my2fish blog 1st birthday

today (july 17th) is the 1-year birthday of the blog “my2fish”!

sometime during last spring/early summer, I had been trying to figure out a way to keep track of the days that I went sailing, as well as to keep track of the repairs that I had planned, and the repairs that I figured would be coming as I spent more time investigating my 40+ year old sailboats – the Sunfish and the Super Porpoise.  as I toyed with the best way to keep a “log” of those kind of things, I decided to try my hand at writing a blog.  a few family members and friends had already been blogging before me (Hooray & Wrinkled Page – check them out), and I had been reading blogs for some time, but this would be my 1st attempt at it myself.

so 1 year ago it was a late Friday night, I had put my 3 boys to bed for the night, and my wife was at a Kid Rock concert with some friends from work!  I briefly looked at Blogger and WordPress, decided to give WordPress a try – and then just jumped right into it, and blogged my 1st post.

t2 & me sailing in towards shore

after 1 year, my2fish is closing in on 20,000 page views (should be there in 2 or 3 days).  the first few months were slower, averaging about 1,000 page views a month, but this spring and now summer have brought a big upswing in blog traffic, with each month breaking the previous month’s record – with June posting about 4,500 page views for the month. (note: WordPress stats are based on page views… I later on set up Sitemeter, which I think tells me I average just about 1.5 page views per visitor.)  I find it is getting easier to find things to write about as well – I’m a bit behind as it is right now, as I currently have a to-do list of 20 posts that need to be written (some boat repairs, some sailing and camping trips, and some reviews of Sunfish parts suppliers).

I’ve spent a lot of time reading forums, blogs and books – trying to find tips about learning to sail.  my goal was to absorb as much information as I could, to do my best to get the means and methods down pat in my mind, as well as pass along good information when I find it.  I think my post “learn to sail in 3 days” has probably been my busiest post ever with about 1,500 page views.

last fall, I went and watched my first ever Sunfish race – it was a fantastic time, and I was able to get some great pictures.

I’ve followed with great interest the Sunfish Worlds events, both in 2009 and 2010.

I just recently joined the Sunfish Class – and have my own sail number now (it’s #80872).

I haven’t sailed quite as frequently as I’d like, but I have had a couple really great sailing trips, including the sail with my son, T2, on Lake Michigan (see the picture above). and I know that as my 3 young boys get older, I’ll get to spend more time sailing with each of them.

I’ve met some great friends with sailing or water-related blogs – stop by some of the blogs in my blogroll over at the right side, as most of them are much more interesting than mine! overall, it’s been a great 1st year, and I’m looking forward to many more to come!