(Photo by Ray Johnson)

What are those hundreds of nurses and military personnel doing embarking and disembarking at the Bay piers? Well, just because people dress in all white or in battle dress uniform doesn't mean they work in a hospital or serve in the military. So, just who are our theme-dressing visitors? Friends, they are our cruise-party whiner-uppers. No, I didn't say whino-uppers. Although, if any of you have seen our visitors upon disembarking, I would completely understand if that's what you thought I said.

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After you pack those kiddies off to school, you can hop aboard a private yacht sailing from Sheepshead Bay for a four-hour dance-to-the-Beatles-cruise on September 14. Mike Naimoli, the Ringo Starr of the Beatles cover band Yesterday and Today, has assured me that this will be a great trip sailing open-top (weather-permitting) under the sky with Verrazano diamonds (okay, okay, the energy-saving light-emitting diode bulbs). Mike was too humble to be called the manager of the band, but did say that he and the team are putting together a couple of great sets with plenty of time to take special requests from those of you who remember falling in love "before this dance is through." Can someone get all those lickin' and suckin' young kids these days to try to understand that there's nothing else they would rather do than dance? Who needs to kiss and hold each other tight? Aaah, love - Fab Four style.

This is a rare opportunity for us oldies-fans to get to hear their favorite Beatles songs. If you avoid going out for dinner now that you're 64 and your loved one is still willing to feed you, ask them to pack a basket of goodies, because - now, get this - you can bring your own food onto the boat! These guys are not saying "now give me money" with the low ticket cost of $40, but they are into spreading the Beatles message of peace of love - just in case the the boat doesn't cruise onto the Hudson, they promise not to sail off with your money.

By the way, can someone please tell me which one of the Beatles songs one can dance to? I'm sure it must be possible, just that I don't remember it exactly that way.

DETAILS:
September 14
2:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Emmons Ave. & East 21 St. Pier 10
$40 per person - group discounts available - Paypal accepted
For advance reservations, please call 917.882.7979 or 917.763.8140
Amberjack V website
Yesterday and Today's website

Sheepshead Bites was chosen to participate in Brooklyn Independent Television's A Walk Around the Blog segment, which features stories produced in association with bloggers throughout Brooklyn. In the story, we talk to Captain Sapanara of the Brooklyn VI about the challenges facing the recreational fishing industry in Sheepshead Bay.

The Bite chose this story because we believe that the Bay's dying fishing industry is the area's biggest story not reported anywhere. Thanks to BCAT for their help in getting the word out on this issue, and to Sapanara for his help with the story.

P.S. -- Take that, Anderson Cooper!

Even though I was born and raised a stone's throw away from the Bay's water, I was never a boat person. I never sailed, never went on ocean fishing trips and certainly wasn't a dinner cruise kind of guy. If I was in the water, it was either a pool or a bathtub. But lately I've been trying to change that, and so when I saw a Craigslist posting from the Miramar Yacht Club (link doesn't work in Firefox) advertising a one-day "Learn to Sail" class, I saw it as an awesome and affordable opportunity.

The class fee is $25 per person and covers class materials, refreshments and a free sail on the water. It takes place Friday, June 6th, at 8:00 p.m. at the clubhouse at 3050 Emmons Avenue, between Lake Avenue and Haring Street.

The class will cover:

Sailing nomenclature, parts of a sail, apparent wind, Bernoulli Principle, points of sail, luffing, sail trim, slowing and stopping a sailboat, sailing after stopping, tacking, jibing, general rules of the road, red-right-return, anchoring, docking and a few knots.

Just a note: the free sail does not take place the night of the class. Mine is scheduled for June 21st, but I'm not sure if that's just me or everyone from the class.

For more info, call (718) 769-3548 or email sail@miramaryc.com.

Apparently, the rise in prices for boating fuel is even more dramatic than it has been for auto gas, resulting in fewer boaters on the water.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

"I see fewer people going out with their boats, and if they're going out, they're buddying up with two or three people to cut costs," said Walter Zahra, who has owned the Port Sheepshead Bay Marina in Brooklyn for 45 years. "It's hurting quite a bit," he said. "A boat uses a lot more gas than a car."

Marine gas usually sells for about 50 to 75 cents a gallon. Now it's selling for more than $4 a gallon. "I've seen it closer to $5," Zahra said.

I wonder how this will effect the Bay's already devastated marine economy. [via Daily News]