter Island, then across the bay, then down past the Coronado Bridge, and finally back up to the western tip of Harbor Island — roughly 10 nautical miles. Boats of all sizes were welcome to enter.
Since larger boats go faster, the start was staggered according to boat capabilities. The 22s were to go off the line at 11:30, the next largest a couple of minutes later, and so on. Chaotic as that may seem, the start turned out to be a little more so as the race committee only set up the line at about 11:20, and at some distance from where everyone had gathered. The committee was determined to hold to schedule, however, so boats turned on engines just to reach the line on time, a planned 10-minute gun was never sounded, and much pre-start maneuvering went by the wayside. Even so, that didn't excuse our having left ourselves in position to be luffed up at the committee-boat end by our old friend Steve McNally and, as a result — how shall I say it — "nudging," "grazing," "kissing" the committee boat itself. Doh! Penalty turn for you, Captain Dave!
But after that we sailed well enough, remaining near the front at the first several marks. The long leg from Shelter Island down past the Coronado Bridge was downwind with crews winging the jib (that is to say, holding it out by hand on the side opposite the main) in a breeze that freshened enough to raise whitecaps on the bay (a much rarer occurrence here than on Barnegat, with our much deeper water and typically lighter winds). Many crew members complained of sore arms at the after-race party. The lead boats (us among them) were initially close enough to hail one another, but near downtown, where the bay widens, they separated into two groups on opposite sides of the course. Near the bridge they converged again and incredibly everyone seemed to be in the same position and the same relative distance apart. Everyone except, that is, for Frederic Hayem — you remember him, the one who you never see anything of him except his transom? Well, we couldn't see anything of him except his transom. Somewhere way ahead.
We rounded the downwind buoy and started some hard tacking (remember, whitecaps, strong breeze) and had a "moment." Somehow we slipped back and lost quite a few boat lengths and positions. But we kept sailing, regained much of what we had lost, and found that Frederic was untouchable, so was the second-place boat (that pesky Steve), but we were neck and neck for third (out of 15 boats, by the way) with a guy named Sheldon Black. We would gain a bit, he would gain a bit; we'd have a good tack, he'd get a good lift, and so on until...we ended a two-and-a-half-hour race with him crossing the finish line 15 seconds ahead of us.
Ah, but all was not lost: It turns out that in that chaotic start Sheldon crossed the line early by about a boat length and a half and never came back to start properly. A race committee would typically, I gather, assess a three-minute penalty for that; our committee had already resolved to be "nice" and assess only a one-minute penalty, but even that was enough to give us the third.
Results and pictures are at this link.
There's been some talk already about the 2005 Spring Fleet Race: Ross might join the club and enter his own boat, and we might be recruiting some high-quality east-coast crewing talent. Waddaya think?
Friday, November 05, 2004
Peace Is Our Profession
The military insanity is closer to home than we thought, or I thought. Next time you are driving down the Garden State Parkway it might be wise to keep your eyes on the sky as well as the road. And a bullet proof vehicle might not be a bad idea.......
Fighter jet strafes New Jersey school
Friday, November 5, 2004 Posted: 7:49 AM EST (1249 GMT)
Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School is cordoned off after it was fired on Wednesday night.
LITTLE EGG HARBOR, New Jersey (AP) -- The target was an object on the ground well within the confines of the Warren Grove firing range, a 2,400-acre scrub pine expanse used by the military to train pilots in bombing and strafing techniques.
But when the heavy gun in the left wing of an Air National Guard F-16 fighter jet fired Wednesday night, it sent 25 rounds of 20mm ammunition smashing through the roof and zinging off the asphalt parking lot of the Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School 3 1/2 miles from the range.
Military investigators are trying to determine how it could have happened.
A custodian was the only person in the school when the shots hit at 11 p.m., and no one was injured.
The jet that fired the rounds was assigned to the 113th Wing of the District of Columbia Air National Guard, based at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. It returned there after the shots were fired, an Air National Guard spokesman said.
Military officials would not identify the pilot. Operations were suspended at the firing range pending completion of the investigation.
Police were called after the custodian heard what sounded like someone running across the roof.
Police Chief Mark Siino said officers who responded noticed punctures in the roof. Ceiling tiles had fallen into classrooms, and there were scratch marks in the asphalt outside.
The pilot of the single-seat jet was supposed to fire at a ground target on the firing range 31/2 miles from the school, said Col. Brian Webster, commander of the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard, which is responsible for the range.
The plane was flying at 7,000 feet when the rounds were fired from the M61-A1 Vulcan cannon in the plane's left wing. The weapon fires 2-inch-long lead projectiles that do not explode, Webster said.
Webster said he did not know what caused the gun to fire.
"The National Guard takes this situation very seriously," said Lt. Col. Roberta Niedt, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. "The safety of our people and the surrounding communities are our foremost concern."
Mike Dupuis, president of the township's Board of Education, said school workers are mindful that the firing range is nearby.
"Being so close to the range, that's always in the back of our minds. It is very scary. I have children in that school and relatives that work there," he said.
Schools in New Jersey were closed Thursday because of a teachers convention.
The Warren Grove range, about 30 miles north of Atlantic City, has been used by the military since the end of World War II, long before the surrounding area was developed.
In 2002, an Air National Guard F-16 that had been practicing at the range crashed along the Garden State Parkway. The plane's pilot ejected safely, and no one on the ground was hurt.
Errant practice bombs were blamed for forest fires that burned more than 11,000 acres of the Pine Barrens near the range in 1999 and more than 1,600 acres in 2002.
Fighter jet strafes New Jersey school
Friday, November 5, 2004 Posted: 7:49 AM EST (1249 GMT)
Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School is cordoned off after it was fired on Wednesday night.
LITTLE EGG HARBOR, New Jersey (AP) -- The target was an object on the ground well within the confines of the Warren Grove firing range, a 2,400-acre scrub pine expanse used by the military to train pilots in bombing and strafing techniques.
But when the heavy gun in the left wing of an Air National Guard F-16 fighter jet fired Wednesday night, it sent 25 rounds of 20mm ammunition smashing through the roof and zinging off the asphalt parking lot of the Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School 3 1/2 miles from the range.
Military investigators are trying to determine how it could have happened.
A custodian was the only person in the school when the shots hit at 11 p.m., and no one was injured.
The jet that fired the rounds was assigned to the 113th Wing of the District of Columbia Air National Guard, based at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. It returned there after the shots were fired, an Air National Guard spokesman said.
Military officials would not identify the pilot. Operations were suspended at the firing range pending completion of the investigation.
Police were called after the custodian heard what sounded like someone running across the roof.
Police Chief Mark Siino said officers who responded noticed punctures in the roof. Ceiling tiles had fallen into classrooms, and there were scratch marks in the asphalt outside.
The pilot of the single-seat jet was supposed to fire at a ground target on the firing range 31/2 miles from the school, said Col. Brian Webster, commander of the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard, which is responsible for the range.
The plane was flying at 7,000 feet when the rounds were fired from the M61-A1 Vulcan cannon in the plane's left wing. The weapon fires 2-inch-long lead projectiles that do not explode, Webster said.
Webster said he did not know what caused the gun to fire.
"The National Guard takes this situation very seriously," said Lt. Col. Roberta Niedt, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. "The safety of our people and the surrounding communities are our foremost concern."
Mike Dupuis, president of the township's Board of Education, said school workers are mindful that the firing range is nearby.
"Being so close to the range, that's always in the back of our minds. It is very scary. I have children in that school and relatives that work there," he said.
Schools in New Jersey were closed Thursday because of a teachers convention.
The Warren Grove range, about 30 miles north of Atlantic City, has been used by the military since the end of World War II, long before the surrounding area was developed.
In 2002, an Air National Guard F-16 that had been practicing at the range crashed along the Garden State Parkway. The plane's pilot ejected safely, and no one on the ground was hurt.
Errant practice bombs were blamed for forest fires that burned more than 11,000 acres of the Pine Barrens near the range in 1999 and more than 1,600 acres in 2002.
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Old Barney Photo Contest
We all know of Linda’s idea (it was Linda’s, wasn’t it?) to equip everyone with cameras and see who can take the most photographs of Barnegat Lighthouse likenesses. In case the contest actually takes place next year, I thought I’d stake a claim for the image of Old Barney taken farthest from the actual Old Barney — at Nugent’s Seafood Grille in Del Mar, California, some 2,430 miles away.
[Just a moment of levity in trying times.....]
[Just a moment of levity in trying times.....]
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