Evelyn's Drive-In

One of the treasures of our bayside community in Tiverton, Rhode Island is Evelyn's Drive-In, the local clam shack. Tillerwoman and I headed down there for lunch today... a clam sandwich and a local brew sitting by the water. What could be better on a hot, humid summer day?

When we were at Evelyn's last summer there was a TV crew there filming a spot about Evelyn's for the Food Network series, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Judging by the YouTube video above, their vast global TV audience didn't get to see Tillerwoman and me chomping down on our fried clams, but that's OK.

If you're down Tiverton way, you should check out Evelyn's. And if you don't believe me, here are a few reviews.

Cheers.

"Heyitwasgreat" Group Writing Project

Thanks to the mysterious commenter known as o docker for the title of this month's Group Writing Project... "Heyitwasgreat". The challenge is to write about one of those special memorable days under sail when everything went just right. One of those days that when other people asked you about it afterwards you could only reply, "Heyitwasgreat."

I could have used the title "One of Those Days" but you might interpret that either way. This month I want to hear about good days of sailing, not bad days. We've already had enough stories about Worst Sailing Mistakes and Learning Experiences, not to mention Race-Committee Screw-Ups. Let's keep it positive this month.

If you're a racing sailor you might want to write about one of those days when you were "in the zone". You aced every start, you played every shift right, you extended your lead, you crushed the opposition.

Or if racing is not your thing it might be an afternoon such as the one o docker wrote about in his or her comment... "the winds came up. And up, and up, and up. The sails came out, and we began to move. And move, and move, and move. Spray blasted us, but it was the kind you don't care about. Perfect breeze, perfect sky, perfect destination, perfect seafood dinner awaiting us ashore."

Carol Anne also gave us a great example with her three posts about a peak experience with Team Zorro, parts One, Two and Three. "Peak Experience" would also have been an excellent title for the project.

Or if you are a Serious Ocean-Going Racer (SOGR) like Edward at the EVK4 SuperBlog you might write about a landfall after a long voyage, or... or.... or.... I dunno. I'm not an SOGR so I wouldn't know what turns SOGRs on and makes them say, "Heyitwasgreat". But there must be something.

So please share with your fellow sailors a story about a day under sail when the weather was wonderful, the company was congenial, the sailing was superb, and the mood was magic. Kayaking readers are welcome to participate too. Same rules as usual...

1. Write a post on your blog on the subject of "Heyitwasgreat".

2. Once you've posted your story, let me know about it by sending an email to tillermeister@gmail.com including a link to your post. If you don't have a blog just email me the story and I will post it here. Please let me know about your post or send me your story before Saturday 19 July. Choose a unique title for your story please. We don't want a dozen posts all entitled "Heyitwasgreat".

3. I will post here two links to your story. Every day or so I will write a post listing any new entries in the project. Then at the end of the project I will provide a summary post with links to all of the articles about your special days, your peak experiences.

Please participate in this project. Do it for fun. Do it to so that new readers will find your blog. Do it to share the fun of sailing. Do it so that we can marvel about how many different types of sailor there are and how we can say about so many different sailing experiences, "Heyitwasgreat."

Just One of Those Days

Someone left a comment here a few days ago to the effect that how ever many days you have bad experiences when sailing, sooner or later you will have "One of Those Days". He or she was right. On Saturday I had One of Those Days.

My son and I hitched up our Lasers and headed out early for the First Annual Sunfish/Laser Regatta at the lake club near his home. The weather was cloudy and damp, the winds were light and patchy, but it was a cool event. The host club was very friendly and there was a mellow laid-back atmosphere to the whole day.

There was plenty of friendly banter between all the sailors, both on and off the water. I entered into the spirit by joshing in every race with one of the young guys in the Laser fleet there...

"I'll follow you. You seem to know where you're going."

"Man you're a genius. Wish I could do roll-gybes like that."

"You let me down. That was the wrong side of the beat. You're a bad influence. I'm going to keep away from you."

Then when my son was leading a race I shouted at the top of my voice, "Gooooooooo Fat Boy!" (My son was probably the heaviest sailor there.) The other sailors laughed. Not sure if he really appreciated it though.

Then when he was leading in another race, "Man, just look at how fast that kid is. I taught him everything he knows."

There were seven races. A mix of Gold Cup courses and courses with various numbers of windward-leeward laps... with a downwind finish in every race. I hate downwind finishes. I can never seem to catch anyone on a run; but if I am ahead I am always worrying that a puff from behind will push the competition back down to me. As I crossed the finish line in one race I joked to the PRO, "These downwind finishes are excruciating."

"Even when you're winning?" he asked.

"Especially when I'm winning."

There was a good mix of sailors in the fifteen boat fleet. All ages, including a bunch of kids from the local high school team, a couple of females, and at least one sailor older than me. The toughest competition was from a high school kid who was super-fast in the light air and must have weighed about 90lbs less than me, a college kid, a guy about my age who has been sailing some of the other local regattas with me, the coach of the high school team, and my son who was lying in second place in the rankings at lunch time. Nobody was consistently at the front. Even the race winners had some bad races. So it was tough to keep track of what everyone's score was.

God, I made some awful mistakes...

There was one race where the wind went hard left just before the start and I was at the wrong end of the line, not even on the line, with two boats to windward of me and a dozen boats ahead nearer the pin all giving me bad air. But somehow I eventually managed to find a lane and start weaving my way through the fleet.

And on the run in the first race I went to the wrong side of the course and watched half a dozen boats pass me on the other side. But I did have the sense to gybe over and get on the left side of the course to avoid being on the outside of one of those painful pinwheel roundings.

Upwind I tried to sail towards the pressure. Stay in the puffs. Connect the dots. It didn't always work out perfectly but usually I rounded in the leading group.

On the courses that had reaches I usually managed to separate from the boats near me by heading up for the puffs coming off the nearby shore and then riding them down.

My runs weren't great but by the end of the day I had realised that I had to look behind, work out which side was going to get a puff, and then aggressively head over there.

It was very reminiscent of all those days I spent racing in my Sunfish on New Jersey lakes. You just had to keep your head out of the boat all the time and watch the water like a hawk for every hint of where the wind was and where it would be next.

As I said, it turned out to be One of Those Days. By some fluke I managed to win four of the seven races and, along with a third and a fourth and a throwout seventh place, that was good enough to win the regatta. First time I've won a Laser regatta in over three years. My last win was The Regatta in 2005 of which I was the co-founder. (But it doesn't really count if you hold a regatta just so you can win it, does it?)

So it was pretty cool to score a win on the last day of the sixth decade of my life. What better birthday present could there be? Definitely One of Those Days.

Signal Flags Question

It's shaping up to be an awesome weekend.

Yesterday was America's birthday. Well not really but close enough. In celebration I bought myself a new barbecue grill this week. Charcoal of course. I'm a charcoal snob. None of this modern gas grill nonsense for me. Tillerwoman and I have already been enjoying the grill. What could be more traditional on America's birthday weekend, even if it is the wrong date? Son #2 and his girlfriend came to see us on Friday too. Life is good.

Then Sunday is the birthday of George W. Bush, the last birthday he will enjoy as President of the United States. Love him or hate him, surely you can find something to celebrate in that fact?

Sunday is also someone else's birthday. Someone who writes a sailing blog, and who has sailed his Laser 45 days this year so far. Yup, On Sunday I will have to change the sidebar on this blog from saying "I am rapidly approaching 60 years of age" to say that I am officially "past it".

Even better, today Saturday I am sailing in a Laser regatta with son #1. It's the first time I've sailed with him this year. Not surprising really as he has been somewhat busy in the last few months with a full-time job, a family, trying to sell his house, looking for a new house to buy, graduating from law school, and studying for the bar exam. And did I mention that his wife is expecting our second grandchild any day now? Given all that, I am very grateful that he is finding the time to sail with me on my birthday weekend. Life is good.

Oh, by the way, does anyone know what flags the race committee should fly to signal, "Your wife has just gone into labor and you need to go to the hospital immediately"?

Happy Second

On July 2 1776, the Congress of thirteen of the British colonies in North America passed a Resolution of Independence presented by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia.

Resolved, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

With the passage of the Resolution of Independence, the colonies had officially severed political ties with Great Britain. In a now-famous letter written to his wife on the following day, John Adams predicted that July 2 would become a great American holiday.

The famous grand parchment document in the National Archives known as the Declaration of Independence, but actually titled "The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America", was signed by most of the delegates on August 2 1776, although some signers were not present and had to sign later.

Happy Second.

Dear Prudence

Today I sailed from Weaver Cove in Portsmouth RI across to Prudence Island and around round look around round round there a bit.

Prudence Island is the third largest island in Narragansett Bay and is the largest one not connected by bridge to the mainland. It is famous for deer ticks and for being a US Navy ammunition depot in WW2.

The sun was up. The sky was blue. It was beautiful and so are you.

I apologize to fans of Miss 43. I held off as long as I could before doing 2008 sail #44. You can still see Miss 43 at Numbers.

Dear Prudence. Won't you come out to play?

The End

What's the point?

All this Laser racing. I never seem to improve. It's a delusion that I can ever learn to sail smarter or faster.

I looked at the results of the US Laser Masters Nationals at New Bedford a couple of weekends back. Deja vu all over again.

The first major Masters regatta I sailed in the US was the 1990 Nationals at Lavallette in New Jersey. I was tenth in my age group... a mere Apprentice Master (under 45) back then. Folks like Had Brick and Peter Seidenberg took home the trophies. So where was I in the results this year? Tenth in age group again... now an aging Grandmaster (55-65). And Had Brick and Peter Seidenberg were on the podium again.

Zero progress in eighteen years. Why do I bother?

I looked at the names of the sailors ahead of me in the fleet at New Bedford (not just the Grandmasters). I recognized ten of the eleven names immediately above mine. I've been sailing against these guys for two decades. And they've been beating me for two decades. It would be depressing if it weren't so pathetic.

Why do I bother?

Looking on the bright side...

• I was in the top half of my age group. So that's a good stake in the ground for qualification for future Masters Worlds (through 2013 perhaps) just in case they change the rules. I'm not Unqualified yet.
  
  
• I did discover one major flaw in my technique and have an idea on how to improve it. Maybe I still can sail smarter and faster one day?
  
  
• I did beat that guy in three races. So I wasn't a total bozo in every race. Maybe I can beat him in a regatta at least once this season?
  
  
• And, in spite of everything, it was enormous fun. I don't know why. It just was.

Maybe I won't sell my Laser and buy a rocking chair just yet.

Who Comments on Sailing Blogs?

Who comments on this blog and why?

About 250 people come by this blog on an average day. Another 300 or so access it via email or the RSS feed. Yet it's a good day if 3 or 4 people leave a comment. So I've been wondering. What motivates someone to leave a comment? What kind of person leaves comments on blogs? And why?

I read a fair number of sailing blogs myself. I leave a comment if I like what I read, if I disagree with the post, if I want to express support with the writer or commiserate with her, if I find the blog funny or informative, if it raises a question in my mind, if I feel I can add something to the discussion... whatever. I'm not a naturally chatty person in real life. Maybe I'm just a geek who finds it easier to communicate via blogging. But I'm sure all commenters are not like me.

So please tell me why you comment on this blog. Or why you never do. Or why you think other people comment. Or why you comment on other blogs but not this one. Please tell me why some posts provoke comments and others do not.

Lobster on Fridays

TOWN COUNCIL RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the Department of Environmental Management, with cities and towns in Rhode Island, will place large amounts of toxic poisons into catch drains and, sewers in the hope of killing mosquitoes; and

WHEREAS, this same toxic poison, as it finds its way into the bay, has the same deadly effect, upon the larvae of lobsters; and

WHEREAS, one of Little Compton’s leading industries is the harvesting of lobsters from the harbor, bay and sound, and this discharge of toxic poisons will have an adverse effect on this industry; and

WHEREAS, Little Compton is the end destination of tourists enjoying the historic sights, our beaches but also the fine lobster entrees offered by Little Compton restaurants.

Now Therefore Be It RESOLVED: that the Town of Little Compton intentionally refrains from the use of any methoprene and any other toxic poisons that present the same risk as methoprene in the mosquito abatement program and look to other less invasive methods of mosquito control.

Adopted by the Little Compton Town Council on April 10, 2008.

Are pesticides killing Rhode Island lobsters?

My Bay

Mount Hope Bay is my bay. I don't mean that I actually own the whole freaking bay, of course. But it's the water I see when I wake up in the morning and look out of the bedroom window, it's the bay I see while I sit here typing away at my keyboard, it's the foreground for the spectacular sunsets I enjoy sitting on the deck with Tillerwoman sipping a cocktail or three, and it's that body of water once referred to by my granddaughter as "Grandad's Pool". Yes, Mount Hope Bay is my bay.

For the geographically challenged, Mount Hope Bay is the north-eastern arm of Narragansett Bay, bounded by the towns of Bristol and Warren on the west, Tiverton and Fall River on the east, Somerset and Swansea in the north, and the northernmost tip of Aquidneck Island in the south. It's a relatively quiet corner of Rhode Island waters. The busiest time is Wednesday evenings when Tiverton Yacht Club holds some races in Mount Hope Bay. At other times we see a few recreational boaters, the occasional commercial fishing boat, and a few times a week a freighter, usually I assume carrying coal to the Brayton Point power station at the head of the bay.

I don't often sail my Laser on Mount Hope Bay. The most convenient launching sites (especially for a solo sailor) around here are actually into other nearby parts of the Narragansett Bay system. Which is a shame. Because Mount Hope Bay is my bay. However, on a Wednesday afternoon a couple of week ago I did launch my Laser at high tide from Independence Park in Bristol, sail out of Bristol Harbor, past Hog Island, under Mount Hope Bridge, at one time the longest suspension bridge in New England (didn't know that did you?), and into my bay.

I sailed the three or four miles from the bridge over to the water in front of our house. If I squinted I could just see a dot on the deck that might have been Tillerwoman. Later I discovered that she had been taking some photos of the crazy Laser sailor of Mount Hope Bay. I look like a white dot in the photos. Some of the best one have all of seven pixels representing my Laser. Distances can be deceptive.

And then I sailed upwind back through the bridge and to where I had launched. Sailing back is always good. Beats the alternative.

My bay has been in the news this week. There has been a proposal bouncing around for some time from an outfit known as Weaver's Cove to build a terminal for Liquefied Natural Gas tankers in Fall River which would involve supertankers traversing my bay to reach the terminal. There was much local opposition to the idea, and this particular scheme was eventually killed when the US Coast Guard announced that they didn't believe LNG tankers could safely navigate the constricted waterways and bridges in the town of Fall River.

So then those clever LNG chappies came up with a new scheme. Build an offshore berth and floating natural gas terminal for the tankers in Mount Hope Bay and have an underwater pipeline from the offshore berth up the Taunton River into the re-gasification plant at the northern end of Fall River. Suck on that one US Coast Guard.

There have been some meetings this week to allow "input" from the public on this clever idea. Of course all the local politicians and environmentalists are against it. As one of our local state representatives said, "What angers me, what incenses me … is that these people have the audacity to construct this facility in our bay. Mount Hope Bay belongs to the people, not Weaver’s Cove." Hmmm. It belongs to us does it? Maybe it really is my bay.

Anyway I haven't made up my mind yet how I feel about this issue.

The concerns of the environmentalists no doubt have some validity but they are often stated in somewhat hysterical terms. One of the scariest prospects raised is that LNG tankers and terminals are a target for terrorist attacks and that if one ever did blow up it would incinerate every living being within a mile radius. Interestingly the proposed offshore berth is a mile offshore. Hmmm.

On the other hand we do need fuel for our power stations. Apparently most of the power stations around here use natural gas, and of course demand is rising. If we don't use gas then what? Shall we build a nuclear power station on my bay instead? And I don't want to be a knee-jerk NIMBay (Not In My Bay). The power stations to generate the electricity for all of those electric cars touted by John McCain have to be built somewhere, and the fuel for them has to be shipped in somehow. Who am I to say that they can't use my bay?