On May 20-21, nine hearty and determined Snipe teams arrived at Island Heights Yacht Club on the New Jersey shore to compete and have the usual great time at the annual Blue Gray regatta. Nine boats were less than the expected turnout, but a quick glance at the weather forecast explained why several of the usual attendees were missing this year. The drive to the regatta Saturday morning was through a cold, driving nor'Easter making it feel a lot more like early March than late May. Even worse mentally was the fact that over half the fleet had just picked up their boats at the shipping docks after competing in Bermuda for International Race Week and North Americans with its continuous blue skies and turquoise, crystal-clear water. It was raining so hard that everyone had to just arrive and dash inside the club to wait out the pouring rain. Finally the rain subsided enough to allow rigging and, after lunch was served first, the racing commenced in the Toms River venue which made for very shifty, short course racing and nearly continuous position changes. With the cold rain and thunderstorms in the area, racing closer to the dock rather than venturing out onto the more open water of Barnegat Bay seemed like the correct thing to do.

Saturday's racing saw the race committee bang off five challenging windward-leeward courses with a tricky river current combined with some bay tide running through the course. With the 2-8 knot breeze blowing diagonally across the river, the competitive fleet was treated to some interesting wind sheers and mystery holes. Lee/Lisa Griffith (skipper/crew not related with the crew strongly considering a name change) won the first race but faded the rest of the day. The Team Cronin from Newport, husband/wife Paul and Carol, were each competing separating and driving their own boats. Both had great days on the racecourse, finishing second and third on the day with versatile super-crews Kim Couranz and Monique Gaylor crewing with them. It should be noted that this is the same Kim and Monique who clearly dominated (in overpowering fashion) the 1999 San Diego GFU Dance Competition, but were awarded zero well-deserved style points by the apparently snoozing or inattentive judges. Paul and Kim banged off a 4-2-1-1 with a slight fade to 8th in the last race demonstrating how easy it was to make one mistake and watch the whole fleet sail past in the tight competition. Reigning Snipe US Women's National Champ, Carol Cronin, and Monique finished just behind husband Paul for the day with a 3-4-3-1 streak after a 7th place first race. The winners for the day, however, were local Jersey sailors John and Maggie Manderson with an excellent and consistent score of 6-1-2-2-2. A careful look at the scores at end of day revealed the Lorson Team, Pedro and Sister Mimi Berry, lurking close behind the top three boats with a 19 point score with lots of racing to go.

The Griffith Team limped off the water late in the day with a broken side-shroud and a slightly bent mast to be fixed that night. District Governor Bob Coyle with Ken Delpapa had a good day in their new boat. Bill and Kristen Kelley (yes, proudly related with beautiful new baby at the in-laws yielding freedom for the weekend) were right there in every race. Ray Schmidt and Betty Williams didn't know it yet but their day was coming on Sunday. Another family team in action out there was Team Pline and some intriguing intra-boat competition was quietly developing. Alex took the helm on Saturday and Lisa on Sunday as they apparently negotiated baby-care and skippering duties on alternate days. Barb Evans crewed on both days and when probed as to which skipper won the regatta on their boat she had an extremely diplomatic answer. Needless to say, this regatta cast a whole new light on SCIRA's team racing rules (SI #19).

Island Heights Yacht Club has been extremely courteous and friendly hosts for the Snipe class for the last several years even though they have no Snipe members themselves. With lunches served each day and many amenities, your entry fee dollar bought a lot with plenty of beverages and hors d'oeurves waiting at the dock (even including hot chocolate to ease the chills). The usual dinner at the club was a barbecue feast and, afterwards, everyone convened to the pool table for some serious competition. Bill Kelley more than made up for any sailing frustration by staging an impressive rally and solid victory on the billiard table against all challengers (now we know what he was studying in college).

Sunday was a bit milder and at least it didn't rain until we were (of course) packing up the boats. The wind/water conditions were almost a carbon copy of Saturday, meaning very changeable and variable. The closeness of the competition was the same throughout the four races. Some serious reversals were happening as Team Griffith won this day with a 2-1-4-1 bringing them up to 3rd overall. The lurking Lorson Team, Pedro and Mimi, just kept hanging in there with a 3-4-1-2, to barely edge the Carol and Monique Team by a single point overall, to grab the regatta victory. The other half of the Cronin Team, Paul with Kim, and Team Manderson didn't have the days that they wanted and ended up tied in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Naturally, as the trophies were passed out and everyone started off down the road for home, the sun came shining out from behind the clouds and the breeze filled in and steadied quite nicely.

-- by Griffith and Lorson

1  28044  Pedro Lorson/Mimi Berry         2-(6)-3-5-3-3-4-1-2            23
2  29699  Carol Cronin/ Monique Gaylor   (7)-3-4-3-1-4-3-2-4             24
3  29204  Lee Griffith/ Lisa Griffith     1-5-9-4-(dnf)-2-1-4-1          27
4  29592  Paul G. Cronin/ Kim Couranz     4-2-1-1-8-6-5-5-(8)            32
5  29864  John /Maggie Manderson          6-1-2-2-2-8-6-(8)-5            32
6  29147  Lisa/Alex Pline/Barb Evans      3-8-6-7-7-1-(8)-7-3            42
7  28050  Bill Kelley/ Kristen Kelley    (9)-7-5-6-4-7-7-3-7             46
8  25659  Ray Schmidt/Betty William       8-(9)-8-9-6-5-2-6-6            50
9  28542  Bob Coyle/ Ken Delpapa          5-4-7-8-5-(dnc)-dnc-dnc-dnc    59