While the Rage and its crew take a much deserved rest from racing, I am going to post Stafford’s reports on the Long Island races. Keep checking back to read about each day’s events. If you happen to miss a day, just click on next at the bottom, and it will take you to the previous post.
Here is Part 1:
Wednesday Prep in Long Island:
Wednesday and ZNS does not play the National Anthem at 6:00 AM as they usually do but moments later we hear Raphael Cartwright testing the Regatta Park P/A system – Testing, testing, good morning Long Island, ALL BOATS TO THE STARTING LINE PLEASE. Then he begins to sing “Long Island Breeze”! Talk about a wake up call. Chris Parker’s weather report calls for 6 – 10 knots of wind for the next few days. YES!! This is the kind of wind the Rage in particular likes to sail in. Pumpkin bread for breakfast then over to Harding’s Super Center for some fireworks and, oh yeah, some food and water too. Andrew, Cameron and the ladies are berthed ashore in the duplex we all stayed in a few times, its real close to Regatta Park and the anchorage, we pick them up and out to Nomad we go. The morning is spent leisurely rigging the Rage and the Dove for the competition to come. It’s nice having both boats here as compared to having to wait for the barge to arrive with the Dove. Denis leaves for the airport, he is gonna fly back to Abaco and be back here tomorrow with some more Regatta Revelers. Lunch time rolls around, slam bams of course, and then an hour of light rain cools the air. After the rain we take the Dove out for a feel but the wind is so light we really can’t even power up properly so we pack up for the day. Happy hour on Nomad then the Skippers Meeting over at Regatta Park. A couple Skippers whine some about some past events penalties (or lack thereof), no surprises here, and both our boats draw decent starting positions. Andrew, Eric and I attended and Eric volunteers himself as a member of the Protest Committee! 
Once done with this formality we drive to the Club Washington to say hi to Darren the proprietor and have a delicious down home style dinner. Bobby unleashes the pool shark within and leaves a few Long Island fellas with their mouths hanging open and, as usual, as soon as dinner is done I an ready to crashzzzzzzzzzzzz………………..
Filed under: Long Island Regatta, Race Happenings
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