Fleet 9 Onshore Regatta

When John Wyles is involved you don't need the finest excuse for a beer. Mike Holt was passing through New York City, so a planned gathering, by a few Fleet 9 members was all it took to squash a few pints last Tuesday night. It was Wyles that lead the pack into The 3 Kings down on 14th Street. The plan was then to head over the East River into Williamsburg, Brooklyn to a hearty old tavern called Mugs Ale House. This is a really cool spot if you are a beer maniac. The list of beer they have to offer is as long as any tiller extension.


We had a really fun evening as Mike and John are like encyclopedias on just about every 505 sailing. If you are in a fleet the chances of one boat being an ex Holt or Wyles boat are fairly high. These two exEnglishman living in sunny America offer a lot Five0 history and experience. And Mike, or Holty as he is more commonly known, is still beaming from his Worlds credentials, has a wealth of knowledge to share. Like what are these west coast boys really smoking out there?

Our gathering quickly got settled into beer and talking shop, 505 confessions and how to break a mast in San Francisco. There was the usual ramblings about the Kirwoods, Rondars and the waterats. I am convinced there is this secret partisan nod waterat owners have. Its an acknowledgement that they are sailing a rare species. We extended our discussion to the spreader situation and the sheeting angles and who has what strings to pull this and that. And then things got more interesting as confessions on weight, fitness and pain tolerances started to spill out, and what we all did to get ourselves to San Francisco. One particular helm had an amazing win win technique for warming up the stiff swollen hands before going sailing each morning. He would massage his wife before a race. Unbelievable! However this technique was quickly turned on its head. What if the wife wasn't around? Who would get the massage then? How many beers could you massage? Yes there was a bit of mumbling from the crew's union as it's a very dodgy situation. So if you are at the next regatta and you see two Five O sailors massaging each other before sailing its not because they've gone all mushy.

Between all this banter we had moved on and emptied out a Turkish restaurant and then into a Tiki bar with sand and surf boards. We could have been down at the mid winters? No way man we were still in Brooklyn!

Then all of a sudden it was that lousy hour on a school night. John had passed the point of no return home. Holty had to get back to the upper west side and got sucked up by a passing yellow cab. The fresh cold air spurred the rest of us on. We were keen for another round so when news came that Olav and Katrin might have some scotch back at their place right round the corner. Blaine, John and myself broke into a trot. Wow what a spot! Ha ha there is enough space in the front driveway of their house to park ten 505s, right in the heart of Brooklyn. This is where we should start the Fleet 9 splinter group for Onshore Activities! And Olav , the little hoarder, has a fine scotch collection. It is still a wee while till the next sailing event so we could keep up the Fleet 9 training by placing the weather mark at Mugs and the finish line at Olav and Katrin's. It's a sound course. That night I'll confess to putting in one more tack for another bar before running a ground. Getting home then seemed harder than sailing from the Berkley Circle to the beach. A good night.

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