Spend more time near the ocean

I went twice last week. Great exercise, good endorphins. Yay, summer!

Frog and I took Frogette and a friend for a dinner picnic on the beach. We ate a lovely dinner of salmon burgers with dill mayo on English muffins, watched the kids play in the wet sand as we shivered under the blanket, and a lovely time was had by all.

Frogette and I went to walk on the boardwalk to the lighthouse. I promised her we would go up the lighthouse if she wanted to next time. (There are more than 200 stairs, so she may change her mind, but it’s a beautiful view.)
We saw lots of deer who were as interested in us as we were in them, and we squealed at their cuteness together.
It was actually warm enough that we could go on the beach proper, and I was in heaven sitting on the sand as Frogette collected shells, staring out at the waves, and breathing in the ions. A perfect winter beach trip.

On the one day last week that the temperatures were above freezing (I think they were above freezing, and at the very least they were substantially above the norm for that week), Frogette and I went to the north shore. It would have been too cold to go to the real (south shore) ocean, so the bay was a compromise. Frogette took her bicycle to ride on the boardwalk, and I followed walking behind her. We got our heart rates up and laughed at the seagulls. Then, we went down on the sand and got as close as we could to the water. It was too cold to take our gloves off, so we didn’t collect the hundreds of fascinating mussel and clam shells we saw, but we admired them from afar.

The north shore will never do it for me like the south shore does, but I suppose it will tide me over until I can get back to the ocean.

My mind wants to go, but my body doesn’t. Maybe if it ever gets above 32 degrees…

Absolutely wonderful. Frog and I went for my birthday. As I told him, I wanted my most favorite person in the world with me in my favorite place in the world.

Frogette and I went for a last summer day on the beach Saturday, but we were scared out of the water by numerous, scary-looking jellyfish.

I hate to be a wimp, but I just couldn’t get past the fear of being stung.

Ah, well. Good thing I enjoyed the beach so very much this summer then.

Once with JE, just the two of us, kid-free! I took her on the walk to the lighthouse so we could feel virtuous about exercising while enjoying ourselves immensely.

Once with Frog, so fantastic! We walked to the lighthouse, and then climbed all the way upstairs to the top. What a trip! What a view! It was amazing. I’ve never seen so far in the distance before, even from the Statue of Liberty. On our way back to the sand, the sky quickly turned from blue to black, and we heard thunder. The air and the quality of light were so beautiful that we decided to sit on a bench and let ourselves get soaked so we could stay outside. Everyone was rushing past us to their cars, but we just stayed where we were and watched the steadily darkening, quickly changing sky. When the rain started, we got soaked with huge, heavy drops, and walked back to the car, drenched but happy.

Once with Frogette, and her first time willing to go all the way into the ocean past where she could stand. She is one brave cookie! I stood right next to her so I could grab her if she needed me, and we treaded water and jumped over the rolling waves. She didn’t even complain when she got splashed right in the eyes once. That’s my girl!

Happy, happy beach times.

Frogette and I went to the beach on Sunday, and had a delightful time. I’ve never seen the water like that before: at high tide, the waves broke very close to the shore, and the force was so strong that water from them washed uphill all the way to the end of the narrower parts of the beach! Everyone (including us) who had towels or blankets laid out on the sand were surprised when they got soaked. Tide pools formed on the top of the natural slope of the beach area, and we had lots of fun splashing in them.

When we left, Frogette said she wanted to go back again the next day. A girl after my own heart! So on Monday, Frog and I picked her up from camp, and we got to the beach at 5:00, just as everyone else was leaving. Which is just the way we like it! The water had calmed down somewhat, but was still breaking close and pushing uphill. We were wise to the towel placement this time, though, and since there were still lifeguards, I decided to brave the rough water. I only dared to stay in about five minutes, because I didn’t want to get worn out by the waves, but what a wonderful five minutes it was! On my way out of the water, when I was almost on the sand, I got knocked off my feet by a monster wave, and fell, tumbling under the surface a bit. There must have been a hurricane somewhere for the ocean to be that rough. Frog and Frogette built a huge sand castle, complete with moat, and we all had a great time again.

...the discussion board seems to think he WON! WoW! I’ll be visiting a happy Uncle if that is the case.

Hey Guys,

The Wed Night race crew raised our (NJ) Dark’n Stormy’s to you all tonight! Congratulations! Great Job!!! You are the talk of the town! We will have to get the new Mayor to give you a key to the city! Just wanted to let you know how proud we are of you all. Take lots of pictures and enjoy a great victory! We are looking forward to your return and some more partying.

I FOUND THE ARTICLE:
Sinn Fein wins Class 1 and the St. David’s Lighthouse Trophy

By Lynn Fitzpatrick

Sinn Fein, Peter Rebovich’s Cal 40 from Metuchen New Jersey, beat the other ten boats in Class 1 and the entire 123-boat St. David’s Lighthouse Division for top honors in the 2008 Newport Bermuda Race. This is Rebovich’s fourth successive Class 1 win and his second lighthouse win in a row.

In addition to claiming the St. David’s Lighthouse Division victory, Sinn Fein is the first boat ever to win the North Rock Beacon Trophy, which was donated this year by the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club for the winner on corrected time among all of the 122 IRC-rated boats in the combined St. David’s and the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Divisions.

Sinn Fein, pronounced “Sin Fin” by the renegades from Raritan Yacht Club, placed first in Class 1, the small boat group, in the 2002, 2004 and 2006 Newport Bermuda Races. The crew has been together for several Bermuda Races with five of the seven members having been on the 2002 team and all of them having been aboard for the Centennial Newport Bermuda Race in 2006, so all of them have now won Class 1 and St. David’s Lighthouse trophies.

The small boats had a very different race from that sailed by the big boats in the Open Division that finished the day before them. The winds were on the bow, straight from Bermuda the entire time, and were much stronger after the High that buffered the approach to Bermuda earlier in the week, had disappeared.

Peter Rebovich said of his crew, “This is the best crew in the race without a doubt and this was one of the most difficult races, because it was all upwind. No one got sick, but we did have mechanical issues. It was an unexpected win because we lost our electronics when we swamped the computer and lost use of our satellite phone. We could navigate, but we couldn’t communicate. It was a total surprise!”

Sinn Fein is no stranger to celebrating in Bermuda. The crew was unanimous in saying that they were going to drink a lot, go to the Governor’s party and eat Bermuda out of fish chowder.

Sinn Fein’s elapsed time or 104:43:57 corrected at 61:06:38 under ORR and 100:13:44 under the IRC rule. Selkie, a McCurdy Rhodes 38, skippered by Sheila McCurdy, Vice Commodore of the Cruising Club of America, was second with a corrected time of 62:10:18. Emily, Edwin S. Gaynor’s Nielsen 44, was third in the division with a corrected time of 63:23:48.

Sinn Fein’s all amateur crew is comprised of Peter S. Rebovich Sr., Gary Gochal, Henry Henning, Peter S. Rebovich Jr., Mark P. Rebovich, Kelly Robinson and Foster Tallman.