WIND

First Race Pictures

This past weekend was my first sailboat race. Loads of fun and was exciting, periodically scary, mind-numbingly hot but never dull—even when there was no wind and it was more of a bobbing contest and less of a sailboat race.

Saturday: My Captain (Kristi) picked me up and we boogied down to the docks where I met the rest of the crew of the Cal Tipn (not sure if that’s spelled right!)—Carolyn, John and Eric. Carolyn and Eric have sailed with Kristi quite a bit, John a few times and me –NEVER.

Of course I was a little nervous. I was such a newbie. Hell, I still am. So much going on in my head…will we win… will I fall overboard…will it be crazy-fast.

Answers: No. No. No.

The first day was blistering hot and NO WIND to speak of. Kristi said that people tend to ask her how long a race is. Days like Sat make it impossible to tell. We left dock at 8am. Motored to the starting point. They shortened the race due to NO WIND. Motored again. Began race at 12:30. Since no one was going anywhere fast, everyone started dropping out at around 6. We dropped out and motored to the rendezvous and arrived around 6:30 (I think) with the other boats, where we all swam, ate and listened to the band.

And while the sailing/no wind part of the experience might sound dull—there was beer, food, good company and hey—we were on a sailboat. Still beats almost anything else I can think of.

Saturday Night: —Slept on deck, listened to the approaching thunder and prayed we didn’t get rained on.

Sunday: Thunderstorms rolling in so hey--we had wind. And with wind comes sailing. We put up the spinnaker and raced!! Loads of fun and I tried to fly the spinnaker. I say try because flying a spinnaker is an art. When people say it’s like flying a kite they are not kidding. Of course, that makes me want to learn it even more and I think something I’d like to work on and even excel in oneday,

What a great weekend. There is nothing that beats full sails and good company.

Monday: Back at the day job. Tired. Tanned. And the ground is still moving.

Give me Air!

Sailing with Sue

I sail most Thursdays with Sue, Murph and Steve, Loads of fun and I am slowly learning the ins and outs of how to read the wind.

This week was decent air—nothing as exciting as last Sun but still—a decent day on the water is far above and better than the best day behind a desk.

Defying the Laws of Physics

As you might guess--the past few weeks have been busy so no blogging. What can I say--I'd rather be out having fun. This weekend was no exception but it did have a very yin/yang feel to it. First, the yin: I rarely talk about dating on my blog but I am compelled to due to a date I had on Sat. Suffice it to say, that if you smoke, don't lie about it and then light up on the first date with the excuse that 'everyone lies about it'. It's one of those 'deal breaker' issues and only sets a bad precedence.

Now, the yang. Sue and I went sailing yesterday and had fab-u-lous air. We headed cruised to the Bay and back. The funny thing about Sue's boat is that it defies the laws of physics. No matter how far we're heeled over, it reads as 10%. And I am sure there were a few times (at least) we were way past the 10% mark. All I can say is that the more I sail, the more I love to sail. It is the best sport EVAH.

And afterwards, cocktail hour!

Lemons

Todays thought: When life gives you lemons. Freeze them until they are as hard as rocks then throw them back at life. Hard.

First Day in DC

Another fun weekend and here are the pictures to prove it. I decided it was time for me to venture into DC. I’d been planning to go but bad weather then sailing then kayaking got in the way. Sat—I went.

DC is huge and there is TONS to see so I am parceling it it. This weekend, I chose the Washington Monument, The WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

Even though it’s summer, the Mall area wasn’t as crowded as one might think. It was blazing hot and muggy as hell but I can live with that.

The Washington Monument was…well...Large. Long. A giant phallic symbol, as it were. Still, very cool. Walking up to it I remembered a Universal Truth—no matter the nationality, a family of four will walk side by side down the sidewalk, taking up the entire space. So irritating!

Next was The Wall AKA The Vietnam Memorial. Row after row and column after column. It breaks your heart. Walking along The Wall, you'll see the occasional laminated picture. These are put out on the anniversary of the soldiers death. The experience of The Wall is beautiful and touching and hard to take. So instead of taking many direct pictures, I focused on reflections.

The WWII Monument also carried an unexpected impact because my grandfather was a chaplain in WWII. Stationed in France, Germany and England, he didn't talk much about it but I always loved to hear what he had to say. And he even wrote a little. and I have one of his poems. I’d publish it here but it’s in storage so that will have to wait.

Finally, I went to the Lincoln Memorial. Interesting but too crowded! I’d like to go back but when it’s quiet. It’s too hard to soak up an experience when there’s hoards of people pushing for a better look.
Next---the Smithsonian.