What are the odds of three unrelated couples from Raleigh who’ve never met winding up on a sailboat charter near Williamsburg? “That’s not all,” said Larry Maccherone. “We live in Cary in the same neighborhood as Katie, a quarter of a mile away.” Larry and his wife Jennifer ere celebrating their 17th anniversary.
As we cruised across the York River, they compared notes about their work and lives in Raleigh. Katie Hinton said, “Cary is really an acronym for Containment Area for Relocated Yankees.” She paused and added, “Really, North Carolina is a thousand times better off for all the people who’ve relocated there from out of state.”
Duncan Moore was sailing with his daughter Caroline after touring the campus of the College of William & Mary. He has three other girls already in college, which was breathtaking to contemplate.
“We moved here from northern California, and I can tell you that the worst schools in Raleigh are better than the best high schools of the Bay Area. In 1974 Proposition 13 froze real estate taxes and slowly ruined the public school system by denying needed funds.”
College Girls
Another coincidence: Larry and Jennifer also have three girls who are in college, including Columbia University. “Look she’s a liberal who didn’t want to stay in Carolina. But when she went to New York she found out what a true liberal is really like. She loves it there.”
Larry is in charge of cyber-security for Comcast, the new owners of NBC Universal. “We were at 30 Rock for meetings and got a tour of the studios. The stages for Jimmy Kimmel and the other late shows are small. ‘Saturday Night Live’ has three small stages and a tiny spot for the band.”
Katie’s pal Angie Walker said she had always wanted to sail, so she took the helm and figured out the wind angles with no trouble. I suspected she was a golfer, and she was. Angie is a manager for Lowe’s near Raleigh. “We joke about reorganizing the store for a Murderer’s Row. It would have duct tape, chains, muriatic acid, shovels, wheelbarrows and trash bags as body bags.”
Problem at Clemson
You learn something every day while sailing. Duncan regaled us about locking lug nuts. “I was driving down to Clemson to see my daughter there. I was in her used Volkswagen and nearly arrived when a tire blew out. When I went to change the tire, one of the lugs was a locking version because these were mag wheels that used to be popular for stealing. Because we bought the car used, there was no key in the glove compartment or the trunk to get the thing off. I had to have the car towed to a garage, which didn’t have the keys either. I had to order a set overnight with 30 various keys and finally found the right one. They come in star shapes and diamond shapes and so on. Who steals mag wheels anymore anyway?”
When his daughter Caroline took the helm, she got it right away. Duncan credited her for attending an intense driving school at Virginia International Raceway, in rural Alton. “They have five retired police officers and five retired race car drivers who take the teenagers through all imaginable scenarios. They do donuts, spin-outs, and close stopping. They teach you not to look around the car, but to look out several hundred yards away to where you want to go—not just where you’re going at the moment.” Caroline nodded her approval.
Let’s Go Sail
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