I have much to be happy about.
I told Peter I wouldn't care much if I reached 1/3, i.e. if the number of times I'd gone sailing in 2009 reached one third of the number of days in the year.
That was not a lie.
When I started counting, it was just to count. There was no real object or goal.
I wanted to see what happened.
The 'Usual Suspects' happened, a group of people that I couldn't imagine in a million years. That they would become my best friends . . . through sailing, how lucky am I? That I would find them and them me through a group that Andy, Gabe, Jacky and I started on the last day of March.
And what happened was that I was at 117 before Christmas.
Peter and I took Sabina out cause I didn't like the sound of 117. It was an odd number. 118 sounded better. Thanks Peter, Thanks Sabina - he and his diva did that just for me. Cool!
I wanted to, Peter wanted to do that for me.
So we did.
Thanks Peter, for Christmas I got to go sailing 118 times in 2009.
I thought I'd go sailing with Herb on Kira on the Sat. after Christmas.
That didn't happen, oh well. But I did help him get Kira ready for his absence in January. And I got to have lunch with him at San Francisco Yacht Club, which by the way is NOT in San Francisco. It has a view of San Francisco.
So I raced with Kurt and the gang on Yellow Fin on Sunday. Now I was at 119, another odd number.
Aaron wanted to talk about the 36.7 fleet building project, I said:
"Let's talk about it while we sail".
So we did.
120 is a nice round number. 365 days divided by 3 is
121.6666 . . . .
120 is so much nicer than that.
Along the way from 117 to 120, I was worried. During the Winter Sailstice event, the comment from a lot of the members was 'How do I go sailing with you guys when the events fill up so fast?"
So we started this thing on the Got Wind and Water website where you can click a graphic and get to a discussion board and talk about when you can go sailing.
The idea was that people could
follow the discussion and decide who to call or email to work out sailing plans.
So we did.
Paul suggested a NYE sail.
So we . . .
Yeah, that's right, a wonderful thing happened. I put up a NYE event on Got Wind and Water. I put it up on Dec. 31st.
By that time Paul had made other plans, so instead of sailing, I thought I'd do something for the group.
It started as a 'RSVP so you can comment on what the site has done for you in 2009' kind of thing. If you RSVP'd, then, through the power of the MeetUp API, you could make a comment. I thought it would be a fun thing for people to do as they got ready to celebrate New Year's Eve.
I planned on going home after work and going to sleep and waking up next year.
Within 4 hours of putting this non-event event up, Bruce emailed me.
"I just got back in town, I like the idea of sailing over to the fireworks, how do I turn the non-event event into a sailing event?"
"No problem, I'll make you an assistant organizer and you can do what ever you want."
Of course I want to sail with Bruce, I mean, he's such a cool guy, how could I not go sailing with him when the opportunity presented itself?
In a matter of minutes, it was done. In a matter of hours we filled the boat.
So Bruce, a friend of his, Andy, and I signed up. These are people I've sailed with before and really like sailing with.
Cool
Then Patrica signs up. I greeted her when she went sailing with Paul on one of our events. I had her email and phone, so she's on board.
Yun signed up.
Yun has visited the site but never signed up for an event. Huh, why is he signing up for this?
I email him and find out (it will remain a mystery for now). I need his phone number, I email him mine, he calls me.
Cool.
Then Stacy signs up. Wow, I haven't seen her out for quite a while. So I call her. She wants to bring a friend.
Ok.
Now the boat is full.
We went from zero to full in about 3 hours.
2009 is a year I will never forget.
I started something that has exceeded my expectations.
A weird thing happened today.
Got Wind and Water reached 121 events.
I will do my 121st sail of 2009 tonight.
No, really, that wasn't planned at all. It just happened. Really.
As the fireworks go off. I'll do my 1st sail of 2010.
Happy New Year!
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