By Joe Berkeley
At the end of the day, Moose said, “that was some real frostbiting out there.” There were icicles hanging off piers, Annie the dog was wearing a down jacket, and more than a few thought about spending the day watching football.
Twenty of the faithful rigged up for six races in a breeze that oscillated back and forth, but on average, was from the southeast at 4-8 knots. Moose ran the races, Kelly Ferro ran the mark boat, and I assisted Kelly moving marks. Between mark sets, I took some photos. It’s a treat to have Kelly drive the mark boat because she has a lot of experience and understands where to put the boat.
My favorite shot of the day was Moose, the shepherd and his flock. If there were any justice in this world every member of the fleet would have a framed picture of Moose on their bedside table and when they woke every morning they would give the picture a kiss. Moose’s RC is that good. I realize I’m preaching to the choir, just trying to encourage folks to sign up to do their RC.
Steve Kirkpatrick who normally gets so cold he turns an interesting shade of purple won the day. He had two bullets. Some folks have complained that we do not have Words of Wisdom anymore. Many complimented Dan’s write up a few weeks ago. Maybe we can hear some Wisdom from Steve as he stuck in the top of the fleet on a day that was shifty and Mystic lake like.
Adrian van der Wal was knocking on the door. He just one skinny point behind Steve. He had a strong day, winning a race, getting three seconds, and a third. His seventh in the first race was the one race that kept him away from beating Big Bad Steve. If you would like a wall size print of Adrian sailing, they are available at the van der Wal gallery.
In third overall, Dan Neri, who always sees the world with startling clarity. Many fleet members have enjoyed Dan’s writeup from a few weeks ago and everyone would love to hear more from Dan. He is a terrific writer and his ability to separate the wheat from the chaff is legendary.
Fourth, Ted Hood, who was in good form and glad to be back out on the race course. It’s always fun to chat with Ted about the trends in the marine industry, as he can see quite a bit from his lofty perch. How amazing it would be to say, “I’m glad you like my yacht. She’s a real cream puff. My broker Ted Hood found her for me.”
Dan Berry was sixth for the day. Scott Vogel was seventh. Chris Bollengier, eighth. Marina Barzaghi, ninth. Alice Dunning rounded out the top ten.
I missed two days of frostbiting because of work. On one of the days, I was on assignment photographing and writing about Marblehead’s Tech Dinghy fleet. One member of the fleet is Tom Dailey, who is also the pied piper of the Marblehead Laser Fleet.
Tom is a big believer in using “WhatsApp” as a fleet building tool. There are some reasons it may be a good idea: communication is fast, everyone in the fleet can communicate back and forth, it’s more of a conversation than a monologue, it could help fleet captains get the word out, it could be more in tune with the next generation of sailors than email.
Some in the Newport Laser fleet noted some potential flaws of “WhatsApp.” It’s one more platform for fleet captains to deal with, sometimes folks overcommunicate and use the app to let everyone know their kid is having a bake sale, and there could be a lot of chatter without much getting done. Something to think about.
On behalf of fleet captains Jack McVicker and Scott Pakenham, please pay your dues and sign up for RC. Moose and Kelly run terrific races and folks should be keen to do their part. Thanks to Christine Neville for making the scores beautiful.
Newport Frostbite is a beautiful choir and it would be great to hear your voice. You are cordially invited to write Words of Wisdom or Fleet News whenever you are inspired.
Joe Berkeley creates content to make a living. He writes and shoots fleet news to make a difference. You can reach him at [email protected]
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