FADED GLORY

An era has passed. The most recent Harbor Sailboats Capri 22 regata has come to an end, and for the first time in six or seven series, the Christie brothers did not take first place (or second, or third, for that matter). Of course, we eliminated ourselves from any real chance of winning by spending our time on Long Beach Island during the first day of racing. But in fact a hot new racer has entered the competition, and some of the old hands have improved greatly, so that the best we could muster in the six races we entered was a second in a field of fourteen. (The worst was a bit lower, but we'll pass over that.)

I blame Linda, of course. If she hadn't shown so convincingly in the Maris Stella regatta just how inferior we West Coast sailors are, we wouldn't have known any better and so would have gone out and kicked everyone's butt. However, all this really means is that we'll have to improve in the next series, which runs on October Saturdays. So get ready for the 2004 LBI series, cause we'll be practicing out here.

In the meantime, good luck to Linda in her running this weekend. Three five-plus-mile trecks.... I wish I could be doing it too!