A Little Something About Last Weekend.

Image courtesy of Dolphin24.org - thank you!

Between Leg 5 of the 5 Years Around Long Island expedition being last weekend, my very first Level 4 Coastal Kayaking course being this weekend, and a recurring biannual crazy period at work, I have been Very very swamped right now, but I figured I'd at least drop by and say "Aloha".

Year 5 was quite good - the usual group dynamic issues cropped up on Day 1, when we did a crossing that ended up being a lot longer than some of the group was actually able to sit in their boats without being in pain (one short stretch break would've helped tremendously), but the next 2 days were positively sublime, conditions were perfect, food was great and...oh, there was a VERY special treat here at the end.

Lifting this from my Facebook page btw - too tired to actually write.

Anyways.

I never realized it but our Paddling Chef's dad, the very kind gentleman who hosted us and all our stinky gear this weekend, is a racing sailor of very high repute. He and his brother won the Snipe International Championship in 1942. Their boat was named W.P.A. - We Pass All.

He continues to race succesfully in the Manhasset Bay One Design fleet, and through his good graces, we had permission to launch and land on the grounds on one of the magnificent estates on Sands Point - fictionalized as "West Egg" in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. What a treat for a longtime Fitzgerald fan to stand on a sweeping lawn, looking over at the docks across the bay, and imagining that green light shining at the end of one of them.

Curiousity about our gracious host's racing career thoroughly piqued, I came home after the trip, googled him, and immediately came up with Jackrabbit's page, where, with the webmaster's permission, I got the photo shown above.

And don't miss the link at the end to his article in the June 1967 issue of One Design & Offshore Yachtsman.

Good stuff.