Kathy Massel

(Kathy spent four summers at Alliquippa, from 1975-78. Here are a few of the things she remembers most clearly.)

~ BUG JUICE

~ The Negligee! The pink Small Pointer that Billy Smith built for his wife.

~ Racing as much as possible on the Bluenose with Art, Teddy & J.J.

~ Playing Hearts in the Boy's Dorm with Jack Ramey, Andy Schaffer & Dinney Hamburger.

~ The Color War Teams: Underarm Stain White & Puke Green.

~ Watching Billy Smith build boats.

~ When J.J. broke Mickey's arm for his Tabasco Sauce trick.

~ Drying the sails on the grass.

~ Tim Ullman announcing, "Did you know that today is the 7th day of the 7th month of 1977?"

~ Running right over the life jacket during the Man Overboard part of my Junior Skipper's License. Good thing it wasn't somebody's head

~ Listening to some new album called "Rumors" -- that Zena bought -- in the wicker room.

1975
~ Rowing out to Goose Rock at night to find a clue in the scavenger hunt.

~ Scraping barnacles off the bottom of the boats.

~ Eating so many blueberries that I should have turned blue.

~ Collecting sand dollars on Hermit Island. All of which I still have.

~ Learning the anatomy of a clam -- the belly, neck & rim -- & that the bellies were the best bait, but I still caught skates.

~ Clam digging at Sea Wall & coming home covered with Greenhead bites.

~ Trips to L.L.Bean on rainy days.

~ Listening to "The Long & Winding Road" & "Black Dog" at EVERY single dance.

* * *

The following is a journal entry Kathy wrote after a memorable race in the Bluenose, with Ted Vogel.

The day was Sat. morning, July 1977. Ted and I were racing the "Bluenose" in Casco Bay (Maine). This was the race which determined the championship. There hadn't been much wind through the whole race, which was bad news for us since the "Bluenose" has a wooden boom, as opposed to aluminum. This made the boat heavier, therefore slower. We were very close to being the last boat to come in since we weren't too far from the number 16 buoy. This was the last marker in the race we had to pass. Slowly but surely, the wind began to pick up a tiny bit. It was enough to get us caught up. The wind got stronger and stronger and sent us sailing across the finish line. It was close, but we did it. For the 10th year in a row, the "Bluenose" was the championship boat.




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1978