Thinking back to the 9 or 10 years that I've known him, there's not one image in my mind of the man without an ear to ear smile plastered on his face. I never saw him lose his temper or show frustration. A very skilled sailor and better friend.
You know, that is very true. He never showed frustration at a bad wind shift or a bad finish - he just keep being Oley.
I first met him 20 years ago in Bham at the Cat Caper (1989 - but he knew my dad before then), I about decapitated him in a "I am about to tack situation" in Ft Walton a few years later (the incident is still vivid in my mind and always tempers my judgement - luckily he and Jon Sheridan survived uncscathed) and grew to expect him and the TN contingent every year at Cat Caper. A few years ago, he showed up with Joanna on a H20 with Spin, he seemed to really be enjoying double handed sailing and working with Joanna to get faster. We raced almost boat-for-boat that weekend - me on a Blade F16 uni-rigged and they on the H20 w/spin. I guess they liked the look of the F16 - b/c they became a force to be reckoned with on it. First time I ever saw him on a non-Hobie.
Even though we only saw each other 3 or 4 times a year (at best), I already miss him.
