Newspaper and Magazine Articles

Northeast Boating Magazine - Jan 2008

The Great Garvey

EXTREME BOATS MAGAZINE ISSUE 4.3

speed skiffs...it's a jersey thang 2007 Article

The News Articles below are copies from assorted Newspapers.

Fast times on Father's Day

Beach Haven garvey races a multigeneration activity

By COURTNEY McCANN Staff Writer, (609) 272-7219

Published: Monday, June 19, 2006

Updated: Monday, June 19, 2006

BEACH HAVEN — Anthony Yagiello III stood in waist-deep water, red baseball cap pulled low over his sunburnt face and hands folded over his chest Sunday afternoon. Out ahead of him on Barnegat Bay, his son, Anthony Yagiello IV, maneuvered the garvey boat X-Treme out onto the water with co-pilot Bill Chadwick.

The Yagiellos were spending Father's Day competing in the first race of the East Coast Boat Racing Club of New Jersey's garvey and speed skiff racing season. Chadwick had driven the boat and won the first heat in the Super Stock division. The younger Yagiello would drive in the second heat. It was his first race behind the wheel.

“I'm not nervous,” the elder Yagiello said. “But my wife isn't too happy.”

The annual races began in the Ocean County area in the 1950s. Daredevil boat fanatics take simple crafts like the speed skiff and the garvey (traditionally used as a clam boat), attach a V8 engine and see how fast they can go without dying during the attempt.

The adrenaline-pumping summer pastime has become a family affair, something to be passed down from generation to generation, from father to son.

“This is a big family thing,” said Rob Lauer, president of the racing club and a Barnegat native. “I'm a second-generation racer and we have a lot of third and fourth generations out there racing.

The elder Yagiello, a professional marine mechanic in Tuckerton, has been involved with garvey racing since 1989. He builds motors, works on boats for other teams and is a member of the racing club's engine committee. Yagiello would prefer to get out there and race with everyone else, but a heart condition keeps him from donning a helmet and racing vest.

The next best thing for him was watching his son climb into the garvey for his first race Sunday.

“He's been around these races all his life,” Yagiello said. “Even when he was younger, he'd be in the garage handing me tools.”

Drivers have to be 18 before they can participate in the races. Two years ago, Yagiello purchased the X-Treme specifically for his son.

“We bought that boat so he could drive it,” Yagiello said. “He's been working with (co-pilot Chadwick) learning how to drive to get ready for this.”

In the speed skiff division, Bill Kneuer Jr., 70, drove while his grandson John Sharpe, 21, rode along as co-pilot. Kneuer has been driving speed skiffs for nearly 50 years and is one of the oldest drivers still competing.

“I first saw people racing skiffs in Barnegat back in the '50s and I just fell in love with it,” Kneuer said. “It just gets in your blood.”

Kneuer passed on his hunger for speed to his sons and grandsons. Sharpe has been racing since he was 18, but he says he's always been hanging around watching his grandfather at work.

“I would ride along with him when he was racing,” Sharpe said. “I learned a lot of what I do now from him.”

Even Lauer, a 20-year veteran of garvey racing, had a following with him Sunday. His sons Matt, 11, and Joe, 5, were in his shadow most of the day. They sat and listened as Lauer met with other drivers and waded out into the bay to check on their father's own garvey, Fired Up.

“My sons both helped me build the boat,” Lauer said. “Even Joe pitched in. He washed the boat this morning.”

Oddly enough, Lauer didn't get involved with garveys because of his father. It was because of his mother.

“My mother was on the marine police and she used to oversee these races,” Lauer said. “She got interested and decided she wanted to try it. I used to watch her until I bought my first garvey and started racing.”

The younger Yagiello did well for his first time out, his father said late Sunday afternoon. He took a few turns too wide and finished several boat lengths behind his competitor in the second heat. But as he cut the engine and tugged of his helmet, his father was waiting for him in the water to tie up the boat, slap him on the back and listen as he talked about what it felt like to finally get behind the wheel.

Of course the elder Yagiello would have rather been out there racing with his son himself. But watching him perform this racing rite of passage was enough of a Father's Day gift for him.

To e-mail Courtney McCann at The Press:

CMcCann@pressofac.com

RACE RESULTS

Division winners in the first race of the 2006 East Coast Boat Racing Club of New Jersey season:

315 Super Stock Garveys: (tie) G-127, X-Treme; and G-122, Low Budget

358 Garveys V-Drive: G-3, Dirty Bird

358 Garvey: G-63, Screamin' Sue

375 Garvey: G-33, All Fired Up

315 Skiff: (tie) JS-70,
Hyper Active; and JS-67, Hyper Tension

375 Skiff: JS-21, Night Work

ISLANDER NEWS of the JERSEY SHORE

Out-of-water experience

Published in The Islander 6/10/05

By MICHELLE PERRY
Staff Writer

Some say it all began more than 50 years ago when one local clammer said to another, "my boat's faster than yours."

A similar sense of friendly competition existed Sunday, June 5, at the East Coast Boat Racing Club of New Jersey's first race of the 2005 season in Ship Bottom.

Club members were quick to both heckle and help fellow racers as they compete for points, trophies and bragging rights, of course.

Eager racers and loud engines competed with announcer, Bill Erving, for the attention of the bay-side bathers as brightly painted garveys and skiffs bounced atop the water in a pre-race warmup.

"They'll get them up to speed in a little while -- they're just warming them up at the moment," Erving said of the 60 mph speeds.

The boats can reach speeds of 80 mph in the straightaway, according to Larry Palmer, co-chairman of the engine committee.

RACE DATES
East Coast Boat Racing Club of New Jersey 2005 Race Schedule
Tuckerton, June 19
Beach Haven, June 26
Barnegat, July 3
Parkertown, July 10
Virginia (pending), July 23, July 24 (rain date)
Parkertown, Aug. 7
Tuckerton, Aug. 14
Belmar, Aug. 28
Parkertown, Sept. 4
Beach Haven, Sept. 11 (Championship race begins at 11 a.m.)
For more information on the East Coast Boat Racing Club of New Jersey, visit ecbrcnj.com.

Spectator boats anchored at the outskirts of the course and New Jersey State Marine Police surveyed the scene.

"Safety is our number one concern," noted Cindy Heiart, treasurer of the executive committee, about the 52-year-old club.

Most boats on Sunday represented three generations -- grandfather, father and son. Grandmothers, mothers, wives and daughters, many outfitted in team attire, took seats on the beach to watch their families and friends compete.

Bill Kneuer of Barnegat, one of the oldest members of the club and grandfather to co-pilot, John Sharpe of New Gretna, took a win in the third race of the afternoon. After the race they waded from their boat to the beach, where their excited family congratulated them.

Most of the day's boats reflected months of winter work since they cannot be purchased in stores, but must be created.

American car engines -- Ford and Chevy being the most popular -- are secured in these homemade boats.

Rumor has it that on one particular occasion a racer's wife returned home to find the engine of her Chrysler not in her car, but in her husband's boat.

East Coast Boat Racing becomes an all-inclusive, family event with a rich history.

Don Brown of Waretown bragged about his new boat, "Anger Management," while his 5-year-old son, D.J., of Barnegat, played at the water's edge.

"I've been doing this my whole life," Brown said.

Like many racers with children, he has no doubt that his son will follow in his footsteps.

In response to questions regarding duration of involvement in racing and the organization, most members responded similarly to Don Brown. They simply laughed and said "forever."

Rich Peterson of Forked River joined the club more than 30 years ago. His wife, Donna refuses to go out in his boat but contentedly tags along to races, soaking up the sun and watching in support.

Perched in collapsible, travel chairs just down the beach from the Petersons, Dan Callahan of Worminster, Pa., and Johnny Mooris of Warwick, Pa., admired their boat, "Night Work," before their second and final heat of the day. Despite the distance, they never miss a race.

Larry Palmer explained that there are two heats per class per day at three laps apiece -- less than a quarter of a mile.

"They call their boat 'Night Work,' " Erving began as he called Callahan and Mooris out for their heat, "because the only way you can afford a boat like that is if you work nights."

Smirking, Callahan included that the only time he had a chance to work on the boat was at night.

All the garveys and skiffs possess a uniqueness that shines through by way of color scheme, name, battle scars and owners.

Racers and crews have just two weeks to work out kinks and repair minor damage inflicted on their boats as the second race of the 2005 season takes place June 19 in Tuckerton.

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