DO YOU WRITE ABOUT YOUR SURFING OR FISHING ANTICS?

Casagrande Press is looking for submissions for two new books: Fishing's Greatest Misadventures (April 18 2008 deadline), and Surfing's Greatest Misadventures (January 18 2008).

This is your chance to get rich and famous! Well, maybe just the famous part ...

"We are looking for nonfiction, first-person stories about bad judgment calls, pranks, comical/ironic episodes, attacking fish or other animals, bizarre injuries, meltdowns, rough weather, trips gone wrong ..." etc. etc. etc. Criteria for surfing submissions is similar.

Don't be shy! Clink on the headline to go to their home page for details and easy submission guidelines ...

WET WEDNESDAYS - IN & ON THE WATER

I love Wednesdays! First I get to lead water aerobics at the community pool: outside beneath palm trees and blue skies, with the ocean breeze coming from the south and the blue-grey mountains towering to the north. The class is at noon, so it's sort of like having 'recess' during the middle of the workday!

Then it's off to Santa Barbara in the evening to sail on Helene's boat 'Intuition'. Yesterday was particularly breezy with an Alaskan storm offshore (still nice enough to sail barefoot, in a tank-top and pants though) and we had fun as we went up and down and over and across the course, at the foot of the beautiful city of SB.

I love having a day when I get to be really physical and feel strong. Having had all that taken away from me; continually working so hard to get it back -- I truly appreciate the miracle of the human body and the blessing of good health!

SHE SURFS. SHE SAILS. SHE FISHES. SHE'S ...

... Liz Clark! If you want to absolutely drool with envy while you travel virtually around the South Pacific, check out Liz's link (click on headline). Liz is 25 - a veritable wonderwoman - and my friend (yay!). We sailed in company to San Miguel Island on her first ever single-handed voyage ... since then she's refit her Cal 40 Swell, hop-scotched south to the Galapagos Islands, and across the Pacific (to the Tuamoutus, thus far) on a sailing-surfing adventure most of us only dream of. Liz is 'can-do' all the way: a real inspiration to every woman (and a goddess in the eyes of the many men who are following her journey as well). She's a great writer too, so grab a cuppa Joe or maybe a big mojito, sit down, and check out her journals and pics. Go Liz!

WOO HOO! A CONTEST!

Look what I found, from our friends at Shimano

"Ladies Share Your Story ...
Shimano is interested in hearing from all the Shimano women anglers who have a story to share about their days on the water. What were you using when you caught the fish of your lifetime? If you can keep your stories to 400 words or less and send them to Shimano, we will automatically enter you into a drawing to win a 4GB AppleiPod Nano. Oh and don't be shy. If you have a picture that compliments your story, pass it along too. One winner will be chosen each month. Winners will be notified by email. Send your story to: rsantucci@shimano.com "

WACKY WAHINES DO ...

While blow-drying my panties early one morning at a hotel in Morehead City, NC (everything got drenched in the transfer from the research boat to the USCG tender, and what didn’t get marinated in seawater got soaked in a downpour during the wild 60-mile ride back to port!) I paused to think how many incredible experiences I’ve had.

Here's my accumulated list of what 'Wacky Wahines do' -- feel free to add your own!

Wacky Wahines ...

• Kayak with the Orcas off Vancouver Island
• Skinny dip in the bay at Sint Maarten
• Wake up at the roly poly anchorage at Santa Barbara Island to the smell of fresh brewed coffee
• Eat what they catch (hah!)
• Have ruined at least one camera
• Await the dawn and arriving raceboats in a leaky dinghy outside le Vieux Port of La Rochelle
• Get wet
• Visit sick sea turtles at Mote in Sarasota
• Always dip their toes (at the very least!) in a new body of water
• Don’t take a 747 to Hawaii …
• Ooh and ahh over dolphins no matter how many times they appear
• Carry sunscreen
• Wait out the weather at Cojo anchorage
• Confidently jump from the research vessel into the awaiting arms of handsome young Coast Guardsmen
• Have at least one article of clothing with squid ink on it
• Dance, dance, dance!
• Watch while the fish’s stomach contents are revealed and counted
• Have friends on every continent
• Hike all eight miles to Pt. Bennett (and back) on San Miguel
• Pee in a bucket
• Trust that the float plane will return to pick them up from the Alaskan slough
• Enjoy a little scotch with their water while sailing in Scotland
• Kayak with the greys in Baja
• Ask for more ice in their cocktails to the chagrin of the bartender in St Malo
• S-w-i-n-g onto an oil platform like Jane of the Jungle
• Volunteer to protect the marine environment, even if it means counting little pelagic birds at 1 a.m.
• Don't mind a little sand in their sandwiches
• Feast on champagne and oysters in Sydney
• Sing bawdy Dutch pub songs while slaying fish in Hawaii
  

Now send me your Wacky Wahine list (just nothing too randy girls, in case my Mom logs on …)

LOBSTER ANYONE?

NOTE FROM JENNY A @ UNITED ANGLERS 09.08.07 --
"Lobster season opens on Saturday Sept 29 and stays open until March ... We are going to schedule 3-4 trips where we can take about 3 people each time and leave around 3pm. We will likely head over to Catalina where we will fish to catch some bonito for our bait and then set the nets and hopefully load up on lobsters. The dates and times will vary from weekdays to weekends and the cost will be around $125-150 per person."

Gals are encouraged to contact Jenny directly at jennyjason@cox.net to RSVP!

GOOD FISHING : BAD HAIR

BACKSIDE OF SANTA ROSA ISLAND 09.03.07 -- I’m not sure what the correlation is between ‘bad hair’ and ‘good fishing’ but by the end of the day Monday I had a rip-roaring case of both.

Not that I’d really call what I was doing ‘fishing’ – I think I was just fortunate enough to be holding a rod that the deckhand stuck in my hands; and with a combination of assorted pointers and primal response, was successful in hauling up a bunch of fish.

I was with the Gold Coast Lady Anglers on Mirage, out of Port Hueneme. We left Sunday night (oh, after a large day for me: trophies in Dana Point, party in Long Beach) and the long, hot day, a bottle of wine, and sweaty bunk contributed to my fatal hairdo.

But who cares?! The fishing was so much fun! The boat was comfy, crew patient and helpful, the scenery spectacular, and the GCLA fantastic -- even if I did look like Einstein! And I think that was probably the best way to really go at it: with no worries about equipment or technique or what-do-we-call-the-greenish-stripey-ones … Just go! Catch! Squeal! Repeat! It reignited in me a drive to learn whatever I've got to know, and get what I've got to get, to be an awesome GCLA fisher-chick.

PLACES TO LEARN MORE LOCALLY:

www.goldcoastladyanglers.com
www.chickswhofish.com

please contact me if you know of more

get ready ...

stand by wacky wahines of the water!

coming soon: a blogspot for women, by women, about women
of SoCal and the Central Coast - who L-O-V-E the ocean.

~ crazeemermaid@yahoo.com