On a Personal Note....

Since the wonderful gudgeon blew out 3 miles offshore of Jekyll Island on Day 6 of the Tybee, I wasn't able to execute "Plan A" but "Plan B" was devised during the 2 hour, one-rudder sail to the island.

She said Yes.

(Figured I'd post it here since most of my catsailor family reads this place)

WOOOOOOOOT!

D*A*M*N I missed it!

Way to go, mate - congratulations.

Every significant occasion comes with a good story. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

congrats once more

She finally agreed to divorce you ?

Congrats man !

Wouter

Congrats!
time to start weaning yourself off sailing <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Well, the best thing about her is that she encourages and participates in my sailing adventures <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

That and she does my laundry.

Let's just hope she doesn't read this forum...or Tad might be wearing dirty clothes for a while.

Spoken like a man with some experience....



Doing things for each other is what it is all about. (Even laundry)

Congratulations Tad. I am happy for both of you. When are you doing the deed? Do you know yet?

Congrats...what a way to kneel down...

Mind to elaborate a bit on plan A, respectively plan B?

Plan A was to skid into Tybee in a blaze of glory (aka not last place) and have my ground crew hand me the ring and do it right there for Jdub to commentary on.

However, cannonball jellies had other plans for me. I had to suffice for a late-night walk on tybee beach in front of the lighthouse. It worked out.

SWEET! welcome to the "honey, can I go sailing this weekend?" club!

You are in for a ride! ahahahhaha

But seriously though, CONGRATS!

The 'Honey, can I go sailing club?!?'

That's it, now I am sure, I am never getting married again.

Tad,

In an extremely rare appearance to Catsailor (I lost my old PW), CONGRATULATIONS! Tell Kate I need a reason to come South! Maybe an engagement party at Julian's?

Your friend,

Frank

Yea, Remember when she says I Do, that means you DON'T anymore.

Congrat's and Good Luck. Glad to see your Ok !!

Congrats

I guess that was one extra thing to check before starting the T-500 - the welds on the rudder gudgeons.. Especially since Plan A sounded so cool (Plan B was a good backup though!)

My gudgeon parted about 3 miles from the finish at Macho Man. Not nearly as challenging as the T-500, but just as dissapointing! Turned out the original gudgeons were only welded on one side, causing the failure.

The replacements (and my spares) were welded on both sides. No doubt due to feedback from sailors like you who drove your boats to the limits.

Congrats on the nuptuals. Do the two of you make minimum weight?

"Yea, Remember when she says I Do, that means you DON'T anymore."

Now that's funny, never heard that one before.
Congrats and good luck.
Even though you had some bad luck you still had a better time than we did, pretty tough watching from the desk.

You got it. they changed that about 4 years ago I believe. However, the new weak link is the little eye that threads into the lower rudder casting. We had one break on us in the '04 Tybee and Castrol2 had one break on them this last year. I'm planning to have ours dye checked to inspect for cracks before the next big run.

Wendy:

NEVER say Never. You have a lot of years left. Might meet a sailor you fall head over heels for.


Doug

Congrats Tad!

Doug,
I was joking about marriage. It works great for a lot of people. I am not against it.

It sounds like Tad found someone who 'catches his drift' and gets the joke. You can't hope for anything better than that.

Wendy:

When I do it again I WILL find someone who loves sailing this time around (Whether it is marriage or just a relationship). Sailing it to much a part of my life. Especially now that I will soon have 3 boats and will be training Ashleigh to helm. When do you get yours?

Doug

If you find a good crew you'd better hook him! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Congrats Tad! I was hoping I'd get to congratulate you in person before we left, but that ended up getting as crazy and rushed as the rest of the week.

Tad, This news makes my day! She will not be a "trophy wife", but making a relationship work, is a victory worth celebrating. Glad you won on that account! I am really looking forward to those pints! Hope to see you before the end of Summer. Brian

Congrats! Are we all invited to the wedding? At least the reception?

thanks everyone <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

As for the reception, I have to check the budget. I know how some of us can put down the booze <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Congrats Tad.

Don't listen to all these old codgers.

Mike Hill
www.stlouiscats.com

PS. Have you started your penny jar yet? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I've started my penny jar to pay for my new mortgage <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Jake, if that eyelet breaks, would it cause further damage to the rudder system, or could you just stop and put another one in? Would the eyelet cause the lower pintle to bend when it detaches from the upper gudgeon?

I hope I'm using my terms correctly. I'm a little weak on beach cat anatomy

Waterbug,
This quote cracks me up. Let's make sure the boy's priorities are straight here. The funniest part is that I am certain that he knows the answer to the pound.

Only in the sailing community would this make any sense at all.

Yep - bends the snot out of the lower gudgeon when it goes.

Congratulations Tad
Welcome to Club Wed

One word of advice. Pick a date that doesn't conflict with an annual sailing event. Those anniversary dates are sacred and she will not always feel that going sailing is the perfect anniversary gift.

So you are going to tell her she needs to get married in January because a June wedding might conflict with regattas?

...good luck with that...

Here is my advice, wear an atheletic cup and a helmet when you decide to approach her about it.

In my experience, she's cooler than you think.

I am sure she is or Tad wouldn't love her.

I just got this mental image of what this conversation might be like with non-sailing women and cracked myself up.

apologies. If she is that cool about it, it is actually a great idea.

Worked for me...but the correct angle of approach is that you can keep all your sailing friends from having to decide "regatta or attend wedding" if you schedule it around regattas. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I'm not stereotyping all woman.... but priorties can change after marriage (then again after kids)..... It sure is how I lost a good crew and I know of several other couples it has as well. My wife is supportive of my sailing, but you will have to strike a balance. But... It is in your best interest if you don't ever have to balance your sailing with your anniversary date. That is one stressor you can avoid now with the proper planning (i.e. January wedding date)

we haven't even started to talk about dates yet. We're too busy getting mortgage application stuff right, travel plans for the next two weekends sorted out, and getting back into the swing of "normal" life after our adventure down south.
I think we have agreed that it will be a small, private service with a big, huge, kickin' party.

And JC is right, she won't care if our anniversary falls on a regatta day and I want to go to the regatta. She'd probably want to go too. She loves hanging out with all my sailing buddies <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Ah.. So young and naive. Just remember... Your anniversary date last forever. (or that is the plan) I'm sure she is cool with sailing and loves your friends now. So did my wife and she still is cool and loves my sailing friends. But when you are 40 something and you want to go sailing and leave her with the kids on your anniversary (let's say your 10th or 20th) Do you really think that will fly? Like I said, Priorities will change as you get older and if you Plan well now, you will never have to worry about it later. You will not have to think... she'll probably want to go too.

If you work at it she will become rather more than your best buddy. And the anniversaries will become more important than the sailing. Strange but true!

Congratulations.

It worked for me. She likes to hang with the other wives and knock back boat drinks on the beach. Meanwhile, I'm left to pick the occasional loose kid or girlfriend to crew for me.

Amen to that, Brother Man. We got married on the date that is the traditional weekend for the Chesapeake 100. So every year it's a little bit of an issue - first year it was a big issue. To make it worse, our neighborhood has a festival on that same weekend every year, and now I get pressure on that one...

Ours is January 16th. Not much sailing going on round these parts any way. Was the coldest day of the year, high of 5F. A time of the year for snuggling.

Congratulations and Best Wishes for a long and prosperus life together.

Tad and Kate, How about getting married at a regatta, the way a couple did last week at Madcatter? Or maybe at next years Tybee?

Hahahah ok that may be pushing it a bit :P