I've been hearing stories on Shelter Island of Amanda Clark and her sailing ways for years.   It was big news when she made the Olympic Team I'll bet someone will organize a parade if she medals.  It is certainly much easier to get excited about the Olympics when you know of, even through a community, someone competing.  

I remember the Olympics being a big deal to me when I was a kid, and lately I've heard things like, "we'll probably turn off cable after the olympics" and "when are the opening ceremonies".   I think I got turned off from the Olympics in 1996 when NBC was telling Yahoo! not to publish the results from the Olympics until after they aired them on TV,  and the obviously edited programming went on masquerading as live sports.   It does appear that NBC has finally embraced the Internet.  NBC Olympics not only has that great Bio of Amanda including pictures and videos, but an easy to navigate calendar of all the events.   They may have even enticed me to download a Microsoft Plugin to my Mac Book Pro so that I can watch the events I'm interested in, not the 100s of hours of drama and back story.  

Sail Amanda sail, Shelter Island and the world is watching.

Its the deep cold of January and cabin fever is setting in.  Now is the time to be planning a trip to the Dry Tortugas and searching Ebay for deals on Lures and Hardware.  Of course setting aside $5 a day for fueling up the boat this summer isn't a bad idea either.   Nothing beats being prepared when fishing - all salt water sport fish in the North East are migratory so the time of year is the first important factor.

Sometimes Bass and Blues come into the Peconic Bay in April.  2007 had a bit of a cold spring that kept the bay empty.  Easter was the coldest Egg Hunt on Record (according to oral history - spread by those thinking that hot air would somehow thaw the chill). 

Itching to engage the water at some level I donned my waiters and grabbed my clam rake and spent about 30 minutes lowering my core body temperature in pursuit of hard shells.  The chill of the water and the long winter without shellfish made those clams the sweetest of the season.  Check out the pictures of me chilled to bone in my April 2007 Gallery.