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.