LBI SWEATSHIRT

I spotted a guy, mid-40s, wearing an LBI sweatshirt today. I asked him if he owned a car with an EXIT 63 or a Barnegat Light sticker parked nearby. He replied, " No sorry, I'm driving a rental this week." Man, it's tough scoring points out here!

you wanted legs

christmas day at the christies

It's getting out of control??

That's nothing!!! It's bordering on tasteful. This guy needs to make a trip to N.J. to see how Christmas Lights are properly done!

Yankee-Swap!!!

Yankee-Swap, "it's the hyphen"

More Fun Than Bumper Cars

On the last day of the Fall 2006 Capri 22 Regatta, things were pretty much decided from the start. Steve McNally had taken first by a few points on the first day; Emma and I had taken second; the two Matts — Brown and Hurlimann — were in third. The second day was the Fall Fleet Race and, as you know already, Ross, Kyle, and I won that one; the Matts were third in that race, and Steve put himself out of contention by missing a mark and being disqualified. So we were well ahead and, on this final day, only four boats showed up; Steve was not one of them, and only the Matts mattered. All we had to do was stay in front of them. Ho hum. Or so it seemed.

We, on this day, were Seth and me. Seth is a friend from my days on board Valhalla as well as the husband of Traci, whom I’ve mentioned before — both a friend from Valhalla and, on this particular day, a competitor on another 22. We began this Saturday ignoring Traci and her crewmate Jon (you’ve heard of him before as well) and the Chapmans (the fourth boat, and you’ve heard of them too). Whew! You can’t tell your players without a scorecard! We tried only to start and finish ahead of the Matts, and in the first race, we succeeded; we were second, they were fourth.

Then it got exciting.

In the second race, I had an appalling start. I was so early to the line that I seemed to have a bizarre shot of salvaging things — going to the windward side of the line, circling back round the pin end, and getting into contention. It didn’t work out quite that way, though; we were somewhere between five and ten boat lengths behind the third-place boat when we crossed the start line. However, the other three boats made a mistake — went off to the right side, leaving the favored left side to us. Easy enough to say so in retrospect; who knew it was favored at the time? We just figured we were last and so would go where the others weren’t and hope for the best. And the best happened — we were second at the upwind mark, a boat length behind the Matts.

As we went downwind, we gained. We drew alongside, and to leeward, both boats on port tack. We edged ahead, by inches, with only a few boat lengths to the finish. I (perhaps foolishly) chose to use my leeward-boat advantage to push the Matts to a course that would take them just outside the finish line. We were close enough that Hurlimann had to grab his boom and pull it in to avoid contact, and — sudden inspiration! — he shoved it over to the other side of his boat, called “Starboard!”, and bumped us.

I should have remembered rule 15, which says that when a boat acquires right of way, it must initially give the other boat room to keep clear; the Matts gave no room, so it was their foul. But I didn’t remember, took it as my foul, did a penalty turn, and went from first to fourth in about 30 seconds. And finished there.

We were pissed. Seth was pissed at the Matts for having pulled such a BS move, and I was pissed at myself for having fallen for it. It was time for revenge.

So, the start of the third race: the Matts reached along the line and I timed things perfectly to force them over the line and, on top of that, bump them from leeward to force a penalty on them. It was a wonderful moment. I didn’t need anything good to happen for another week.

And just as well, because it was a five-race day, and I took second, fourth, second, fourth (damn that kelp!), second — for a fourth (that is to say, last) on the day. But the racing was very close — the scores were 10, 13, 13, 14 — so I easily took first overall in the Fall Regatta. Chalk up another win for the Maris Stella Yacht Club!!

For the Montclair Clan

Net Sister!