Well, it finally happened....

[tundramanq]

A shapely lass slinging balls in a kilt - better buy a black book - they will be lining up to ease your sore muscles.

[Alan H]

What I wanna know is - when I wear a kilt this summer in my crazed tour of the Highland Games of the old UK, is it going to have a similar effect, but on the lads?

I mean, I'm used to it, of course, with me irresistible womanly magnetism an' all, but it'd be good to be forewarned.

I think I'd better get off to the gym now...

There will be men who are put off by the fact that you can throw a 28 pound weight farther than they can.
There will be men who are put off by their perceptions that "Women don't do this stuff" and can't see past that.
There will be men who are put off by the fact that THEY think all attractive women MUST live in high heels, wear tight skirts/pants, and apply loads of makeup.

And then there are guys like me. Guy like me think that athletic women are hott. Guys like me are not scared by the fact that maybe a woman can deadlift more than we can. Guys like me might eyeball the chick in the tight skirt and high heels, but the one we ask out is the one we LIKE. What goes on in your head, and the words that come out of your mouth, and the fact that you are able to find something more important than mascara in your life, and work on it counts for WAY more than the relative petiteness of your hindquarters and whether your shoes go clicketty-click when you walk..

[Livingston]

There will be men who are put off by the fact that you can throw a 28 pound weight farther than they can.
There will be men who are put off by their perceptions that "Women don't do this stuff" and can't see past that.
There will be men who are put off by the fact that THEY think all attractive women MUST live in high heels, wear tight skirts/pants, and apply loads of makeup.

And then there are guys like me. Guy like me think that athletic women are hott. Guys like me are not scared by the fact that maybe a woman can deadlift more than we can. Guys like me might eyeball the chick in the tight skirt and high heels, but the one we ask out is the one we LIKE. What goes on in your head, and the words that come out of your mouth, and the fact that you are able to find something more important than mascara in your life, and work on it counts for WAY more than the relative petiteness of your hindquarters and whether your shoes go clicketty-click when you walk..

Well said, Alan. Good thing there aren't too many of us that understand that.

[Alan H]

How do YOU know who's at the top of my "if I wasn't married, who I'd like to date" list? You and everyone on X Marks, even everyone in the Nor Cal Rabble who know me face-to-face only know one small aspect of my life. If it ain't "kilts" and possibly "Highland Athletics" you all don't know jack about it. You don't know who my sailing friends are. You probably don't even know that I sail. You don't know who my music friends are, or who my backpacking friends are. Do you think it's possible that I might know attractive women who don't participate in X Marks the Scot?

Your comment is rife with such a gigantic set of assumptions that it boggles my mind.

This thread is starting to get a little more personal, and a little snottier than I ever intended this thread to be in the first place.

Some woman in the post office liked my kilt. She gave me her phone number on a business card. I'm not pursuing it for reasons which should be obvious, given that I've posted many pictures of myself and Mrs. Alan on this board, especially in regard to Nor Cal Burns Nights. I wrote that I found the situation rather surreal, and that I rather doubt it would happen if I'd had pants on. "All Hail the power of the kilt" and all that garbage. Wear a kilt, you 20-something guys looking to hook up with women you don't know, at the Post Office.

And with that, i politely request that the mods close this thread.

[Thorina]

Well said, Alan. Good thing there aren't too many of us that understand that.

BUT, that certain someone that would be at the top of your list IF you were single........isn't.

Unless a celebrity that you have no chance ever....never, ever....it's always wise for a married or coupled man to never say.

It'll almost always come back and bite you in the pleats.

[Alan H]

Thorina, I've played the game of...

"If you could have a dinner date with ANYBODY of the opposite gender...just a dinner date, who would it be?" with the Mrs.

My answers...

Actresses: Andie MacDowell....had a glamcrush on her for decades. Juliette Binoche... Miranda Otto

Isabelle Autissier ... I bet that nobody on this board knows who she is, you'll all have to google her to find out. She's not what most people would consider a "celebrity".
Dani Samuels... because she's stunningly cute and a phenomenal discus thrower. Look her up on YouTube
Sabine Meyer ... clarinetist..if I didn't tell you who she was, you'd all have to google her, too.
Shane Gould .... see above. Aussie swimmer.

'nuff. Close the Thread.

[Thorina]

Thorina, I've played the game of...

Do you know any of these women in real life?

[Alan H]

I've met Isabelle Autissier at Sail Pacific Expo, ten, maybe twelve (?) years ago. Most of her big sailing exploits were pre_Internet, so there's not a lot on YouTube.

I've also met the current Queen of offshore solo sailing, Dame Ellen MacArthur. But I wouldn't ask Dame Ellen out on a date, though she's cute in the usual way.

She's also mentally tough as cast iron nails...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B31LVMmgUuo

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v4RY...eature=related

I wish I could find the video of her melting down after getting the (*&^% beat out of her in the Vendee Globe, 2006 after she had to climb the mast of her Open 60. She took her boot off and her leg was covered in blood. She cries like a little kid. And then pulls herself together, and finishes second, overall.

And she's about 5' 4", maybe 110 pounds soaking wet. TOUGH.

Amazing women. Yeah, I've met her. But I'd never ask her out for dinner! The difference is that Ellen is all about sailing. ACTUALLY she's all about organization. She would make a formidable CEO.

Isabelle is all about the ocean. She's a professional marine biologist, and although her sailing career was marred by two catastrophic capsises in the Southern Ocean...partially due to the designs prevalent at that time (I note that rule changes have forced IMOCA to develop much less "stable when inverted" designs since then) STILL...she broke down barriers, HUGE barriers to women in our sport. RESPECT.

I've also met Sabine Meyer, backstage...with Mrs. Joan present, BTW as she's a clarinetist, too.... after a concert a few years ago.

[Steve Ashton]

This thread closed at the request of the OP.