Sunday, December 30, 2007

Aspirating

I'm not going to do New Year Resolutions this year. They are a waste of time. In the last few years I've set myself resolutions to do unrealistic things like 'run a marathon' or 'move house to Rhode Island' or 'finish in the top half of the fleet at the Laser Worlds'. Ha. What a waste of time that was!

Freakonomics has an interesting post under the meaningless and misleading title of Economics and New Year Resolutions in which they discuss whether NYR's are aspirations, commitments to self, commitments to others, a clean slate, a signal, intertemporal reallocation (whaaaaaat?), or cheap talk. Geeze, I hate reading stuff by people that are even more anal and analytical than I am.

Anyway, where was I? Where am I? Oh yes. New Year.

I guess I do have some 'aspirations' for 2008.

1. Learn to kayak. I've been inspired by blogs like frogma and KayakQuixotica. It seems like a perfect complement to sailing (what to do on days when there's no wind) and running (how to exercise the other half of the body). Now I live in an area full of ponds and bays and rivers it's time to try out kayaking.

2. Take up some form of sailing that's parent-child friendly or more accurately grandparent-grandchild friendly. Laser sailing ain't, not really. Again I've been inspired by other bloggers, especially Edward at the EVK4 HyperBlog who writes about introducing his kids to sailing on San Francisco Bay. I want to be doing that with my grandkids in the not-too-distant future. (Oops - didn't mean to reveal any secrets - make that one grandkid for now.) Emily is only two but the last two years went by in a flash. I have a dream that one day I will be taking her out on a boat where she can have a gentle and safe introduction to sailing and that, as a result, she will get hooked on sailing for life. Need to find the right boat first.

3. Get involved in giving back to the sport of sailing again. When I started writing this blog three years ago I was involved in all sorts of activities especially with kids to introduce others to the sport, and in other volunteer efforts to support local sailing activities. I gave all that up when we left new Jersey. I miss it. Need to start doing something along those lines again, maybe with one of the local community sailing programs.

4. Learn a new sailing skill. Perhaps trapezing. Hmmm. Did it once. But not well. (That's a story in it's own right that I need to tell here one day). Can't stop learning just because I turn 60 in 2008.

5. Sail my Laser at least 100 days in 2008. Geeze, that's almost a resolution. I've never really kept count but I doubt I've done 100 days of Lasering in any one year before. So this year I'm going to count the days and write about every one here.

6. Find something interesting to write here on the other 265 days. No wait, 266 days. It's a leap year.

Happy Sailing New Year for Tuesday.

9 comments:

EVK4 said...

You're going to sail your laser out of sight of land for 100 straight days? That will be some sort of record I bet.

Anonymous said...

Does it count if I close my eyes so I can't see the land?

EVK4 said...

Tillerdude, congratulations on your anticipated need for a new fleet of family-friendly dinghies. Have you considered a force-5?

Anonymous said...

Eddiedude, no way is the 2028 Olympic Gold Medalist going to start her sailing career in a Force 5.

Tim Coleman said...

100 days on a Laser! Sounds like a record, You could probably cross the Atlantic and back. Not sure where you keep your sandwhiches though.

Anonymous said...

Turning 60's like...

Well, you'll see. Good luck in the new year. And Spyral Notebook, a blog by a sailor name of Jake, might be of interest to you. And you don't necessarily have to like Mitt. But it helps.

The Web Town Observer

Joe said...

I like those aspirations. Kayaking has made me a better sailor. Have you ever thought about surfing?

P.S.
A Force 5 sounds like the perfect boat, 2 people can sail in her. If you don't want the old geezer's boat than think about a MegaByte. She's one my list as the next boat to buy.
http://www.ps2000.ca/boats/mega/mega.htm

P.P.S
Have a Happy New Year!

Anonymous said...

I was thinking of something more like a Laser Vago.

bonnie said...

Hm. Hold on a second here...2 people can sail a Force 5?

I still can't afford a dinghy right now but one thing I would like in a dinghy, if I were to somehow scrape together the funds, would be the ability to take another person.

I shouldn't even be thinking down this path. All those blasted moving parts & loose bits waiting to be broken or lost or upgraded.

BTW I think it's great that I'm part of why you're thinking about kayaking, since you're probably what set me onto thinking that the dinghy sailing might be fun enough to actually give up the part time schooner job. Sailing for fun is a good concept. Not that the Adirondack wasn't fun, but it was also very much a job.

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