So said Morgan Freeman, who I read in today's
Observer magazine is
into sailing. A great actor - and I now know what to talk to him about in the unlikely event our paths cross.
I wonder what other celebs are sailors - or should that be sailors who are celebs?
22 comments:
Great question. I have blogged about how Albert Einstein and John Lennon were sailors. Bob Dylan and David Crosby too of course. I think Larry Ellison might sometimes sail.
And of course Paul McCartney is a Sunfish sailor
And John Kerry windsurfs.
All the Kennedys.
Ted Heath (politician not the band leader.)
Of course, Ted Heath, how could I forget (very easily)
...and going back in time again Simon Le Bon
Richard Branson
Cheryl Cole!!! (maybe - I like the idea anyhow
Assorted members of the British, Spanish and Danish Royal families.
Ted Turner.
Walter Cronkite.
In the movie "IQ", they showed Albert Einstein (Walter Matthau) sailing on Carnegie Lake in Princeton. That is one of the worst places in the world to sail. Or windsurf for that matter. Now, rowing is a different subject altogether.
Lake Carnegie? It is a bit narrow for sure. Cooper River, also in your neck of the woods Baydog, is almost as bad. Still people do race there and have fun. Did it once myself.
That would make another fun topic - which is the worst place in the world to sail?
Tillerman, seems like I have more in common with you every time you mention New Jersey. As easy as it is to call it Lake Carnegie, it is in fact called Carnegie Lake. In the early 70's, every year just before Thanksgiving, there used to be a Penguin regatta on the lake called the "Gobbler Bowl". We would drift around for hours Saturday morning, pretending to race, choose a winner, and then go to Palmer Stadium to watch the Princeton Tigers play football. I thought it was strange that there was a college named after toothpaste.
Cooper River is also a quirky place to sail. My Dad and I did very well there a few times. The last regatta in 1972, we had our dachshund sleeping in the boat the whole regatta. We won. Good memories. Did you ever sail Packanac Lake?
What about Dr. Laura? She sails, too!
Baydog, seems like I have more in common with you every time you mention New Jersey. As easy as it is to call it Packanac Lake, it is in fact called Packanack Lake. I have done better than sail there; I have actually run a regatta there.
In a previous existence I was kind of the godfather for junior Sunfish sailing in North Jersey. Every year I organized a series of junior regattas at various lakes. One year the folks at Packanack Lake volunteered to host one of the regattas (or maybe I twisted their arms a bit to do it.) They provided a small motor boat as race committee boat but I seem to remember that I ended up more or less in charge of the race committee too.
What an amazing lake! I wouldn't have believed it possible to run sailboat races on it until I ended up having to do it.
Good for Doctor Laura. I guess a better question would be, "What celebs are average weekend sailors like you and me who just do it for fun and who rarely ever win (if they race at all) and who are not widely known as sailing celebrities?"
The point I am trying to make is that Doctor Laura and Walter Cronkite are in a different category from Ted Turner and Larry Ellison. And all the better for it.
I was missing the k. When I was young, I guaged Penguin regattas by the donut spread they had at registration. Packanack I remember was top-notch. I'll never forget what I did there. I was pretty young (9 or 10) and during the skippers' meeting, I took the Penguin out for a spin by myself and sailed straight into a moored boat. It left a nice chunk of wood missing from our bow but my Dad never blew his top over it. And he rarely missed blowing his top. That's the most clear memory of Packanack I have. Besides the donuts. Silly, huh?
Baydog, do you recall if there were wooden floor boards in the bottom of your penguin? I'm trying to identify the 1st boat I ever sailed in (1950's).
Yes, but it was one piece of fairly thin plywood that was cut and conformed to the shape and curve of the bilge. It was painted white with sand in it for non-skid
12-ft plywood cat boat built from a kit. Me & Dad built it. I sailed it.
Me and Dad. I like it.
Well, he built it and I helped. Then I sailed it, without his help. Except, he was aboard, the first time I raced it. A Penguin. I always thought of it as a Gull, but that is just what we named it. You totally described the floor boards - exactly the way it was.
I didn't realize it at the time, but that race "absolutely changed my life."
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