Sandy- How are we all doing?

[Justin Scott]

LIS and New Jersey Viper fleets were in the center of Sandy.
I have had no power, no communication (telephone or internet) and no access by road to and from my house since Monday. The roads are blocked by fallen trees and downed power lines.  We are okay (plenty of stores of water and food).

Thanks to fellow West Coast Viperers Drew Harper and Garrett who were visiting the East Coast for the International Cup. They drove down from Marblehead in a rented Lincoln Town car and parked as close to our house as they could get and then hiked in. We hiked out at 4 am yesterday morning and we all flew to San Francisco where I am staying on Yukon Jack and enjoying sunny skies, 70 degrees and tequila.

We checked in on Barry and Sue Parkin... their Viper is safe on high ground...and their generator is thumping away giving them electricity.  As the storm was arriving with the surge tide, Barry sailed a dock onto his front lawn!

Hoping that Doug and Dawn made out okay.

[Tim Carter]

Save me a spot @ Tres Justin....    :P

[Peter Beardsley]

It's a bit rough out here in the NY tri state area but slowly getting better, at least for some.  Larchmont YC sustained a fair amount of damage -- clubhouse is fine, but party pavilion is crushed, pier is destroyed, pool not good, drysail area a mess but probably workable in the short term to save the winter sailing season.  The Vipers were high and dry -- derigged rapidly after Saturday's demo and moved to high ground, all came through unscathed. 

Raritan YC where Dawn sails from is in very bad shape.  Nearly every single boat destroyed is my understanding.  Dawn's was high and dry away from the water thankfully.  Doug's boat near the epicenter of hurricane landfall was also ok from my emails with them.   Almost all of us are still without power and heat, and in my case from the 31st floor of my apartment building in lower Manhattan, running water.  Still, we are in better shape than most and have access to power across the street for charging laptops and phones, and aircards make internet forum posting possible.  And we will be leaner and meaner for the 2013 sailing season after climbing 31 flights of stairs to get home each day since the elevators are busted. 

[Doug Mroz]

Boat is ok thanks for asking. I had it 30 miles inland from Ocean City, which then made me have to worry about trees! Thankfully nothing happened. OC yacht club was flooded. They had to rip up the dance floor and carpet. We were able to get the floating docks pulled out just in time!

[Justin Scott]

I finally got internet and telephone back yesterday.....nearly 13 days after the hurricane!


NY State seems to be struggling more than CT. I have to drive through three National Guard road blocks to get Jamie to and from school because so many houses in the powerless country roads are still vacant. 

Riverside YC up and functioning. I went down to do a little frostbiting this Sunday vs fellow Viperers Barry Parkin, Sue Parkin and John Logue.  Beautiful day in the 60s. We were wearing shorts. But no wind, so racing abandoned. 

I understand that Raritan YC (home club of our class president Dawn Kozak) got really hammered so sending positive thoughts to Dawn.   I spoke to Jim Walsh and the Jersey clubs on Barnegat Bay have been very beat up and some were close to destroyed.  I know that we are probably worried about whether they will have the facilities for our Atlantic Coasts due to be held at Raritan next year...but I think it would be a very nice message of support from all of us  if we could find some way to launch and to hold a major Viper regatta in New Jersey in 2013.   We are a pretty ingenious group, with lots of engineers and I bet we could figure out something with tow lines, ramps and pick up trucks (Where is Jeff when you need him?). It would be very special to rendezvous and go sailing in New Jersey next season.

Best

J