Re: NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS
Here is something I copied from SAILNET.COM by DON Casey, you can go to sailnet.com to read it there but I Hate there new web site style (my email addres is still
sailsail@sailnet.net) so I will paist it here! <br /><br />"New Year's Resolutions:<br />Make Your Sailing Better in 2003 <br /> <br /> <br /><br />Too many boats remain tied up in the marina — even on beautiful days. <br /> <br /><br />Here we are again, at the end of another year. This is when we put our most recent disappointments behind us and resolve to make the new year better. My own disappointments of 2002 are of little broad interest, except for a recurring one. Whether I am at my home sail club or walking the docks in some far-away marina, I am always struck by how few moorings are vacant, how few slips empty. It can be a spectacularly beautiful weekend day, where beyond the docks the happy glitter of sunlight dances across wind-rippled waters, yet most boats remain tied up. Deserted. Forlorn.<br /><br />Why? There was no doubt great excitement when each and every one of these boats was purchased. The new owner was aboard every spare moment, sailing, puttering, or just basking. Then something happens. Universally. The flame flickers or goes out altogether.<br /><br />It doesn't have to be that way.<br /><br />There are, of course, Sailors-with a capital S-whose passion for sailing never falters, but for the rest of us, sailing competes for our time with lots of other activities. If, upon reflection, you determine that you sailed less and/or spent less time on your boat in 2002, here is a short list of new year's resolutions you might consider taking as your own.<br /><br />Take someone sailing. Nothing reinvigorates a vision better than seeing it through fresh eyes. You have friends who have hinted around about "when are you going to take me sailing?" Do it. Buy some cheese, a bottle of wine, and make a party of it. Sail gently. Stop somewhere for a swim. Let your friends steer. Tell your favorite sailing stories.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Take a look at sailing through someone else's eyes and you might find your desire again. <br /> <br /><br />A sail across the bay, routine for you, is a breathless adventure for your non-sailing friends. Not only will their excitement be infectious, you will almost certainly catch a glimpse of an earlier you. This can put you back in touch with those things that first attracted you to sailing.<br /><br />Buy something for your boat. When a sailboat is getting infrequent use, the tendency is to try to limit expenditures to those that cannot be avoided-mooring, insurance, critical maintenance. This seems perfectly logical, but in fact, it is something of a Catch-22. While it is true that the more dollars sailing consumes, the greater the potential to conclude it is "not worth it," it is equally true that failing to spend leads just as surely to disenchantment. Whatever else sailing is, it is for most of us a hobby. Imagine a model builder who never buys a model, a photographer who never adds a lens, a golfer who never springs for a new putter.<br /><br /> <br /><br />A purchase, like this furler, can re-light your sailing fires. <br /> <br /><br />Buy something that excites you. Maybe it is something as big as a light-air headsail or as small as new mainsheet blocks. Maybe it is the thought of a new chart plotter that makes your heart go pitter-pat. Whatever it is, resolve to buy it for the 2003 sailing season. Not only will it bring the Christmas-like pleasure of a new toy, but putting the new piece of gear into service projects that sense of pleasure onto the boat. A third, not-to-be-discounted benefit is that a periodic purchase works something like a prepaid trip; if you are spending money on your boat, you feel an obligation to use it. This can be just the incentive you need to push you through momentary lapses in enthusiasm. At the end of the day, we are rarely sorry we went sailing, nearly always sorry we didn't.<br /><br />Read a new sailing adventure book. When I first started sailing, I turned to the printed page for both instruction and inspiration. Robin Graham lit the sailing fire in me. Eric Hiscock, Hal Roth, and Herb Payson fanned the flames. If you didn't come to sailing this way, then there is a great deal of sailing pleasure to be had for you at your local library. Not only can you sail vicariously all winter while sleet rattles against window pane, but you will soon be counting the days until spring. Nothing gets the juices flowing like a good read.<br /><br />If, like me, you have already read all the "old" stuff, browse the web or make a run to your nearest large bookstore. New sailing books are published every year, some of them recounting fabulous adventures. Maybe you aren't going to Tierra del Fuego, but these tales cannot help but make you realize you have the means and the skills to visit places denied to most others. That is a powerful incentive to recommit yourself to the pursuit of the rewards sailing offers.<br /><br />Night sail. When was the last time you went sailing at night? Get past the initial intimidation of the darkness and night sailing can be a wonderful experience. Starlight illuminates the deck, the wake trails phosphorescent, and the moon rises from the water huge, golden, and romantic. You pull all the same strings, but the experience is entirely different. It can be just what you need to make sailing fresh again.<br /><br />To sail at night is also to double the hours available for sailing. You don't have to choose between gardening and sailing. Do your gardening on Saturday and take the boat out for a dinner cruise-with friends-on Tuesday night.<br /><br />Resolve one annoyance. Sailing is supposed to be fun, but anyone who has sailed much knows that isn't always how it turns out. Sometimes the wind dies or the weather turns bad or something on the boat breaks. Fortunately we humans carry around an amazing resilience, and as long as the fun times predominate, we tend to discount the bad times as bad luck. <br /><br />What we cannot discount are recurring annoyances. Here is a silly but true example. Every time I am ready to leave the boat, I realize that the lock is still below, and this revelation often fails to come to me until after I have the hatch boards in place. My resolution is to fabricate a rack for the lock and install it within reach of the companionway. That should add one point to the fun advantage.<br /><br />Spring clean. Who doesn't feel a bit pumped up as a swan among a flock of ducks? If you agree that a high gloss on the hull and eye-catching brightwork make you proud to be seen aboard your boat, it follows that a dull hull and neglected wood set a negative tone. Polish and wax the hull. If it is beyond redemption by rubbing, paint it. Clean and treat the wood. Replace faded canvas. Eliminate below-deck clutter. If you do not have the time or the inclination to do these things yourself, hire them done. If you allow your boat to lose its eye appeal, your interest in sailing that boat will go with it.<br /><br />The love of sailing is like every other relationship. If you want it to last, you have to work at it."
Reason being, the weather and my scheduled boat working time just did not want to coperate... (Read Lots of Rain) 
