Well, my properly sized Stillwater Black Watch arrived today. I tried it on...it fit well, so I put on the belt and the sporran and the boots, loaded my wallet, keys and cell phone into the sporran and headed for the first meeting of the year for my sailing society.

Now, most of my groups meetings have 40-50 people at it, but this is the 2nd biggest race of the year on San Francisco Bay. Instead of the yacht club having a relatively small group of guys in it, most of which I know well, this meeting always has a couple hundred people show up. This year was no exception.

Well, I walked into the Club about 6:30...the meeting starts at 7:00. Folks are expecting me to help out at the registration desk, and most of the Club officers and race committee are there. I know all these guys. The first comment was "OK, now I'm scared" from my friend Bill...which drew a laugh. Rui the sailmaker had to ask what was under the kilt, so I told him the standard line "I'm not wearing anything under this kilt but lipstick", which drew raised eyebrows and a laugh.

The RIO, Don just seized on the subject and went on and on about how he had rented kilts for a big family gathering at the Ahwahnee Hotel (old, old hotel, very nice in Yosemite National Park). Our Commodore is a MacFarlane, and I know he was interested because he's talking about getting hitched to his girlfriend of 16 years, and he thinks wearing a kilt for the ceremony would be great. He thought my thick, sunlessly-white legs sticking out from under the kilt were kind of funny....which I have to admit, they are.

Anyway, I spent most of the meeting sitting down, checking applications and emergency contact phone numbers of racers. However, before and after the meeting I spent a lot of time hanging out with sailing mates, drinking coffee and talking about all the stuff that sailors talk about. Besides the expected question "So what made you wear a skirt?" (he knows full well it's a kilt) nobody really paid much attention.

I'm sure a few of the guys think I'm a bit nuts, but them's the breaks. It was fun! I already have a reputation for being unconventional, since I'm the first North American monohull sailor to adopt this new sail technology...http://www.kiteship.com

Next up, kilted at work. Hmmmmm.... tomorrow might be a good day...