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Crab champ eyes three-peat Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Emil Savarese By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Medford�s Emil Savarese may be a hair above 5 feet 1 inch tall, and at 77 years old, he doesn�t move as fast as a lot of those who scurry around the Crescent City Harbor in the middle of February. But when it comes to persuading a Dungeness crab to walk fast from one end of a board to another, Savarese is the undisputed king. There is a method to this madness of jockeying an eight-legged, dual-clawed crustacean to victory � but it�s one the retired Brooklyn ballet-shoe maker tiptoes around telling. "I�ve got my secret, and I�m not going to give it away," Savarese says. "But if you watch me closely, you might be able to pick it up." All eyes will be on Savarese Feb. 17 when he defends his crustacean crown during the 37th annual World Championship Crab Races at the Del Norte County Fairgrounds in Crescent City. The races begin at 11:30 a.m., with more than 300 competitors vying in three divisions. The division winners tangle in the 3:30 p.m. finals for the right to be called the World�s Fastest Crab. Savarese is the two-time reigning champion crab racer, as anointed by the Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce. It�s a title that brings all due respect from Savarese�s friends. "Do I tease him? Absolutely," says Morries Garbarini, a Medford man who is Savarese�s official manager and spokesman. The races are a winter festival of sorts meant to draw tourists to this California coastal town just south of Brookings, with all sorts of activities surrounding the main event � crab races. In the races, fresh crabs caught off nearby docks are placed on an incline board, with the "jockeys" behind them. The jockey who gets his crab down the 10-foot board fastest is declared the winner. And Savarese has no peers along the Crescent City pier. "Emil is as good as they come," Garbarini says. "These are tight races. It ain�t no giveaway. But I have no qualms saying he�ll take it again." Having an inlander set crab-racing records is like barrel-horse riders losing to a surfer. And the talk of the estuary is that a host of coast racers are willing to bet a few clams that Savarese and his dashing Dungeness won�t three-peat. "This is a first, and we�re really excited to see if he can be dethroned," says Donna Dew, a Crescent City Realtor who runs this year�s races. Like any good promoter, Dew is straddling the fence on whether she wants to see a winning streak or a passing of the claw. "I�d like to see him do it again because it�s never happened before," Dew says. "But it�s good to see someone new win, too. So, I guess I�m kind of torn." Garbarini sees it differently. "I imagine there will be people coming out of the woodwork to beat him," Garbarini says. "After all, we�re inlanders and out-of-staters to boot. "They�ll be after us," he says. It�s not like there�s a lot of secrets to crab racing. For one, contestants don�t get to pick their crabs, and they can�t even touch them. Most simply pound on the board as long and as hard as they can. "You�ve got to have some strategy, I guess," Dew says. "It�s a matter of good timing. You have to be the first one out of the shoot." Savarese says it�s not so much how hard you pound, but when and where you pound, that gets the crab scooting. Garbarini, however, won�t let Savarese espouse on the art of crab-goosing any more. "This guy�s good for another four or five championships," Garbarini says. "You think I�m going to give his secret away?" Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2002 Mail Tribune, Inc.