Sailing

So, last week I went out sailing with one of my Scouts. She's 15 and apparently a ridiculously good sailor. She races a bunch and has been sailing for years. She had offered to take me sailing a while ago and I finally took her up. I thought "Sure, I like to sail, sounds relaxing"We put all the sails on the boat (which is a J24 for anyone who is interested) and pulled out from the dock. Within 5 minutes some guy on the boat said to me "Why don't you steer?" What? Are you serious? I just told you that I've never sailed in my life and you're going to hand me the steerer (or tiller or something) . He cracked open a beer and I tried my best to keep the boat going in some sort of direction. Steering a sailboat is like steering a car backwards in the snow. It took me a solid 10 minutes to figure out how the handle worked, and then they kept telling me to aim towards things. "Sure, as soon as I figure out how to point the boat in some sort of direction I'll aim towards something" I only thought it though, I must have said something like "uhhh! okay!"

I was hoping that they would take the handlesteerer out of my hand sooner rather than later when the guy said "Ok, now that we're racing I better drive" What! Race! No one told me about a race. I knew there was a barbecue afterward, I had $5 in my pocket, but no one told me this was a RACE. Where was my margarita? Why wasn't I lounging on the deck with my feet on a rail lazily pulling on a rope or something?

I took my place on the rail of the boat, determined to fulfill my purpose as "rail bait" which I was told means that I'm supposed to help balance the weight of the boat we turn. That sounded like something I could do--"Just sit there, change sides when we yell 'Tack!' or 'Jive!'" I was relieved to have less responsibility. Until I realized how tricky it is to dive under the boom as its swinging toward my head. There's about 10 inches of clearance, the boom is moving quickly, and there's nothing to keep me from falling off the other side of the boat while I dive head first, or feet first under the boom to the other side while the boat is tilting at sometimes precarious angles. It's like limbo from hell.

The first time we tacked and I had to dive for the other side, I wasn't quick enough and got dragged up by the seat of my pants. I was quicker after that, but just could never quite get used to seeing the water rush at me from between my feet while I was hoping that something would stop my slide before I ended up in it. I never once fell off the boat--which is good, because I'm sure I would have been yelled at for causing drag, or something.

This is a picture of the type of boat I was on. You can see clearly the "rail bait" position...


It's been a few days since my sail, and I can finally turn my head completely to the left again, and my bruises are starting to turn yellow...I'm thinking that maybe I might like to sail again.


In other news: Today is my birthday. I got some nice presents, and I went on a long bike ride. I've cleaned my house and I think some people will come over and celebrate with me. Unfortunately I'm suffering from SEA LICE!!!!! What! SEA LICE!!! Ok, really they're tiny jellyfish stings. Invisible sea anemone larvae (which look like jellyfish) got all up under my swim suit and stung me all over while I was battling the open water during my swim. As soon as this triathlon thing is over, I'm finding a pool. Marine life is ridiculous.

Confidential to my readers in Arizona: Hi Grandma!

Its the Girl Scout year...

We've started the Girl Scout year. Right now, I've got about 10 girls I think, which is a really good number.

Today we had a pool party. I sat around and did this alot: while the kids splashed around and stuff.

I think it was a pretty successful day. There were popsicles, and an attempt at planning the year, and lots of laughing and not too much yelling.

Laura came and life guarded. We had to have a lifeguard, the rules say so, but seriously 10 kids who know how to swim in a small-ish pool is not a safety crisis. Safety Wise is our rock, its 150 pages of rules relate to anything we could possibly get up to.

Arts and crafts? Yup, we have safety rules for painting. Walking? Yup, got that. Swimming? Sure you can do that but don't even THINK about water, or look at water, or dip your toes into water if you don't have a lifeguard. For up to 10 kids you need one lifeguard and one adult spotter.

Thank goodness for Safety Wise, though it sometimes makes my life miserable, if I didn't have its guidance I wouldn't know how to follow the rules and what is Girl Scouts if not for getting really good at following the rules

I went to Idaho

You may know that I spent a long time in Idaho recently. Here's a little photo essay of the types of activities I got up to while I was there.

Idaho is a very pretty.

I went to the pool alot. This is my nephew, he likes cake alot.And he plays t-ball. Though, t-ball for 4 year olds is more like a bunch of kids standing around waiting for a ball to drop in front of them. Everyone wins.

I made a wolf shaped cake for my cousin's birthday. It's Wolf shaped. Not seal shaped, or fox shaped or anything else. Wolf shaped.

Everyone got their party-game on. Even Lilly.
This is my other nephew, he likes scorpions and some sort of new dragon toy things from Japan or China that I can't pronounce.

And we went camping. The kids slept in a tent for the first time.


This is my little cousin. We went and got some tattoos together.
And then we rode the carousel about 10,000 times.
This is my grandma, she's really cool. And my niece.

And that's my entire 10 days in a nutshell.

Hurricane Bill

Turnpike Speed Series

Due to recent budget cutbacks in the time department here at Moving Targets, we're moving to a new once a week blog format.

You will be happy to know that you can now set your watch, or calendar, to the posts here at Moving Targets Weekly. Hopefully. Check here after your postsecrets.

I wouldn't say I've been especially busy lately, but I have been fairly normal. There are some big things on the horizon that may prove to be noteworthy.

1. My middle school teaching gig is starting in one week. I know they're going to make fun of me. I'm terrified of middle schoolers. They're mean.

2. It's Girl Scout time again! I have so much work to do before the year begins. I've got ducks to line up, documents to copy, letters to write and people to call. We're going to do lots of big, amazing things this year. We're going to kick the year off with a pool party.

3. My triathlon is coming up. I'm thinking of joining Team.hammerheads here in Miami. They're super inclusive, I saw pictures of lots of old people on their site. Which means that I should be able to keep up with them.

Today Laura had her first bike race. She was pretty nervous about it, because everyone gets that way about things they have never done, especially when they don't know what to expect. I really can't blame her for the week of ridiculous behaviour I had to endure. I'm just really glad its over. And she did so awesome!

When we got to the race, we didn't know where to go and I had a few uncomfortable moments driving down the side of the street dodging lackadaisical bikers. Laura said it was OK though, and we finally found the parking lot.

There was a LOT of spandex, and not a lot of organization. And bikers aren't very friendly. I think its because their pants are too tight. I don't think they're very careful either. It was a windy day and there were bikes falling down all over the place. You think a person would be more careful with a $4000 bike, but what do I know? We waded through the unfriendly sea of spandex and found the registration booth. Laura then learned that only FOUR women had shown up for the race and that it was effectively cancelled. What? She decided to wait to pay her registration fee until it was closer to race time. Maybe some one else would show up.

We watched the men race. Biking is not much of a spectator sport, so we only got to see them a few times as they passed us on the loop. It was enough to freak Laura out sufficiently. She ran into a few people she knew from riding and from working at the r.sma.s. One girl said to her "Oh, you're wearing Victory Red, bold move"

Laura went and changed her jersey immediately. Luckily she brought a second outfit.

By the time the first two men's races were over enough women had shown up, but they were all hard core team riders. Laura was worried. Not only were they hard core team riders, but they had all decided that they were going to ride with the Category 3 men. category 3 is one step before Pro, I guess. Laura was more worried.

But she's pretty brave and got up there and rode off with them. But Laura is the best biker ever, pretty much I think. She stayed with all those hard core club riders, in the wind, pulled her weight, and gave them a run for their money too. She stayed with the other women, and were only about three minutes behind the men.

I don't know what it is about bikers, but I guess they feel like finishing at all isn't as important as finishing well, and so it's not unusual for people to just drop out during the race if they think they're not doing well. There were a few guys riding back with Laura and her crew (Blondie and Green Helmet) but they dropped out after the third lap. A few of the women dropped out too. Laura said later that she felt pretty taxed but she finished the race and pulled off a good sprint at the end. She did 26 miles in 1 hour and 10 minutes, holy cow.

I am pretty glad I didn't race. I wouldn't have made it. I was sweating like a mountain goat at the beach, just sitting in the shade watching the race. Oh, and cuddling up with a presumptuous guy-rider who thought our blanket looked like a nice place to sit.

It was a nice day at the races. Maybe she'll do it again, but without the week long freak out ramp up.