Jan Coed Sailing Race

We had Terry, Paul, Cheryl, and Catherine.  So  a pretty dang good team overall.  It felt lighter than the forecast so I didn't adjust the rig as the rig was set for light wind.  The forecast was for 10-12 from the N moving E and dying slightly.  As I showed up with the drinks, Paul had cleaned the bottom and Terry and Cheryl were rigging the boat.  That was amazing!  Catherine was "late" aka, on time to the rest of the world.  I was  a few minutes late as I had to go by Publix for beverages and burn it goodies for the awards ceremony that was going to happen after the race.

The sail up was mostly uneventful.  Catherine, Cheryl, and I talked about what is going to happen with the women's crew now that both Linda and I are going to drive.  We also all talked about our holiday breaks and when Dave gets to come back home.  The wind was squirrley and actually kinda overpowering for the loose rig but I decided to leave it until we got up to the course and see how it settled.

Once we got up there, we did the obligatory spinn set and it was a good thing we did.  It was all kinds of tangled.  Oh well, light wind.  We sorted it out and got it launched again.  I tried to do my usual pre-race determine headed and lifted compass numbers.  Unfortunately right before the start, the wind shifted and my numbers were meaningless.  The wind had built a bit and it was 10 min before the start so even though I wanted to tighten the rig, I decided I didn't have time.

Oh, we also had quite a show that day as it seems that Performance Sail was having a cat race.  There were cats with their spinns up just screaming along and playing.  So I had quite a task to stay out of their way.  They looked like they were having a blast though.  Perfect wind for them to have a fast but manageable ride down the river.

I should have written this soon as I've forgotten some details.  I think this was the start where I got myself into a not so good spot and had what would have been a second row start, I was just further down the line than I wanted to be and a boat length or two back.  I really really need to work on starts.

The whole day I just felt slow.  I could not keep up with boats next to me.  Ok, well the boats next to me that I couldn't keep up with are JMouse (dry sailed and nice sails), Fine Finish (nice boat, nice bottom, nice sails), and Mischief (new bottom and halfway decent sails).  I think it was that marginal air where the current genoa just doesn't excel.  It's not so light that shape is inconsequential and not heavy enough to force shape.  I tried every sail trim thing I could think of to gain a bit of speed.  Some definitely made it worse so I reversed those back!

We had excellent crew work throughout the day.  I think both of my windward mark roundings (it was a 2 lap North-Books course) on this race wound up being a pinch and coast around the mark.  Paul did an excellent job on one of them trimming the jib to help me point, then dumping it when I needed to coast above close hauled, and then trimming it back in to keep from touching the mark and to help me turn.  I had overstood when I first tacked onto starboard to head for the last bit to the mark but there was a header (of course).  There were 2 boats above me.  Even the boat above and to my hip also had to pinch like hell to make it.  I don't remember which boat that was.  While I was busy driving with everything I had to avoid the mark, my crew read my mind about putting up the pole and then launching the kite.  Go team!  We were about boat #2 to round I believe.  Going downwind we were doing pretty well most of the time but I really wished I had put up a spin with bigger shoulders.  The boats that had those were doing better than we were.  

We made our way around the course and I know I lost at least 1 boat due to just being slow and not being able to fix it.  We finished third in this race.

Somewhere during the day we had a tangle with Santerella and that was umm fun…  Let me start out by saying there were a couple times pre start where I had the legal right of way as well as customary and friendly right of way.  For instance, I got pushed away from RC the first time I went by to check in so I made another circle to come back by on starboard.  As I was approaching, Santeralla unfurls their jib - on port- and heads straight for me.  I do all kinds of maneuvers to get away from them and they just keep heading right for me.  Only one person on board can see me (I think, their freeboard is so much higher than ours…).  That got scary.  We also had some port-starboard crossings that were interesting where I am on starboard and they are bearing down on me but not turning.  At some point I see them turn the wheel hard over but the boat has yet to turn.  Yes, I've been hailing.  Only Paul and I can see them - I guarantee our eyes were big.  The rest of the crew was trying to give me info on something or other.  I had to tell them "not now" and I'm sure there was some stress in my voice.  I sure as hell didn't know which way to go to get out of the way at that point as they had initiated their turn so if I turned down to avoid them, I'd just probably turn into their bow.  If I tacked, they'd probably spear the back of the boat.  Luckily the boat turned and Paul and I got to breathe a sigh of relief.  There were a couple times during the race that I chose a tack just to not have to cross with Santerella again.  On a downwind leg, approaching the leeward mark, we converged again with them.  I was on SB, they on Port jibes.  I have them well enough notice that they were in my path and I was starboard.  At least 2 people on board said they need to jibe.  However the skipper just tried to keep turning down.  They keep  just on trucking.  I'm closing on them pretty quickly and I actually turn down further than I really wanted to just to give them time to do their jibe.  They are still refusing to and people on board saying they need to stay away from our spin.  We do touch and they yell that we've collided.  Keep in mind I'm actually still quite low - not the course I wanted to hold so that I had some actual speed.  It was light enough that going DDW was not a grand idea.  Anywho, I've altered my course for them.  Gave them MILES of notice of my intent as a right of way boat, we touched poles.  They still did not jibe.  We touched again.  At this point they finally finally jibed.  However the foredeck was not informed of this so the pole did not jibe.  They got into a mess obviously.  Now I'm on my jibe line so while they are still sorting them selves out and yelling about how to complete the jibe and they need to do circles, I go on about our jibe and rounding the mark.  I ask my crew to keep an eye on them to see if they do complete their circles.  They take a LONG time to get around the mark and then seem to actually be heading home.  They go almost all the way to Eau Gallie.  We kinda all quit watching them for the circles as we thought they were retiring.  Eventually we realize they are still in the race.  I go to inform RC I intend to protest, but pass by them on the way (near enough that RC can hear my hail) asking if they did their circles.  I get back an answer that they did.  I dunno, but ok…  I'll let it go.  She's just so huge compared to everyone else, she's scary.  She cannot just go blasting her weight through the course and expecting us "little" ones to scurry away whether it be by trying to limit maneuvers or lack of rules knowledge or whatever it is.  That's scary.

Anywho.  We finished the first race in 3rd.  Not shabby but if only I had had boat speed…

Ok, second race.  Several boats are early to the start, I'm trying to kill speed and kill a little too aggressively.  JMouse (?) and Mischief are over early.  They cross - on port- in front of me and get too close.  I yell that I didn't like it but not protest.  I barely barely had to avoid, but they are supposed to stay clear.  This is the foreshadowing that this is going to be the race of weird rules games.  This race is a one lapper.  So, going downwind Mischief, us, Cowbell and Fine Finish are all pretty dang close to each other.  FF and Mischief have a bit of head start on me.  They start playing games with each other (go right ahead…).  I'm fighting to keep away from Cowbell.  Eventually we catch a shift or a puff or something and pull away from them.  Ok, it's actually several little puffs and shifts.  So thanks to my crew for staying on top of calling the wind - Cheryl was calling wind, Catherine was helping and keeping on eye on the mark and what the others were doing, Paul on the sheet, Terry on guy? sometimes.  Also watching the pole.  They are talking to me about shifts and puffs.  It helps me not zone out or oppositely, look around too much on this long slow but high pressure down wind slog.  At some point FF and Mischief start playing with each other and there is contact such that Mischief touched FF spinn.  Mischief starts to circle - with their spin up - so I just watch the fun.  Suddenly they are gunning for me and ostensibly on SB.  They yell SB at me.  I don't have time to argue and I kinda wanted to jibe anyway, so we did.  But I'm thinking about it and am very confused.  It started out to where it had to be a penalty turn, but that's a 720 so 2 tacks and 2 jibes.  But he's only done something like a 270.  1 tack as he is on SB and me and FF (all originally going the same way) are on Port.  So then I think it is some kind of crazy tactical thing.  It's ok to me that we jibed as we pass FF during this.  Mischief somehow rounds the leeward mark overlapped to the inside of me.  We are too overlapped for me to do what I wanted to do and dig down then dive up on top of them.  But I do manage to turn wide and then luff up inside them.  If I had stayed leeward, they would have had me absolutely pinned so I still don't regret doing this.  However we had to luff so hard that we just had no speed. I thought this tack was marginally lifted so I tried to stay here.  Turns out I shouldn't have as FF made out on us by tacking around the mark just behind us.  Eventually I tack away from Mischief and wind up in a tacking duel, unwittingly, with FF.  They did exactly what they should have done.  They had superior speed in general and also probably had better tacks.  I think I turn the rudder too hard to start so I have to use a lot of rudder to stop the turn and slow us down too much.  Through all these tacks, Mischief is just GONE way out in front.  FF passes me and just keeps inching away.  Suddenly I am in a fight with Cowbell to see if we get 3rd or 4th for the finish.  Cowbell tacks off before the lay line of the finish line such that they have to do 2 tacks.  My crew is split on if we should tack to cover or stay going another 4 boat lengths so we can make the line with 1 tack.  I take the only 1 take method.  Suddenly someone realizes that Dick (and a PHRF) boat did not finish!  They missed the memo it was a one lapper.  FF did beat us to the line but we beat Cowbell by a couple boat lengths to the finish line by deciding to go slightly further to the lay line and only doing 1 tack.  I don't know why they tacked when they did.  We did not get a header then.  

So we ended the day with a hard fought 3rd and 2nd.  We then popped the chute, cleated it off and had a fun ride home with beverages.  In fact, in a move that shows how much more comfortable I have gotten driving, we went under the bridge with the spinn up, me driving standing with the tiller between my legs, a beer, and talking on the phone.  

Good day.  Thanks crew - you are completely awesome!

My Dad Has Cancer

Still hard to say out loud.  

They found cancer when doing a routine colonoscopy.  He elected to have the surgery as soon as possible, which turned out to be the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  I thought the timing was bad, you don't want to be in a hospital when the "B" Team is all that is working but I wasn't heard.  I think they were too freaked out.  Anyway, Dad had complications from the surgery and had a rough time in the hospital.  Unfortunately, both Mom and I came down with the flu during this time so we couldn't help much either.  I was at Carnell's house but would have gotten myself to Bham if I could have.  

They took out 12" of his colon and the cancer had left the colon area.  He was Stage 3.  They took out a bunch of lymph nodes and since a couple of those came back with evidence of cancer cells, they elected to do chemotherapy as a precaution.  His diagnosis had it as a 0 on the metastasized scale so that's good.  He has to do 12 round of chemo.  He started chemo the first week of Jan.  He has to do chemo every other week until he completes the rounds of chemo.  

That means he and my Mom may not be able to do the France trip that they have been so looking forward to.  They were going to go with a bunch of friends and do D-Day at Normandy Beach (for my Dad as a history buff), then Paris, then travel down the Siene on a river boat and taste wine.  They were oh so excited about going but it looks like they won't be able to go now.  

We hope that the chemo doesn't knock him down too terribly much.  We think he'll be clear after we finish the chemo rounds and obviously have to go back for colonoscopies more frequently.  But at least then, if there is any growth, they'll be able to just scoop it out before it's a big deal.  

I came to visit him the week after his first chemo treatment.  He's more tired and wears out more quickly than he wants to admit.  Figures.  He also thinks he has every possibly chemo symptom already and it's only going to get worse.  Natural I suppose.  

Tri Gulp

I signed up for a triathlon.  Me.  I told will 9 years ago I'd do one eventually.   Well, this is the inaugural Rocketman Triathlon where you bike through KSC between all the launch pads.  That's apparently what it takes.  We signed up way back in Sept.  At that time I could do a 16 mi bike with no prep and survive.  Slowly and without much energy left, but I could do it.  I was running about 20 min, not without walking, but I was doing it.  Plus he asked me after I had been drinking from a sailing party.  So, I agreed.  

I finally began to train for reals this year.  Unfortunately, I also aggravated my lingering hip issue with the long, hard snowplows I used skiing down the hills that were too big for me.  I did run on a treadmill in Boulder, at altitude, before we went skiing.  It was only 1/9 that I was able to run again.  

I have been trying to squeeze in my usual activities and tri training.  I dunno where the time will come from.  I go sailing at least once a weekend.  That takes usually from 10 am - 5 pm.  A horse back ride takes a good 4 hours, most of which must be daylight.  A bike ride takes 1.5 - 2 hours that has to be in daylight but not even too much towards dusk. I need to run twice a week but I can do that in the dark.  A swim takes a bit since it also involves getting wet.  I need to incorporate yoga and zumba to really help protect and strengthen my hip as well as the hip exercises.   

The biggest thing is just scheduling how in the world I'm going to fit all this in.  I've been on a few bike rides and a couple swims.  It's not so bad to do the actual training.  Is that there then isn't time to oh, eat, do laundry, clean up the house, just sit and watch tv and pet the kitties.  So, that's the big thing.  I get so anxious just trying to figure out how to fit it all in.  I think I get it figured and then *bam* something else comes up and makes me alter my plan.  

I hope once I get settled into a routine of doing something pretty much every day, it will get easier to schedule and therefore less hectic in my head.  

Colorado Ski Trip

Colorado trip.  Where do I start.  We had an uneventful flight out Tue to land in Denver with snow on the ground.  We go by the saddle place I had randomly gone to their web site and notice they had a showroom in Denver.  Oh looky, it's right near the airport.  So since Will had time zone conversion problems and our dinner plans with Sarah were not until later, we went by then.  We met a guy who pulled lots of saddles form to sit on and I think I found a winner.  There is a 20% off deal that ends at the end of Dec, so it's not a bad time to buy but I need to do withers tracings and stuff so I say I'll think about it and wouldn't order til I get home.  But he shows me a saddle that is quite similar to my borrowed saddle but a lot less expensive and the flaps are shorter which should be good for Black.

Anyway, they are predicting snow for the night we arrive and it is already snowing in the mountains. Apparently Sarah is delayed as she was in the mountains.  We decide that's ok, we'd rather go on towards Boulder anyway in case the big snow storm does hit soon.  We find out Brandy and husband John are up for dinner though if we take a slight detour so we meet them for dinner.  Yum.  We went to a fun mexican inspired restaurant and I had something with "poblanos" in it.  As far as I can tell they were real poblanos.  I had met Brandy a long time ago briefly.  It was nice to talk to her more now.  We then move on to get to the apartment in Boulder before the snow really starts.  It has started snowing but isn't too hard.  

We get to the apartment and immediately furn up the heat.  Brr. Very nice apartment complex.  The common area has a waffle machine!  We go to Target to buy a pillow, a blanket, some batteries, etc and then head to bed pretty quickly. 

Wed morning, it has snowed overnight!  The ground is white and beautiful.  We dress to go wandering.  We start by eating breakfast/brunch at Snooze.  YUMM.  We go to a few Boulder parks and wander the Pearl St. Mall.  I really enjoyed this wandering . Boulder is so weird as it is flat.  Not pancake flat, but close in the middle of Boulder.  Even the outer reaches of Boulder, which are only a mile or so away start to have some actual steep hills.  Then there are just vertical mountains.  Beautiful.  We wind up meandering in and out of stores that I really like in Boulder.  However it is winter there and I live in FL so most things I see are for bundling up and I don't need that.  BUT, they have a Penzey's spices! During our wanderings we talk to a HRC guy for a bit.   Once we got done with the downtown area, we stop at a famous tea house that was built in *stan as a sister city thing, disassembled, shipped, then reassembled in Boulder.  It has the most amazing chai tea.  Highly recommend.  It also has ornate tilings, columns, ceilings, etc.  Once we warmed up, we wandered through some more parks.  I think we went back, Will took a nap, then we went to Twisted Pines Brewery.  I"m a big fan of the Bloody Billy.  It's a spicy beer mixed with V8.  Pefecto.  The food was also good.  We had a little pizza and spinach dip.  Again, yumm.  

Somewhere around here we went by REI and an outdoor consignment shop to get gloves for Will and anything else we decide we might need.  Will does find gloves, eventually.  This takes multiple trips.  I find the best warm hat ever (it has EARS!).  And at the consignment shop I find white snow board pants that I pick up for a steal at ~$20.  Foreshadowing - these turn out to be a grand idea.  

I have found out that I really should have bought the snow boots I wanted as the boots I'm wearing get my toesies COLD very very quickly as the soles have no insulation and the "leather" upper is not waterproof.  Brr toesies.  

Thur we eat brunch at Walnut Cafe which is just across the street.  I am warned I need to save room for pie.  This seems weird for a breakfast place, but ok… It proves impossible to save room as breakfast is hard to choose, big, and yummies.  We get some pie to take home.  We then go exploring as they've had time to plow the roads by now.  We go and drive towards Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.  We get sidetracked by driving through Left Hand Canyon.  It is beautiful.  We keep driving until the road gets less and less clear.  We get to a tiny little town full of very old cars and a sign for "Congested Area"  We decide now is the time to turn around.  We continue on to Estes Park and then into the Park.  Oh, we stop at a brewery along the way and have a pretty good beer.  We also see a very helpful sign that tells us to climb for higher ground in case of flash flood…  

We spend a few hours traipsing about the areas that are open in Rocky Mountain National Park.  We see all kinds of amazing animals.  Weird but beautiful bird, some kind of deer, elk…  We are hesitant to go in some areas as they suggest snow tires and chains. We are from FL in a rental car with a tiny engine without either of those things.  We are cautious with the driving thing!  

This is just a beautiful exploring day.  We go to another southwestern inspired place for dinner.  We get an appetizer that Will isn't super excited about as it has all kinds of special things to go along with the cheese dip.  I think it sounds wonderful.  We wind up licking it clean and wishing we had more of the jam that went with the cheesy.  Yum Zolo Grill.  

The next day we eat leftovers and then take the wandering path through some interesting towns to get to Winter Park.  The former commune now just looks pretty and not that interesting though the roads are obviously less travelled past here.  The more interesting town turns out to be one we've never heard of before that is ONLY casinos.  So weird.  We've climbed and climbed and climbed and now dive to get back to the interstate before taking the highway back north to Winter Park.  We check in, park the car, then go to get fitted for our ski stuff.  We take a shuttle to go do this and he passes by our stop so we walk back to the ski shop (which was supposed to be a stop on the route).  Whatever.  My toes are SO DAMN COLD.  

We visit the hot tub.  Getting from our room to hot tub is quite an ordeal even though our room is about as close as it can be.  We determine the best way is to have some kind of shoes to shed quickly and then to get out, just run to the sauna for the dry off walk to the room.  This takes some trial and error though.  And I get ICE in my HAIR!  

The next day (Sat) is my ski lesson and Will goes out on his own.  I really enjoy my lesson.  We originally get spit into groups of 10.  I really like the instructor but wow, some of my group just don't get it.  At lunch, groups got reshuffled so that I got moved to the "not quite so bad" beginner group.  We actually get on lifts and go up the mountain a bit.  I didn't know it was possible but I have way overdressed and am HOT.  Like drenching several layers of clothing hot.  And I know dehydration is a concern for poor flat lander me.  No way I can drink enough water for that.  Anyway, end day 1 on a great note and consider taking the next level class.  Turns out it is more expensive than I decide I want to spend for day 2.  I decide to spend it with Will instead.  

By the way, walking in ski boots sucks!  By the end of the day I have atrocious bruises just on my left shin.  My right is fine. I hang out in a cantina for drinks and ask Will to join me.  Until he gets there, I make friends with an awesome couple from England.  We probably talk for over an hour.  They didn't know what margaritas, flautas, tamales, etc were.  So cute.  

Food on the mountain resort is pretty darn good.  I'll just say that now.  Maybe not quite as good as what we ate in Boulder, but I was more than happy.  We ate at a "tavern" first night.  I got chili over roasted taters.  We also had a spicy chicken pizza some night.  

I think Will is starting to feel not so great.  We get a fire made in our room and I have way more energy than Will does.  Not usual

Day 2 of skiing (Sun).   We decide to go together.  We start on one of the greens I had skied before to make sure I still have my feet under me.  That was fine.  Then we move higher up the mountain.  YIKES>  I have a couple falls - 1 right off the lift.  First fall of the weekend for me.  These trails scare me.  They are long and steep and have black diamonds crossing them so people come flying at you from above.  And now i'm not only trying to not fly down the mountain and die, but since the trail is crosswise to the main downhill slope, I'm trying not to fall that way too.  My hips and legs are oh so damn tired because all I know is snow plow.  

I have a few freak outs.  We eventually make it down for lunch.  Will is COLD. Like stupid cold.  So cold he is wearing all his clothes and as many as I could possibly peel off. Again, I was hot.  It took a long time for him to warm up.  We go back out to go to the area where I am comfortable.  Again, I am happy here and work on gaining speed.  Will stays with me for a bit but decides to go play in some side trails that go through the trees while I go ahead with what I'm doing.  He catches up anyway.  One time he just takes too long to catch up.  I stand halfway down the slope looking and looking and looking.  He eventually shows up and says he had an argument with a tree and had to take a bit to catch his breath before he could ski to me.  The tip of his ski caught a tree.  he didn't hit it, but apparently there was quite a tumble.  We do another run or two then I shoo him away to go play on the bigger runs while I stay here.  I decide to challenge myself a bit and do a few of the longer runs.  I still get stuck and scared even in the bunny area if I venture to the harder bunny slopes.  

We meet up again eventually.  He doesn't look great.  We get him some meds, eat dinner, get another fire and relax.  This fire takes several tries to get going.  In fact, we have to go get a phone book to use as our own firestarter and a 2nd call to the fire person.  We make friends with her during our stay.  Will goes to be early.  I have energy and stay up for a bit.  

There is a snow storm predicted to hit Christmas Eve night and last through Christmas day (Tue).  

We wake up and Will is so bad he tells me to go skiing without him.  We are worried enough about the snow and Will that we decide that we want to leave midday.  It's disappointing to have to miss the Xmas eve fireworks and the skiers that come down the mountain all lit up.  But, it's by far the sane thing to do.  I really would have loved to have been on the mountain for a real snow storm  - IF we didn't have to go anywhere for a couple days.   But that wasn't the case.  So, I skied a bit on the bunny hill and had a good time.  I came back to the room, changed, Will had packed our stuff, we returned our skis, came back to see the reindeer(!) and then went on down the mountain.  I was hungry but it was obvious Will felt terrible and was on a mission to get. down. now.  So, I held my tongue.  We took the most expedient route out and back to Boulder.  There were a couple of place I wouldn't have minded sopping to look at hints, but we had to get Will to bed.  We stopped near the apartment to get us food.  I devoured it as soon as we got back.  Will napped.  I woke him up a couple hours later to go get more meds and dinner.  We tried walking to a brewery i really wanted to go to, but it was closed since it was Xmas Eve.  Oops.  We wound up at a chain brewery but it was still delicious and had a fabulous specialty seasonal beer.  I wasn't so hungry since I had eaten "lunch" at about 4pm.  Will never ate, just went to nap.  But he felt so much better just by coming down from altitude that we could consider walking to these breweries.  By the way, it was snowing pretty hard by this point.  

For most of these nights, I wore my new-to-me snowboard pants to dinner and they were amazing.  I could walk around completely comfortable.  I actually did better than Will in the cold.  With the right clothes, it's not so bad other than the amount of work it takes to figure out the right layers, the laundry to do tha many layers, etc.  But I didn't hate the cold like I thought I would.  

We went to bed to wake up to my first White Christmas evers!  We went for a walk and played in the snow.  The snow as so powdery it couldn't make a good snowball or snowman.  I eventually made a snowman by using the chunks made by the snow plows as a starting point.  But, it made good snow angels :)

We drove to the airport and then flew home.  Poor Will felt horrible and the pressure chambers in the cabin made his ears hurt so bad.  I couldn't do much about it but got him gum…  

He really didn't sleep the night we got home.  I woke up in the middle of the "night" to see him and he looked at me and said "2 hours until I can call the doctor".  We then spent 6.5 hrs there.  Only one doctor working.  X-rays for the "rib injury" that turned into a possible speen rupture which required CT scan only to be inconclusive but probably not a ruptured spleen. Just internal bleeding to go with the pneumonia and ear infection.  He felt terrible.  I had this day off luckily to take him to the doc and back.  

I had to go to work on Thur but then had Fri off again.  We spent this time just trying to get Will human again :(  We finally did Christmas presents on Friday.  

A Preview and a Review

I lead a very busy life and some of it is actually kinda interesting.  As I was reading other people's end of year review posts, I realized that since I don't stop and write down what is going on, a lot of cool stuff gets lost to time.  So, this year, I resolve intend to write down what happens. 

To start, a short review of what happened in 2012 that will effect 2013. 

Sailing
Last year was a huge year for me in sailing.  At the end of 2011/start of 2012, I mainly sailed on 2 different big boats.  One J24 is owned by a guy who is a big local sailor and known in the J24 community.  He decided to go overseas to work for a year and left the crew his boat to sail for the year.  Due to various reasons, that was mainly me.  By the way, I was only sorta starting to get back to driving a small 2 person boat.  This whole spinnaker and 5-6 person team was a huge difference!

I also sailed with a women's team on a boat owned by world class (Olympic) sailors.  I agreed to drive their boat for the women's team when the snowbirds went back north for the winter. 

So, I jumped in the deep end and began driving J24s multiple times a week as we have the Co-ed montly series, the women's monthly series, as well as every other week fun races.  YIKES.  I scared the crap out of myself a few times and tried not to let the crew know.  But they did help me out tremendously while I got a feeling of the boat and how to handle it. 

Throughout the year, I improved drastically (I think) from being scared to launch the kite, to making it on podiums. 

First, a summary of all the racing we have going on throughout the year.

• On going series
• Dragon Point Races - once a month race for co-ed teams that include racing and cruising divisions.  Divided into half year series.  
• Women's Dragon Point Races - similar except all women crew with one bearded lady advisor allowed who can talk but not touch and can only sit centerline
•  Rum Races - friendly reverse handicap, come one, come all, excuse to sail and then party afterwards race that occurs every other week.  Also divided into half year series.
• Small Boat Racing - reserved for people who like to get wet on dingies, I usually sail the 420s but have been known to jump on a Laser.  Don't really keep ongoing series scores.  
• One Time Events
• Mermaid Weekend - Every fall, a 2 day event for all the women's teams and includes a "wine and cheese" fleet.  
• Spring Big Boat - Invite teams from other clubs to come race with us on anything with a keel. 
• Spring Small Boat - Invite boats from other clubs to come race on anything that is small and nimble(ish).
• Women's Small Boat Weekend - all male RC and dock attendants
• Men's Small Boat Weekend - all female RC and dock attendants
• Fall Big Boat - self explanatory
• Fall Small Boat - same
• And of course a smattering of other things

So, last year, I disappointed myself and my women's team in the Mermaid Regatta.  I think I put too much pressure on myself and made a few critical mistakes.  We came in 4th.  But, but, I redeemed myself in the Fall/Winter Women's Dragon Point Series by winning!  It was very close and came down to the last day of racing who could win.  I played the game and lost battles to win the war.  I'm also happy to say my co-ed team came in 2nd at the Fall Big Boat and we were oh-so-close to winning the whole thing.  If it weren't for a foul from another boat, we may have held off the boat that beat us.  Oh, and this race was the last straw for one of the yellers of the fleet so he has not been out on the water since....

I also organized the Women's Small Boat weekend, encouraged more women sailors to learn how to race, and most surprisingly, learned I like sailing in decently big wind and waves.  I had a blast.  The men saw how much fun we had and wanted their turn.  So I was PRO for the Men's Small Boat weekend and the whole women's RC group cheered on the guys.  I wore a tutu and was the wind fairy...  There are pictures somewhere :)

Horse
My horsey did better this summer with his allergic reaction to Florida but still not great and there were many months when we didn't' do anything other than walk.  This is partly because he seemed to forget how to gait and it was too hot and he couldn't breath well enough to canter.   

This all changed when we took him back to his "home" in south GA for Thanksgiving.  We had amazing!! rides and those have continued this winter after bringing him home.  Except for all the time I had to take off as I was sick.  I found a saddle and finally bought my own saddle at the very end of the year but it has not arrived yet. 

Personal
Will spent a lot of time in CO with his start-up.  We didn't get much house or garden stuff I wanted to do.  I spent all that time sailing!  

Dad was diagnosed with cancer in November and underwent surgery.  Chemo is planned for the first part of 2013. 

More and more of my friends are getting pregnant so I'm running out of friends to do non-kid things with. 

Will and/or I have been sick since Thanskgiving.  It's not over yet either.

We did have a great ski trip.  I'll write about that separately as it was recent enough to write about and this is getting ridiculously long. 

Hello Out There

I've started this blog just to jot down some random thoughts that go through my head. I'm not sure where this will go, but off we go...