Sunday, August 19, 2012

New Jersey Stereotypes

I used to live in New Jersey.

It doesn't suck.

But many people have false stereotypes about New Jersey. They think it is full of awful people like...


Snooki


and


Tony Soprano


and 


Chris Christie.

What is less well known is that New Jersey is a superb area for sailing, especially Sunfish sailing and Laser sailing. The north-west area of the state is dotted with dozens of lakes surrounded by wooded hills and is a hotbed of Sunfish sailing. 

Here you will find scenes like...




and



And the Jersey shore has all kinds of sailing, including Laser sailing. The longest running Laser regatta in the US (maybe the world) is held annually in New Jersey at Surf City Yacht Club, won this year by....


Clay Johnson.



Another famous sailor who spent his early years in New Jersey is the US representative in the Laser class at the 2008 Olympics...

 Andrew Campbell.


As I discovered in the years I lived there, New Jersey is a wonderful place for a sailing family to live and to bring up their children to learn about and to enjoy our outstanding sport of sailing...

I wonder where this little chap is now?



I've never seen a "snooki" in a Sunfish

and I've never seen a "chris-christie" in a Laser

but I have seen the Jersey Devil....






This post is written in response to a request by Baydog to write a post on the topic of stereotypes and misconceptions about New Jersey. He won the right to choose a post subject for me in some nutty competition here a few weeks ago.


13 comments:

Baydog said...

That little chap was out on that same body of water today. Thanks for the post, Tillerman.

Tillerman said...

There you go. Learn to sail in NJ and you will be a life-long sailor. Are you listening Snooki?

Baydog said...

And to be mentioned in the same sequence as Clay Johnson and Andrew Campbell is humbling to say the least.

Tillerman said...

I'm sure that Clay and Andrew are humbled to be mentioned in the same sequence as Snooki.

bonnie said...

What happened to the bacon post?

bonnie said...

Seriously though...New Jersey should hire Baydog as a publicist. This reminded me of a New Jersey post he inspired me to do a couple of years ago.

http://frogma.blogspot.com/2010/06/scenes-from-real-new-jersey.html

bonnie said...

Oh, I found the bacon. Mmmm bacon.

Joe said...

Does Chris Christie sail a Finn? I'm pretty sure he'd swamp a Laser.

bonnie said...

there I go, looking for the "like" button again.

Tillerman said...

I think the ideal weight for a Finn sailor is around 210 lbs. Chris Christie is way more than that. Looks around 320-350 lbs to me. Very bad example in a country that has so many health problems caused by obesity.

Joe said...

there I go, looking for the "like" button, also.

bonnie said...

hm, all I would have to do is go on a bacon diet for a couple of months and I can be an ideal Finn sailor.

Tillerman said...

Go for it bonnie. With Ben Ainslie retiring from the class, the field is wide open.

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