beautiful boat for sale

My '73 Kittiwake - Ragtime Gal - is for sale.  As I tidied her up a bit, I was once again struck by what a gorgeous boat Mr. Alberg designed... and what a lovely job Wes, the previous owner, did in caring for this boat.  That, coupled with my perfectionism and my obsessive need to paint her hull a classic navy blue, have made for what I believe is one of the most striking Kittiwakes in existence today.  I'm not saying that just because she is for sale (on craigslist, sailboatlistings.com, and soon to be on sailingtexas.com.)  Here, see for yourself how spiffy she is!

SAIL -- a book report

I received James Patterson's latest novel from my bro and sis-in-law as a birthday present recently. (The birthday when I turned.... um, *way older*.) I loves me some James Patterson. I usually seek out his fiction on CDs and listen to them during hatefully long car trips. (When I first started listening to Books on CD I had a lot of trouble with my mind wandering, necessitating a lot of rewinding... a LOT of rewinding. Yeah, I know... me? Wandering mind? Hmmm... go figure.) Anyway, as I was saying...

This would be the first Patterson I would enjoy in book form. I loves me some reading, but I have always gotten my Patterson fix in the car. Anyway, it's a 400-pager, which made me fear that it would take forever to get through, but I actually read it in just a couple days on the plane and in the evenings during a recent business trip.

Overall, it was a decent enough story, but it left me craving way more sailing action. This was because (spoiler alert!) the sailboat explodes on page 86, destroying the boat and killing the only smokin'-hot (no pun intended) guy in the whole story. Aside from the disappointment of losing the promise of 300+ more pages of hot sailing p0rn (defined as 'graphic yet G-rated descriptions of sailing and sailboats'), it was an enjoyable read as evidenced by my speedy consumption of all 400 pages! I'd recommend it as a great poolside or beach book.

help... me...

My current favorite source of sailing p0rn* is Mike & Kylie's blog. It was Shirley Phillips, a friend from the club who will soon be returning to Canada (where all the cute hockey players are born and raised), who turned me on to following M & K's great adventures. Mike & Kylie are the same age as me, but whereas I spend my days here in a tiny little cubicle in wintry Central Ohio writing (kick-#ss!) use cases and software specifications... Mike and Kylie spend their days cruising, hiking, and snorkeling the Caribbean.

Anyway, Mike & Kylie haven't been blogging much lately (probably because they spend their days cruising, hiking, and snorkeling the Caribbean), and my other ultimate favorite sailing bloggers that I follow regularly seem to be rather quiet over the holidays, so I've found myself lately without much selection of high-quality sailing p0rn. Last night I hit a real low point. I sat and read the West Marine catalog... and actually enjoyed it.

*sailing p0rn is defined as graphic (in terms of detail)-but-tasteful descriptions (preferably with photos!) of one's sailing adventures, experimentation, and toys. It is, of course, no more 'coarse' than, say, Rated PG-13.

All 80s... all the time

My beloved OMD + sailing song = BLISS.

Swoon!