July 4th – Two Great Sails

With son and heir, Matt's graduation, new job and the World Cup in full swing we didn't sail at all in June.  On July 4th, I made up for my lack of water time with 11 hours of solid sailing. My body aches today. Part 1, was crewing for my friend Ethan on his Capri 25, Nightswimmer in the Holiday race. Ethan mostly crews and this was his first time this season racing his own boat. He rather courageously invited two very accomplished racing skippers, Jerry Orabona and Kelly Robinson along for coaching and "moral support". Having one seasoned racer whispering pointers and words of encouragement from the after-guard is one thing but having two vociferous hardened racers doing foredeck and pit while bellowing instructions took a level of fortitude I am not personally blessed with. Ethan has a great sense of humor and managed to keep smiling despite getting barked at in tandem about his helming not to mention observations about the way his boat was rigged and the age of his sails. To their credit both Kelly and Jerry worked their asses off in an 8-mile race with fickle winds to keep the boat moving fast. More importantly they are all good enough friends that no one takes it personally. Part deux was a cruise with Alice. Nigtswimmer is my neighbor in the mooring field so I hopped over to Messing About and off we went for a sunset sail. It was one of the most beautiful and memorable sails on Messing About. The winds were light but enough to sail wing on wing (thanks to our $700 whisker pole) about 10 miles East towards Atlantic Highlands. Although it's a sail we have done a million times, it felt particularly special on July 4th with great views of the Verazzano Bridge and Manhattan in the distance. As we headed home, the winds were perfect for a gentle beat to windward: Long tacks up Raritan Bay, Messing About rocking slowly. With Alice at the helm, I napped. I will spare you a kitschy poetic waxing lyrical about the sunset but it was frickin' gorgeous. The water surface was green and purple, the sky the color of salmon. Best of all was at nightfall the fireworks kicked-off. For a solid hour, we were surrounded by firework displays. Alice and I didn't know which way to look. All along the South shore of the Bay were municipal displays that screamed out, "Bugger the recession, it's party time!" To the North, people were competing with personal displays from the park at the southwestern end of Staten Island. It was like being in the middle of an 18th century battle with canon blasts from the South answered by volleys from the North. The surprising thing was that was hardly anyone on the water. What a shame. It was a perfect way to spend the evening of the 4th. I am definitely doing this again next year