Maggie's Farm

Everybody has been at the golf Open at Winged Foot this week. No-one in New England or New York has been working. Boring, if you ask me, but it's not my game.

But the Newport-Bermuda Race began yesterday. Your editor Bird Dog has always wanted to be asked to crew, but has never been asked, doubtless for good reason. He is blessed with a good feel for the sea, including a certain kind of comfort, or even joy, with very nasty and scary seas, but is cursed with some sort of ineptitude when it comes to practical mechanisms and instant decision-making. And a race in which things do not break is a bore - but something always does break on boats.

You can follow the race here. I only know one skipper in the race this year. Is it highly physical? You bet, unless it is one of those dull races with no wind from start to glorious finish, with drinks and abundant hot showers, at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club in wonderful Bermuda. This 635 mile race is so long that a good start doesn't matter, but you have to keep your crew focused, energized, and on the ball. Why not try for a good start?  Photo from just before the starting gun in Newport, RI, below: