Speed is not the goal of the Instead of Football Regatta

ORIENTAL — The couch got too comfy on New Year’s Day for Tom Lathrop. So, he got up and went sailing.

“Fifteen or 20 years ago, New Year’s Day was football from morning to night,” he recalled. “Like a lot of people, I had spent many years glued to the television — eating and drinking and watching football until my eyes popped out.”

He and his friend Art Tierney talked about the football rut they were in and decided on sailing as an alternative.

They were soon joined by other sailor friends, starting what has become a New Year’s Day tradition — the Instead of Football Regatta.

“It’s just a very loose little get together,” Lathrop said. “We figure it is a good way to greet the New Year.”

Lathrop and Tierney annually invite anyone interested to meet at the Oriental marker No. 1 at noon.

“And depending on the wind direction, I’ll decide which way the boats are to go,” he said. “We just pass the word around. We don’t use a committee boat or anything like that. I’ll blow the horn and we’ll more or less get started.”

The route is about between six and seven miles.

“A lot of people will come out who are not racers, and not used to racing, and that’s fine, ” he said.

The route goes about two-and-a-half-miles  to Adam’s Creek and about the same distance to Garbacon No. 7, near a Neuse River shoal, and then back to the docks.

“When the weather is good like last year and the year before, we’ll get about 50 boats out,” he said. “Everybody has a good time and whether they finish the race or not is not important thing. The important thing is to get out.”

It’s a very unofficial competition, so speed is not really a factor.

“If the wind is right, some of fast boats might make it in an hour and 20 minutes and some of the slow boats might take double that,” he said.

Fast or slow, the sailor’s ultimate destination is M&Ms Restaurant, site of the 3 p.m. skippers’ meeting.

“Normally a skippers’ meeting is  held before the race and you tell everybody what’s going on,” he laughed. “But, we hold it after the race. We crowd the place and keep his kitchen busy.”

Dave Sargent, the owner of M&Ms provides gift certificates for the top three winners. They are not the fastest boats, but rather names drawn from a hat.

“They get minor bragging rights if they finish first,” he said.

Charlie Hall can be reached at 252-635-5667 or chall@freedomenc.com.