My first experience of sailing was in high school on a friend's home built Mirror on Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. I sailed again on another Mirror during university in Ireland. When I got married my father-in-law had a Laser on Klerksdorp dam in South Africa so I sailed that quite a bit. That Laser was my first taste of a bit of speed on the water, although we had to wait for the wind generated by thunderstorms to get it planing. That taste of speed was what really got me interested. I sailed on and off over the years but never owned a boat. The first cat I sailed was on vacation in Mexico - probably a Wave. I thought I knew what I was doing but really only knew enough to be dangerous! But I did realise then that speed = cat. I sailed a cat again on the Swan River in Perth still not really knowing what I was doing. Last year I was fortunate enough to be based in Curacao for a year and took the opportunity to get some lessons from the team at Catsailing Curacao who, for the first time, taught me how to sail a cat properly and safely (thanks Iko!). I sailed almost every weekend on one of their Getaways. I progressed to the point where I could handle the boat on my own and almost bought a H16 but realised I was about to get transferred away from the island and decided to wait. I am now living in Reno and about to take delivery of a VWM Blade F16. I guess it will be a challenging step up from the Getaway but I'm really looking forward to getting to know the boat and hopefully racing before too long.