829 Southdrive

829 Southdrive

A New Jersey state of mind



Thursday, August 12, 2010

A Cat's Meow




Last Saturday, we were fortunate to watch some of 
the BBYRA  A Cat race.  These beauties are unique
to the Barnegat Bay and the class has had a 
resurgence over the past two decades.  For a long time,
there were only four on the bay, but there are 12 now. 


I believe Raven was the only un-reefed boat that day
and they seemed perfectly able to keep the boat upright.
Note the massive sail area.



  This was taken during the summer of 2002
on the same downbay racecourse.  Mary Ann, the bay's
oldest A-Cat, was built in 1928.  My Old Man crewed
on her that summer.  He's the fourth from the bow.  It's
definitely the last competitive sailing he did before he
crossed the bar.  That summer, for a number of reasons,
we didn't put our boat in the water, but left it on the
trailer all season long.  Dad drove down from Lancaster
County every Friday night, climbed up a ladder, and
slept in our boat, on the hard, just to be ready
every Saturday to sail on Mary Ann.  


Torch


Vapor


Lightning


Raven, with the tanned shirtless guy who obviously
knows which way to go.  My Dad told me never to
point while racing.  With my arm.


Witch


Starboard tack to cover


Spyder and Witch, farther ahead of Raven than it looks.


Witch blasting to weather.


 At one time,  I was also a human boom vang.


As fate would have it, Witch, Raven, and Spyder
finished one, two, three.


Lotus Rounding the mark


Tamwock bearing off and pounding to the weather mark.


Tamwock, the Ocean County College 
sponsored boat,  rounding  


Could someone do something about the halyard?


Earlier in the day, we raced, as guests, with the Tall Oaks
Yacht Club.  Based out of the Forked River area, these
folks race, cruise, overnight, and just plain enjoy sailing
and each others' company.  No clubhouse, no bar,
nothing fancy.  Perfect.  Afterward was a pizza party
and as always, a good time was had by all.


Beans, Beans, Good for the heart


I'm thinking these berries are from NJ.


I'm feeling comfortable with the mission statement.


Commodore Bill with the 50/50 tickets.  Treasurer
Paul to the right looks on.  Good Sportsmanship
prevailed as the winner rolled the winnings back into
the club.  Admirable.    


Haydens' Hound


Forked River sunset.
Thanks to Cathie for all of the great shots.
You're hired!

7 comments:

  1. Nice Dave! Who knew there was such a great story in there! You were MY local knowledge on this one. A very memorable day!

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  2. Spectacular photos! One wishes they would expand when clicked upon! However, I have to ask what is this about

    Tamwock bearing off and pounding to the weather mark?

    Tamwock made a big mistake, having overstood? Right?

    Just a few minutes ago I presented an illustrated lecture at my fleet's monthly meeting about a West Coast catboat in which I dissed the ol' Chesapeake Bay catboats with their beamy hulls, massive 'barn door' rudders and inefficient rigging. But I was ignorant as to the existence of the A Cats.

    I'll have to look them up. Tomorrow, I'll re-format my lecture for a blog presentation.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Doc: My photos are always expandable and I found myself wanting to do just that. These were taken by a good friend, and posted from a disc which she supplied. Therein lies the explanation, though I couldn't expand on that either.

    Tamwock overshot that mark a touch, maybe not as much as it seemed, but they were also having mainsail troubles. It was honking as well which always magnifies any small glitch, as we all well know!

    They typify and represent the Bay better than any other boat I know.

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  4. Wow. That's some insane sailing. Human boomvang? Child abuse? I'd do it for the pie....

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  5. The Pie? Yeah! But what I really take away from this magnificent post is that,

    Booze is the duct tape of life

    I have always believed that, but until now was never able to articulate it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. God damn it, Dave. Now I'm hungry!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Where'd my comment on A-Cats go? I made it last night & this morning - it's not here!

    ReplyDelete