Notice to Mariners

Newport, RI -- With 455 entries for the 2007 Optimist New England Championship hosted this week at Sail Newport on August 7-9, you figure that there has to be a Notice to Mariners issued for the Narragansett Bay area. That many boats must fill up the bay, and god-forbid you happen to be downwind of the course when a big blow comes through. With 60% chance of rain on Wednesday accompanied by high winds and scattered thunderstorms, visions of tumbleweeds bounding across the barren desert comes to mind. And these are just daytime concerns.

The risk seems high of getting trampled at the Ryan Family Amusement center on Thames Street, which claims to have a “games room featuring over 50 of the hottest/ coolest arcade & skill games.” That would seem to be of interest to at least some of the 455 Opti sailors. No doubt the ‘buttheads of Team One Newport are running low on youth sized everything, and who knows how long the line will be this week at the Cold Stone Creamery on Bellevue Ave. Rough goings could extend to the gas stations too, as an Opti fleet of this size must also carry with it a flotilla of Mommy Boats (aka, support RIBs).

Where were the CNN warnings for the locals when they needed them?