Book Progress & Sailing!

Hey Guys,

It's been a fun but busy few weeks here. I've so far survived two months with my permit (I thought that was pretty impressive). Driving isn't so bad anymore, but I still would rather be driving a boat.Remember when I told you about O Canada, the Open 60 inMarina del Rey? I got to go sailing on her twice :) The first day there wasn't a whole lot of wind, but the second day there was 15-20kts and that was fun! Of course these boats don't go well to weather so it was a bit painful on the tack out, but then we headed down wind, we were surfing along at 20kts in just 16kts of wind. Now that was fun! :D
It was great to meet all the crew and get to spend those two days with them. They're really great sailors, and it was neat to see how they worked together. Although, I think I'll stick to single-handing - not sure I could ever get used to sailing with a crew.

The Owner of O Canada produced a really awesome documentary about the 2008-2009 Vendee Globe. I've watched it more than once. I've never seen so much good footage of really any boat race. Its called Racing Around the World Alone. Their website is www.windathletes.ca and is definitely worth checking out, I loved it.
We've also just about finished with writing my book! In fact, its at the printer now which is really exciting. Its nice to finally bedone with all the editing. We were all getting a little tired of it but it will be great to finally get the whole story out there for everyone.

Abby

Driving at Last!

Hey guys!
Sorry its been so long since I last wrote, it has been a crazy month. I got home a few days ago from the Educational Policy Conference in St Louis where I spoke twice: once to the adults and once to the kids. It was a fun though cold weekend. The conference there was pretty interesting and I got to meet a lot of great people. I also got to build a snowman while I was there :) just a small one, but still, being from California I was pretty excited with the snow. Luckily, we flew out just before a big storm hit. Had we been there another day we might have gotten stuck there! Snow is fun, but I do like living in sunny, warm Cali.

I have a few more speaking engagements coming up over the next few months. I really like public speaking, up until the point where I'm up on stage... then my mind kinda goes blank! I'm working hard on improving my public speaking skills, and the more and more I do it the easier it gets. Seems to be how most things are in life, something that terrifies you now might be no big deal a year or two down the line. I know that's happened to me so much over the past year.

I don't remember if I wrote about this yet, but its finally happened... I have my permit! Took long enough didn't it? I am not sure I like driving... its a bit frightening and I can't help wishing cars had tillers - it gets too confusing going back and forth between steering with a wheel and a tiller. But I have to say I have had more near death experiences in the past month of having my permit than I have had in my whole entire lifetime of sailing (granted my "life time" hasn't been all that long at this point).

Makes me laugh at the thought that 16 is too young to take on a big sailing trip but not too young to drive... I for one feel much safer on a boat!

Well, I have to run. I'll be back soon with some pictures of the conference!

Abby