|
|
|
Photo by
Vincent
Guadazno
Heather Rogers (left) and Bequitta Watkis are putting
their sailing lessons into practice. |
|
Out to Sea
A breezy look at the West End Racing
Club
Ring
Nason
BANNER STAFF
Whether you live here year round or you're just visiting, it's safe to say that you have been shelling out more than a few easy payments in order to enjoy the Provincetown experience this summer. And while you may be squeezing every last drop of excitement out of the whole Bohemian/beach scene that is offered here at the end of Cape, can you honestly say the same about your children? They probably stumble out of bed around noon, fumble through the delicate process of pouring milk into a bowl of Tony's Frosted Flakes, and then collapse on the couch just in time to watch the Showcase Showdown portion of 'The Price is Right,' followed by about three hours of soap operas filled with fake tears and unrealistic scripts.
Before your rage inspires you to strap a boogey board to your child's back and push them out to sea, you should know there is a service in Provincetown that can go about accomplishing this very same goal in a more professional manner, and with a more constructive result. It is the known as the West End Racing Club and for 45 years the club, located at 82 Commercial St., has been a haven for the Cape's otherwise misanthropic youth, who without the guidance and instruction it provides, might have spent their time running around on the beach trying to capture sickly sea gulls and place them in a little brown bucket (I speak from experience).
The Racing Club is managed by its Commodore and Treasurer, Flyer Santos, and is staffed by a fine group of responsible instructors who have never once lost a child at sea and blamed it on a shark attack. Instructors include Dan Hofflinger and Provincetown High School Spanish teacher Susan Avellar who, along with her father, was the former captain of the schooner Hindu.
Upon their arrival at the Racing Club children are taught all kinds of stuff (as that stuff relates to sailing), including the difference between the starboard side of a boat and the other side and how to tie all sorts of special sailing knots which, believe it or not, can be especially handy when you take hostages aboard your vessel, or for kidnapping purposes in general. The Racing Club asks that its participants be able to swim before getting involved in the actual sailing, that due to the fact that sailing occurs in the water. However, if there is a participant who is unable to swim and is somehow able to overcome the unbearable embarrassment associated with having to ask someone to teach them, the Racing Club is more than willing to lend a helping hand in this area of instruction, as well.
Children are taught to sail in two man teams with a Skipper and a crew member aboard cool little boats called Sunfish, and very often there is as much transference of knowledge between one kid to another as there is involving the instructors, which can be a good thing because knowledge is power, and power corrupts plus it's just more fun to learn something from someone your own age. Of course, the truly euphoric aspect of the entire Racing Club scene is the racing itself.
The Racing Club is strictly a nonprofit organization. It thrives on donations from the community as well as a raffle that it has at the end of the season when tickets are sold door-to-door by kids who look up at you with wide needy eyes and say 'Please Sir/Ma'm, don't take my boat away.'
|
Ranger-resident tensions continue
|
|
|
|
|
Jul 24th, 1997