Kyle

Kyle 2005, originally uploaded by rosschristie.

Here is a picture of the player who led his team, The Predators, in scoring (5 goals & 7 assists).

Dang that's a big fish

24catfish650
Originally uploaded by lindachr.

big news at the GSP

Widening of Parkway Is Planned on Jersey Shore...

Garden State Parkway upgrade: Good or Bad?
	It's about time!
	45 years too late...
	Traffic? What traffic?
	Exit 63 baby, I'm there!
	Grumble... Grumble... change. bad.
Free polls from Pollhost.com

The Next Generation

I told you that Kyle can sail faster than I can ! Watch out this summer, I think he's getting serious about the Barnegat Light Regatta.

a bit larger for those of us with over 50 eyesight?

CoverGirl

CoverGirl, originally uploaded by rosschristie.

Look, there's mom on the cover!

And the winners of the 2005 Barnegat Light Regatta are . . .

The Ivory-billed Woodpecker

28ivory, originally uploaded by rosschristie.

Back from (presumed) extinction, a live Ivory-billed woodpecker has been confirmed in a swamp in Arkansas.

See 4/28/05 NY Times article....Click here

"What's with all the sand?"

Yes, that's what mom wondered aloud as she got out of her car after arriving in boston...

On the front page of the Boston Globe today was a picture of the bottom of our street!

We're trying to pretend we really live on Long Beach Island. But there is no White's and no Carousel. No Barney either. Plenty of water in our basement but no boogie boarding and no sailing.

a message from mom!!

With the help of Linda actually working inside my computer, I think I've finally got it! It's beautiful weather here -- a little cool but sunny and I'm about to go sit on the patio and read some more of the Hillary Clinton book which I'm really enjoying. It almost reads like having a conversation with her. Then back to this computer where I have waiting something like 45 unread messages -- most of them rehash of stuff I don't want to hear anymore, but you never know when something I need to know is right there in the middle of it all.

Dave, how was the first week of work? And, you never told me what I owe you for Emma's birthday gift -- many thanks of course for doing my shopping.

At long last

Hello bloggers!!!

Let's Go to Whites

Like so many Americans, I'm at least conscious, if not exactly worried, about my weight. In my case, it would be nice to drop 20 pounds or so if only because that would make me more competitive on a Sunfish.

So today I open my paper — that source of all knowledge — and my eye goes immediately to the headline, "Some Extra Heft May Be Helpful." Huh?, I say. And the lead sentence replies, "People who are overweight but not obese have a lower risk of death than those of normal weight, federal researchers are reporting today."

True, it didn't exactly say go faster in Sunfish sailboats, but still, dude, pass the crullers!

Stuart Andrew

Co` latha breith sona dhuibh!

I've Got Good News and I've Got Bad News

The good news is: I'm employed! I start Monday at a software company called Logical Apps. I answered their ad last Tuesday evening, was contacted on Wednesday morning, went for an interview on Thursday, and received an offer today. I guess they liked me.

I'm still not altogether sure what they do, but it has something to do with developing applications that regulate back-office business processes, and I'm sure it's very very important. It's a small company (65-70 people), which in my mind is a good thing, and I will be the entire technical publications department — manager, writer, editor, and general factotum. The company is located in Irvine (Orange County), which, oddly enough, is also a good thing: I can take a train and read the Times in relaxation while all the other poor suckers are slogging it out on the freeway. The best thing, of course, is that I'll have an actual income once again and get to support my daughter and keep my house and all that good stuff.

The bad news is: I'm employed! No more waking up at 8:00 and spending a few hours drinking coffee, reading the paper, and doing crosswords, I guess. Oh well, perhaps that's not so bad after all. But since I'm starting Monday, you can guess I'll be going sailing tomorrow. (Maybe Friday too.)

P.S. I've already secured at least a week of time off in July.

The 50th Annual Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Tournament

The Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Tournament ended at 6:00 PM on Sunday, November 21.
1096 anglers entered 174 striped bass and 374 bluefish.

Fish must be caught from the shores of Long Beach Island only-ocean, inlet, bay, and jetties. No boat fishing

The six-week tournament began Saturday morning, October 9, at 5 a.m. and ended Sunday, November 21, at 6 p.m.

$1000 CASH GRAND PRIZE WINNER - Ric O'Brien, Beach Haven NJ, 41 lbs.\7 oz.

(2)A.W. "Gus" Stasche, Sparta NJ, 40\3
(2)Robert Pfeiffer, Mt. Laurel NJ, 40\3
(4)Mike Fahy, Barnegat Light NJ, 40\2

our dear sisters

let us take a moment, fair captains, to reflect on our dear mournful sisters at maris stella, our namesake....

3 MONTHS

Ross Christie wrote:
> It just dawned on me that LBI Loveladies 2005 is only three months
> away. Which means that perhaps some planning may be in order. First of
> all, who is going and when and for how long? I'm thinking the 2nd & 3rd
> weeks of July.

that sounds good, i will be there then and possibly the entire time. rosemary will have to see what's going on for her around work and whether or not she is pregnant by then, but i'm guessing we will see her for a long weekend.
>
> How is Sunny 2? How is Cher? And what about a racing plan? Longer
> races? Multi-day? How about a really long race around an island perhaps?
>
> Let me know what you guys think. Ross

cher is still under wraps. but the evil winter that darkened our door for an eternity is now an almost distant memory. i decided not to renew my membership at the QYC this year, for several reasons, but rosemary has promised that she will help me to launch cher at other locations accessible to boston. and stuart and i have tentative plans to meet up in connecticut for special tuning regattas.

we definitely need longer races, i'm not saying that's the only reason the winner of barney 2004 won, but that course was way too short!

what we really need is new t-shirts and hats.

but shouldn't this discussion be taking place on the blog???

A Phenomenon of Nature

Beginning a few weeks ago, and as it happens at about this time every year, Painted Lady butterflies have dispersed through Southern California and Arizona on their way to their favorite flowers throughout North America. Some years we see more butterflies than other years and the reason is that with more rain in the winter there is more vegetation for the caterpillars to eat and therfore more caterpillars survive to become butterflies. Well, we had a lot of rain this winter. Lakes that were almost dry are full again. Mudslides have been happening everywhere. And, we've had plants and flowers emerge this spring that I've never seen before. And lots of Painted Lady butterflies. At first we had thousands of them. Then millions (even though I am not truly able to count into the millions) of them were flying by every day. When I went to Las Vegas last week I drove a section of highway in which about a hundred miles were filled with butterflies everywhere. But, all of that was nothing. On Thursday, March 31 from dawn to dusk a megazillion Painted Ladies flew through Southern California! Every cubic yard from the ground up to about 50 feet had a butterfly in it. All were flying north at about 20 mph. It was just an unbelievable endless blizzard of butterflies. And this was happening for hunderds of miles in every direction. All day long. I doubt that I'll ever see anything like that again for the rest of my life. Simply amazing!

The Painted Lady Butterfly

paintedLadyMM, originally uploaded by rosschristie.

On the Bounding Main

The NOODs! No, not (thank goodness) a bunch of sailors running around in their birthday suits, but rather the San Diego installment of the National Offshore One-Design regatta.

This series — ten races over a Friday (egad! people actually skipped work!) Saturday, and Sunday — is a big deal around here, at least among those of us sufficiently enlightened to sail. The number of boats entered was easily in triple figures, although there were many classes and (as the name of the regatta would suggest) each boat raced only against its own kind. Skippers spent big bucks preparing their boats — cleaning bottoms, replacing rigging, adding ringers to their crews....

On Valhalla (I'm happy to say) we stuck with all our regulars, which is to say amateurs one and all. Andy (our skipper) did, however, replace his stainless steel backstay with one made of carbon fiber (in the benighted belief that this would make a difference). We were also serious enough about this thing to hold two practice sessions prior to the race.

With so many entrants, there were two race courses, one for smaller boats (20 to 30 feet, say) and the other for larger. We were on the large-boat course, where legs were about a nautical mile and a quarter — just far enough that as you round one mark you can't actually see the next. You have to pick it up as you go. (Typical conversation: "Does anyone see the mark? Does anyone see the mark? DON'T POINT AT IT!!!")

The courses (once again, as the name of the regatta would suggest) were out on the ocean. As you may know, we've had an uncommonly wet winter here in southern California, and the forecast for race weekend was: Friday, rain, Saturday, rain, Sunday, rain. As it turned out, the weathermen were as foresighted as usual: we had, I think, a brief sprinkle on Saturday. But this is hardly to say that conditions were easy. The skies were solidly overcast on the Friday and Saturday, it was cold on both those days, the wind blew hard — up to 20 knots — all three days, and the swell ranged between large and larger, getting up to perhaps eight feet on the Sunday. Kelp (not actually a weather factor, I'll admit) was a bear.

There were times (lots of them, in fact) when we would come about, I would be trimming the genoa on the low side, and having finished I would need to get up to the high side to hike. The angle of heel on those occasions was such that I would need to grab things with my hands just so that I could climb up. My fifty-some-year-old body is not all that happy about climbing. Still, I don't think life gets better.

So, how'd we do? Well, there were moments when snags in sheets would foul tacks, and other moments when the guys on the bow weren't moving the spinnaker pole quite as smartly as they might, and one when we dropped the spinnaker in the water during a takedown and stopped the boat dead. (Do you have any idea how heavy a spinnaker is when it contains water? I didn't either, until now.) Not to put all the blame on the crew, there were also times when a moment's indecision during a start put us at the back of the fleet, or when a mistake in the helmsman's judgment led to a foul and a penalty turn. So...out of ten boats, someone had to come in tenth. Our best finish, in the final race, was a fifth, and although it may may not seem like much, that was really cool against top talent from all over the country.

The NOODs were two weekends ago, but last weekend it was back to Capri 22 racing. (Back to skippering!) Once again, I had the pro from Dover, Emma, as my crew. Ross was not there because he felt he had to work (which may call into question his bona fides as a sailor — or maybe not). There were four races and, to take all suspense out of it, Emma and I finished second, first, third, and third to take first overall. (Typical conversation during a tack: Dave — "Emma, that has to happen faster." Emma — "I'm going as fast as I can!")

No, the true excitement was that this was bumper-car racing. In the first race we approached the starting line overlapped and to windward of another racer, Sheldon. Knowing that I was a bit early anyway, I stalled my boat, fell below Sheldon and, as I crossed the line and simultaneously the gun went off and all was right with the world, I turned up to my proper close-hauled course. Unfortunately, Sheldon didn't. And, sure enough, he banged into me even though I was the leeward, and so right-of-way, boat. No damage, fortunately; he went on to do his penalty turn, and Emma and I went on to take our second. The second and third races were relatively placid affairs. With about three minutes to go before the start of the fourth, however, I approached the line on starboard while another boat (skippered by someone I don't know) ran along the line on port. As we converged, I called out "starboard," and then "Starboard!" and then "STARBOARD!!" but it did no good. He literally rammed me broadside, apparently unaware that I was even there.

No one was hurt, I'm happy to say (the collision was on the low side of our boat, and both Emma and I were on the high side). The collision did, however, take a triangular chunk out of the rail of my boat, measuring about three inches along each leg, with a crack at the apex stretching another six or so inches along the deck.

Once we disentangled ourselves, I did a quick check, decided we were still seaworthy, and continued the race. We arrived at the first mark in third place (having been hampered by the necessarily impromptu nature of our start), then the downwind leg in third place again. On the final, upwind leg we approached the finish line still in third and on starboard while two boats approached on port. This, of course, made me the right-of-way boat, but I could see the two of them yakking away at each other and paying no attention to me. Again??!!! So this time I started with "STARBOARD!!" and then escalated to "STARBOARD!!!!!!" and the boat on collision course, startled to find me there, rounded abruptly into the wind and missed me.

Damn, I have to find a fleet where I can steer and yet other sailors actually know what they're doing.....