From the Rider/Mechanic's seat! Chattanooga!

By Terry Lewis

How can I begin my summary of the Chattanooga Trip other than by WOW oh WOW! What fun! What class! What great people! And what food! Holy food! Did I forget to mention boats, boats, and more boats?! Hey- how about that food!!?

OK, in a nutshell, the Chattanooga Trip was like cruise on land in which you get to race and play with your boat! In my case, it was to be a rider/mechanic in Marty Ferry's boat and be part of his pit crew! Either way, it was a pretty fun experience!

I thought my rider job was to only take place in Glory Days, Marty & Claire's JS-30. However, I learned upon immediate departure, my job was effective immediately as Claire climbed into the back seat with DVD movies, head phones, books, magazines and I think she even had popcorn back there! Marty hopped behind the wheel! So, from the get-go of leaving Eustis, Florida, my rider position was set. The one AND ONLY time I decided to nod off to sleep as we were traveling north, I got woken up by hearing Marty say "oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no" and us braking. I woke up to see a mini van slide across in front of us losing it's bumper, other pieces of chrome and stuff as it goes and it just appears to be just skidding right along. We were in the far right lane and this van had already gone across the median and across OUR four lanes of the north bound I-75 traffic. The bottom line, this van wasn't even on "our" team; it was a south bound traveler! Phew! That was a close call and just goes to prove that as a rider, one must be always aware of where all the other players are located and verify we have an open run! Ok, I now realize that I am the Rider/Mechanic and I just let our team down by nodding off for a moment!

Might I say that Marty and I decided this was a good time for us to practice our hand signals for when we'd be racing Glory Days. I even suggested we don our safety helmets just for good measure!

Did I mention that this van incident was one of the rare times that Claire came up for air??!! Anyway, onto Chattanooga we continued!

Upon arrival to the event grounds, we met other Skiffers and the other boaters. This is when I realized that our Skiff was like a bathtub next to the HUGE Offshore Guys! I quickly checked out the spectacular tractor trailers with canopied "hospitality suites" attached to them! It didn't take Claire and me long to figure out from where food and beverages were served and we dined like Queens during our entire visit! I guess this is where I get that feeling of this trip being like a cruise on land in which you play with boats! Oh, did I mention that Claire and I proposed to the two chefs that cooked for us three times a day?? It didn't hurt that they were nice and good looking too but we were just after the food! Go figure!

Oh, getting back to the boating part of the trip! Marty and I had a ball out there on the water! Some of the Jersey guys were teasing with us and this one guy kept teasing me that he was going to get close enough to us to reach out and touch me while we were racing! Well, imagine my surprise and terror, when in the second heat, we took off like a bat out of "you know where" and Marty, Glory Days, and I were just in sync if you know what I mean. This heat was a "go for it heat" and coming into the first turn, one of these good ol' Jersey boys (Haulin Trash) was pinching us out of the turn and Marty just went for it on the inside forcing them out a bit. I swear I could have reached out and touched the driver and into the turn it felt like we were on top of them! Talk about feeling the adrenaline pumping! What a rush. That whole heat was just an out and out blast. Boy the Skiff named "The General G" was a real kick-butt boat and he just smoked everyone out of the water! Again, it was just plan fun with a capital F.

I must say there were a couple of incidents of Garvies tossing out a rider and one stuffing their boat which makes you realize that this can be serious. Fun, yes. Serious too.

While Marty and I are out in the water, Claire is on land playing photographer near the spectators. The "hot pit" area was about ¼ of a mile away as the crow flies but you had to go up this mountain that had to have been five miles high!! Not really, but after trucking up and down it several times a day, it feels like it's a steep grade AND five miles high! After putting in, running, and pulling out, we had quite a little system going between the three of us!

Remember what I said about this being a first class operation? Well, in the hot pit area, were the Sunoco boys! You could just pull up and say "fill 'er up." They probably got a kick out of watching all the big fancy boats and crews coming and going and they probably got a kick out of us little guys too! I know they thought I was stealing "Claire's truck and empty trailer" as the evil eyes were on me!! Little did I know that Claire had them "watching it" as she kept hiding the keys in her little special spot!!! They made a wonderful addition to her key chain that I discovered when getting the truck & trailer to haul Glory Days out of the water the last day!! Did I mention that not only was I a good Rider for Marty but I was a good pit crew girl by fetching the truck & trailer, backing it down to the water in a blink of an eye and yanking Marty & boat out quicker yet. Poor Claire would show up huffing and puffing at the point of pulling the boat out of the water. She claimed the mountain hike held her up!! Likely story!! (I am being very bad here!! All kidding aside, she did have a hike to get over the mountain to help!)

Back in the pit area by the spectators, I tightened nuts and bolts checked fluid levels etc and did some minor repairs on Glory Days! Yes, Marty supervised, but I was truly the Rider Mechanic! Claire and I were good pit girls by keeping Glory Days polished and pretty! People kept gathering around admiring "my boat" and I kept just chatting away but would eventually "give" that she wasn't "my boat." Gee- wouldn't Jitterbug be a smashing hot boat on this circuit?? I kept picturing her painted in the "hot pink" Geico colors……..

Speaking of Hot Pink Geico colors, there were these two cutie patootie Geico girls that walked around in their Hot Pink or Lime Green bikinis with the cutest "Mechanic’s Jump" suit loosely over their bikinis. They were passing out AMF Racing goodie bags and Claire & I really wanted their Jump Suits. I mean we really wanted them! Those poor girls had the guys after them for…. Yeah, the goodie bags! And us girls after them for their Jump Suits. All kidding aside, the one gal named Meghan, wasn't just a pretty face and bod! At the street festival downtown, she rattled off specs, records, etc like a race pro! You go Meghan!

Oh I could go on and on about this trip but I think you get the jest of it. Boating, fun, and food! Gee, this boating stuff really is tough stuff!

Thank you to John Haggin for inviting the Jersey Skiff race guys. Thank you to those Jersey boys that invited Marty which in turn meant that I got invited. Thank you to Marty for inviting me. Thanks guys (and Claire) for a really fun event!

Hey – can someone tell John Haggin that my little Jitterbug JS-3 can be hot-pink in a New York minute! (or should I say in a New Jersey minute?) Maybe he needs a traveling accountant and a Jersey Skiff Geico Girl Team?? What do you say Claire?? (I'm in the Mt. Dora phone book!!)