Forgive Me

In my last post I said that "I'll write more when I have time".

Well, this isn't that time.

But I do feel compelled to write something, and share the mixed feelings I've had lately. As 2008 drew to a close, several sailing bloggers were sharing their feelings about the times they'd gone sailing in 2008.

100 seems to be a magical number, 36 seems to be a reasonable number.

99 bottles seems to be a great way to get Tilly back on the water (I prefer reading about his sailing to reading about iceboats and snowboats)

0 between Christmas and New Years, well that just wasn't cool at all. I fumed and fussed and tried hard not to let it get to me. I didn't want to be counting the sailing days of the year, much less the number of blog postings.

And the sailing experiences themselves? In December, they were very interesting. They were very cold, and dark. Nature Girl and I took out a J24 and double handed three times on December evenings. There was an encounter with the Larkspur ferry that nudged me into reading Chapman from cover to cover.

There were other experiences that I can't recall (which bothered me so much I started keeping a log).

There were times that made me appreciate the magic of sailing in the moonlight.

When January came, and the idea of sailing, if not in the Three Bridge Fiasco, then at least among the Fiasco Fleet caught my imagination. Preparing for it was FUN, interacting with other Sailing Bloggers was a kick. Having the weather consist of dry, warm, sunny days with Northeast, North and Northwest winds - WOW. In winter, in January, in Northern California. Then to experience all the other wind directions, without the Fog and Rain and Chop. For the Fiasco to have an East Wind, then a West Wind. Did I mention the lack of Fog and Rain and Chop? . . . WOW.

The cold, dark evenings of December were lost in the joy of those January sailing experiences.

The Full Moon on January 10th, the biggest Moon in twenty years, "Full Moon Fever" became an addiction I'm not sure I'll recover from. The chance encounter with a professional photographer and the absolutely spectacular experience of him on the foredeck, me behind wheel, setting up shot after shot of a very spectacular bridge bathed in a golden glow with a quarter moon? When the digital versions of those photos become available, there WILL be a post about that. Meanwhile, google 'McNair Evans', and be amazed.

So posting on the Blog has temporarily taken a back seat to sailing. The 2009 counter is up to an amazing 16 sails, and it's only February 16th. The last sail was on the February Full Moon, with a couple of old friends and three new ones.

Am I really counting? - well, sort of. I needed to develop a method to keep track of it all. And to keep track of all the new friends I'm making.

I can't possibly post about every experience, but with my 'log' (a spreadsheet that records the sails), I'm building up a non-volatile memory: a set of GPS tracks, as well as a 'crew list' that won't rely on just my brain. I'm working out a way to organize all this so building on these experiences will be easier. Easy enough perhaps that I can post more.

My grandfather's (B)log / Journal is waiting. I'm looking forward to building a Google Earth track of his trip, to charting his course using the Bluewater Electronic Charts, with as much detail as I can gather from his journal, then transfer them to Google Earth.

I'm probably going to move away from the triple post idea, and just post. So I'll probably start posting his journal entries with and without my comments. And I'll just post my own experiences as I find time to, without my grandfathers entries.

So take the 'Times I've Sailed in 2009" picture in the spirit I'm using it. Not so much as a counter, but as a reminder. Sailing comes first, with the beauty and friendship that is it's foundation. Posting will come along as I find the time to do it.

Forgive the unpredictable nature of this blogger. Use the Google reader, follow or subscribe to this blog and you won't miss anything - there is a lot of good stuff ahead.