Ahoy gang,

I had no idea Rick was going to make an audio/video splash out of our trip together and it came as quite a surprise. I guess I noticed him crawling all over the boat with cameras during the race but I was quite focused on getting us ahead of the competition to pay much attention. Rick turned out to be a phenomenal sailor, so having the visual montage to relive the experience is just frosting on the cake of asking him aboard. And it doubles the good feeling of making the right choice when I decided to contact him about joining us for the race.

Life has been and continues to be good for me. I've owned Shady Lady for over ten years now and the boat has a new lease on life after a major refit. I still manage to work despite the recession and earn enough to support my sailing/racing/cruising habits. Although the job is a bit demanding and has gotten in the way of my sailing, I guess the fact that it pays the boat bills justifes the trade-off. (Although every time I read another episode from Fatty Goodlander, it makes me question my choices again temporarily.)

So blame my absence here on good fortune. I've got a wonderful lady in my life, a good job, a good boat, and some really good friends. I am too busy to worry about how old I am getting, so I think the old adage of a day spent messing about with boats not being added to the total time allotment on this planet being true. Our next event is something cooked up by the crazies in our club, (Boca Ciega YC) a sailing-fishing Un-Regatta. We sail a course and fish along the way. Extra points are earned for fish caught and time is added to your finish if nothing is caught. After the boating, we come back to the club for a fish cook-out and then gather round the campfire for guitar sing-alongs. I don't know how much more fun we could have with our clothes on!