South Jersey Stories

Iron Mike Sluzenski bow, Rick Reddog Dove stern. Strong catch of stroke. Brigantine bay, New Jersey 1979. We did our last set of starts, making sure we hit our first 10 strokes as fast as possible. Practice had went well and my bowman Mike "Slu" Sluzenski pulled the truck near the race boat as I took the oars and set them in the truck bed. One of the local girls walked by and Lieutenant Mike "Thor" Morrell pulled up on the patrol quad. We chatted a minute but wanted to get the footbraces and seats out of the boat and left Morrell and Sherry to talk. I hear a loud cackle from Morrell as he and Sherry take off down the beach in the truck. I yell, "get back here with our oars!" and Morrell just cackles harder.  About twenty minutes went by and we had walked up to Beach Patrol Headquarters and Morrell pulls up laughing his patented cackle. "Real funny Thor!" I annoyingly shout. I walk around to the back of the truck and Slu's bow oars are

Small beach on left, White Sunfish flipped over. The cold south jersey wind finally eased off enough to get outside. Picked up my Mom and said "lets go down to Old Barney and on the way get a sandwich and I'll show you a really cool cove." Mom is always up for adventure and happily agreed to the plan. We picked up our sandwich and pulled into small beach area of Kinsey Cove and ate while admiring the view. "This is the beach I anchored my sailboat."  We drove down Kinsey Lane which is a narrow, one way that has many cottages that are refreshingly restored without losing the old island charm.  "My sailing partner Bob Rossiter showed me this lane, we would sail accross from Barnegat on the mainland, beach his catboat and get some exercise while enjoying this beautiful hidden gem." Mom and I with small cottage on its own tiny island in Kinsey Cove.