I think I've made my decision to come out of retirement and race in the Laser National Championships this summer. The Laser is an Olympic-class (i.e. raced in the Olympics) single-handed (one person) one-design (meaning that the rules are strictly construed so that all the boats are virtually the same and the differences in speed comes from the sailor and not the boat) sailboat. I raced a Laser to some success in the 70's, including being one of only two sailors to represent Texas in the United States Youth Sailing Championships held at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Shortly thereafter I switched to the Olympic-class 470 which was a two man boat. Lasers can be a handful, and require a tremendous amount of strength in your abs and quads since you "hike out" virtually the entire race. It's like doing continuous crunches for about an hour, while simultaneously doing continuous curls with 15-pound weights (working the sheet and tiller). You also need to weigh about 185, which I don't, and that has always been my weakness going upwind (into the wind). Of course... what goes up, must go down... and I can fly downwind ;-) I haven't raced one in twenty five years, but it's like a bike... you never forget. Can I get into the kind of shape necessary to race at the elite-level is the question. With two young children with their own sports and extracurricular activities which I coach and support, getting the time to train won't be easy, but I have over four months so right now I'm about 70% sure I can do it...