From John Manderson, Banegat Bay Fleet Captain:
A small (N=8) but talented snipe fleet descended on the Little Egg Harbor
Yacht Club, for some fabulous sailing at the Down Bay Regatta (Aug. 14-15)
on Barnegat bay, New Jersey. Bob Coyle/Kenny ? as well as Carol
Newman-Cronin /Fiona Saunders and Brian/ Kerry Fishback descended from
Boston and Rhode Island, respectively, while Ned Jones/Kari Warren and Eric
Reinke/ Kim Courance ascended from Annapolis. Watt Duffy flew in from god
knows where to sail with Long Islands own Pedro Lorson. Pseudo-locals
Lee/Lisa Griffith and John/Maggie Manderson rounded out the fleet. An
advancing front on Saturday gave us a 15 to 18 knot southerly and 6 closely
contested races with fast reaches. Few of the locals could believe that
boats with such ridiculously high booms could go so fast. This was
particularly true for several disheartened M-Scow sailors who were
periodically passed. At the end of the day, the Fishbacks held the top
spot with Eric Reinke/ Kim Courance and Pedro Lorson/ Watt Duffy (from god
knows where) in 2nd and 3rd . Following the sailing, it appeared the whole
state of New Jersey and their visitors arrived at the Y.C. for a barbecued
dinner and open bar. At about 8:30 the front moved in with plenty of wind,
rain and lightning. The bartenders fled, post haste for drier environs
muttering "fix your own damn drinks", and the band began to play,
unconcerned about the risks of electrocution. Their risk was enhanced by
those hoisting umbrellas like lightning rods alongside 50 to 60 other
soaking wet dancers who hooted and hollered with each lighting strike and
thunder clap. This went on long into the night, until the last few
stragglers somehow found their beds. Sunday brought a battle between the
frontal westerly and sea breeze which the sea breeze lost. With no air,
sailing was abandoned at an hour most reasonable for those hailing from
distant parts. Saturdays results were final.
This was a great regatta for class promotion. We heard "My grandfathers Snipe didn't look like that", " those things are pretty fast", and most importantly "how much do they cost?". As we drove out of the club, several E-scow skippers, having paid the weekend for crew members (N=3) who were nowhere to be found, looked on with envy next to still rigged boats. And they haven't even heard about Nassau, Bermuda, and various other opportunities to sail against great competition in warm and exotic places. Reserve the 2nd weekend in August , 2000. Help increase the sample size and don't miss the Down Bay Regatta next year.
From Watt Duffy:
I have been to a lot of regattas this year. This is one of the best. The
host club put on a great show. Down Bay Regatta is a must for next year. I
will fly back from New Orleans as long as they hold this regatta.
Why one of the best?
People are drawn to our class. They want to now how a boat that is "slower" can beat them around the course, even if they their class started 5 or 10 min. in front of the snipe class.
People want to Know which class all those hot young women with the bruises sail.
People want to know which class all those drunk guy's sail and how they can get to their boats the next day.
I believe that with more multi class sailing we will attract the other sailors to the best class the best boat and the best people - sailors.
It could be that we need to host multi class regattas in our own fleet.