Keeping up with the Gatsbys in East Hampton
A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Mon 4 Jul 2011 03:08
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We saw Steven Spielberg yesterday. He wandered past
us on the beach, looking, I have to say, pretty disreputable - straggly hair,
baseball cap, paunch etc. We know it was Spielberg because, as Marina said
afterwards, she was 180% sure. I was 20% sure, and on average that means we were
both convinced.
It's not as far-fetched as you might think. We're
staying with Alex's Russo-American godmother Irina in East Hampton, Long Island
and their neighbour three doors down is Steven Spielberg. There's no doubt, we're living the high life at present.
Summer Song is anchored up safely in Sag Harbour, less than a mile from Shelter
Island. We're staying in Irina's glorious old shingled house and all around us,
very rich Americans are doing the things that very rich Americans enjoy doing.
At the nearby Georgica beach, for example, this involves talking about hedge
funds.
It is the 4th of July weekend, which is a holiday
Monday here, and le tout New York has moved to the Hamptons. The streets are
crawling with expensive cars and lusciously manicured homes line the streets. As
a prank, some wit has dyed the pond in the centre of town day-glo yellow, but
this hasn't discouraged the ducks or the egrets, who are still fishing.
Irina's daughter is Ali, with whom we stayed in New
York, and she is also here with her husband Michael and their two children,
Sergey and Nikita. As well as being charming characters, these last two are also
fiendishly enthusiastic football players and know far more about the
English Premiership than I do. They don't draw much distinction between playing
on the Xbox, or playing on the grass, but yesterday, they invited me to join
them and some local Mexicans on a nearby pitch. Summoning my best Walthamstow
accent, I said 'awight mate' and took to the field. For two hours we ran hard in
what has undoubtedly been my toughest bout of exercise since five-a-side at The
Grocer three years ago. Today everything hurts, but at least we showed los
mexicanos how to play the beautiful game. I scored twice. I believe my
style was described as 'physical' and 'not indulging in the little moves' so
beloved of our latino competitors.
In a change of pace today, we took a party out on
Summer Song. We lunched at the Maison Fortescutum in Coecles Harbour on
Shelter Island. Though only a couple of miles as the crow flies from Sag, we
managed to spend five hours and cover a dozen miles sailing there as we stemmed
savage currents, dodged rocks and dealt with low winds. At anchor for lunch, we
swam in jellyfish infested waters. After convincing the others to come in, I
beat a very hasty retreat when my hand brushed something gelatinous in the murk.
Give me the clear bath water of the Caribbean any day!
Oh-so-cute Sag Harbour
   Irina's house in Easthampton
  Georgica Beach
 Sailing to Shelter Island - Paul and
Irina
 Marina
 Miriam
   Keeping an eye out for pirates (of whom we saw
two)
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