Dawn Riley’s Blog

CA-NY-MI

From the BVI in 90 degree weather to Michigan where I raked 8 big bags of leaves up just in time before it started snowing to California this last week where it has been 80 degrees… I guess you could say that I have been traveling the sasons! 

It has all worked out well though as I have had a lot of meetings and there are great things happening with the waterfront activites and in frastructure in the Bay Area.  I also am able to practice agains Genny Tulloch for match racing. She and her team are headed to the USVI for a match race championship which I was supposed to go to with them but I now have a presentation in Washington DC with the Volvo so Sally Barkow is taking my place.

This weekend was just a ‘clean up/catch up’ weekend in California not a lot of party and a whole lot of sleep.   Perfect to rest up for the next 3 or 4 seasons in this week of travel.

Fall Colors

While I am actually in the beautiful BVI I also have a few photos of some fall scenes at home.

I missed the trick or treating with Emma (Cheerleader) and Jack (Monkey) but I was able to help carve pumpkins.

The weather in Michigan was perfect with brilliant fall colors highlighted by strong sunshine against a stormy backdrop.

Fall decor at ‘the castle’.

Finally - not really ‘Fall’ but Tom the Crumudgeon himself Lewek hosted a party celebrating his 20th year of retirement and the other Tom is just retired.  Let them eat cake - Chocolate - Chocolate Cake!

And Linda who has been a guest at the BVI for many many years made balloon animals.

Istanbul + Aspen = Brain Stretching!

I was honored to be once again invited to participate in an Aspen Institute Conference.    This one was a continuation of the conference in Berlin where the topic was: Risk and Uncertainty: Cultural Apporaches to Risk Management. This conference was titled Leadership in a Time of Change and was held in Istanbul Turkey.

Again participants were from Germany, Lebanon and the US plus Jordan.  There is no real way to explain how amazing the conversations were, both in session and during the social events surrounding the conference.

Each interaction was fascinating:

Sitting next to a human rights lawyer from Lebanon who worked on the Oil for Food case at the UN or an American DC lawyer who also works with a group to free political prisoners.  He was very close to being on Broadway and always gets the group singing.

Having lunch with a friend from Lebanon who is an artist but is also suing the Government to try and stop them from their illegally but consistent practice of placing a babies sect on their birth certificate.  This can be changed but only with your spiritual adviser saying “yes -he wants to leave my religion and I am OK with this”.  Of course there is also the fact that if someone leaves Islam they are in very real danger of being killed under Allah’s Apostate. These realities are brought home so much more through personal interaction

. We also learned that the women in Lebanon REALLY know how to dance and at the very  least ‘our Lebanese Girls’ were not shy at all.  But evidently guys from Jordan aren’t shy either

A few of the people on the tour the last afternoon were a facilitator from the Aspen Institute in the US,  a German lobbyist for IBM and a friend who is a senior staffer with one of the Chancellors in Germany.

One of the places we visited was the Cistern -  some may remember this from a  James Bond Film “From Russia With Love”

This Medusa statue is there too.  All over Turkey you have a symbol of an eye and it is a representative of Medusa’s eye which when projected outwards will turn evil into stone. So the logic goes - you have the ‘evil eye’ and it is good luck because it is looking at OTHERS

. The inside of the Blue Mosque was unbelievably detailed

We also toured one of the few Catholic churches in Istanbul which is on the European side of the Bosphorous.

The day before we had been transported to the networking into nature session by boat.  The homes, palaces, mosques, hotels etc. were very beautiful.

The Ayasofya is now a museum but it was a Eastern Orthodox Church built in only 5 years and finished in  537AD and it was the largest in existence for almost 1000 years!  It was converted to a mosque in 1453 when the empire was overthrown.  In 1935 it was converted to a museum by the first President of the Republic of Turkey.  It is amazing the way this one building has seen the political and  religious history of Istanbul.

Before 537AD there was another church on the site but that was destroyed essentially by hooligans from a chariot race. This brings me to the fact that Jeremy, Vartan and I braved the crazy fans and attended a soccer match – it was GREAT!

Fancy Dress and Museums

Here are photos of ‘after’ make up and dressing at the dinner.

The ‘morning after’ we had a tour of of The Sports Museum of America which was REALLY cool!

I knew that I was featured but I didn’t realize how much.  Also a cool thing happened in that a  school class was touring the museum and they caught me when I was in front of one of the displays.

It turned into an inpromptu presentation which was quite fun.  Gosia (remember Newport Swan 42 - “Better Than” was with me and took these photos.)

Sailing Etc. in Bermuda

So the results are quite surprising here in Bermuda at the Gold Cup as the top three teams in the World Tour have been eliminated before the Semi Finals.  We also were eliminated earlier than we had hoped but are making the best of it.  Here are a few pix of the team.  Unfortunately I borrowed a camera and obviously didn’t get the exposure correct but at least it is something.

Sally Barkow (Helm) and Annie Lush (main/tactics) discussing possible moves. These boats are very ‘traditional’ for match racing in terms of what you can and can not do tactically.  A lot of the boats on the circuit are more agile so you can get out of trouble a lot easier.  I think that is a part of the reason that the top guys were surprised.

This is the first time that I have done bow.  Renee Mehl who has sailed hundreds of times on the bow for me is very happy that I have done this and now understand a bit more how painful it can be.  I have a couple of ‘great’ bruises that you can’t see due to the exposure but trust me they are there!

We were able to watch the racing from the bleachers set up at the end of the harbor.  Dobbs Davis does commentary from the VHF as an added bonus.  I helped him out for the afternoon on Thursday and while I was on the water commentating - Sally, Annie and Katie were on shore texting / heckling me.  One text was a request for an update on the scoring and a Beach Boys Song.  I could only honor one of the requests. 

Today and tomorrow there is a ‘festival of sail’ put on by the Bermuda Sailing Association.  It is essentially a ‘True Youth Day’ which is cool because Deb Sullivan - the director of the BSA used to work with us at America True so it is full circle that I can help her out and try to get more of the local families to see the opportunities to get out on the water… as there is a LOT of beautiful water here!

Girl Power

Last night I was the Rubber Boots on the Red Carpet Fundraiser for the Tall Ship Academy.  This is the program that takes 15-20 girls and teaches them on shore for 6 weeks, on a tall ship for 6 weeks and on shore for 6 weeks and .. it changes their lives.  This year’s fundraiser was celebrating 10 years of programs, some of which were run while the program was being rejuvenated in the America True ‘incubator/hospital’.  There are a lot of people who have contributed to the successes but Nettie Kelly the current program director really deserves huge credit for sticking through from transitions to funding issues to ‘personality challenges’ and keeping the program moving forward.  If anyone is interested in seeing the 18 minute movie which documents the program and a lot of results and impact on the girls you can email: info@tallshipacademy.org

Last week I also spoke to the Stone Clinic as the opening Keynote speaker.  My task was to give an overview of women in sports and the glass ceiling and how we are being judged.  I have had quite a few requests to publish the speech but since I am working on a book and it is quite a long speech I am just going to post a copy of the timeline which I gathered to show the impact sport has on society and to put in perspective truly how far we have come .. so far.

1900:  Three events were available for women at the 1900 Olympic Games: golf, tennis and yachting.
1908: Australian Yachtswoman Frances Clytie Rivett-Carnac and her husband win gold, making her the first woman in any event to win gold against men
1912: Some track and field and swimming events for women were fought for and added
1920: Women got the right to vote – there are still women alive who remember when they couldn’t vote- and now voted for Hillary Clinton - to them – 1920’s not too long ago
1928: Several women (3 who beat the world record) collapse at the end of the 800m and officials declare the race dangerous for women and banned it.
1943: the All American Girls Professional Base Ball League!  It was for ‘publicity’ and business but hey take it any way you can get it! (1943 to 1954!)

“Men Baseball Players” came back from war and we were in the ‘valium happy 50s’

1960: 32 YEARS LATER Women were finally allowed to run the 800-meter at the Olympics – I gues they stopped worrying that our uteruses would fall out.
1966:  Billie Jean King wins Wimbledon for the 1st time
1972: Title IX passed
1973: Roe v Wade decided and Battle of the sexes in the Astro Dome
1974: Billie Jean King  Founds the Women’s Sports Foundation with her WHOLE prize check $5000
1978: Women could finally get a credit card without their father’s or husband’s signature!
1981: First women members of the IOC (since 1896!)
1984: 24 years after the 800 was added back  to the Olympics, the women’s marathon was added.
1990s: Somewhere in the 90s Soccer Moms were invented
1994: Silver Bullets – baseball team played against minor league and semi-pro men’s teams
1995: America 3 – The 1st all women’s team in the America’s Cup – women in the sport of sailing subsequently went from the 20% to nearly 50% in the 5 years  and women started keeping the boat instead of the house after a divorce.
1996:  Atlanta Summer ‘year of the Women’ Olympics
1995- ish – somewhere in here Soccer Dad’s got PISSED when they were told their daughter’s couldn’t play.
1995:  Hillary Clinton declares – “Women’s Rights are Human Rights”!  (Beijing)
1996: American Basketball League – right concept – ownership, better pay, ‘authentic’ too early and couldn’t compete with the financial backing of the NBA for the WNBA
1997: WNBA – moderate concept – but with backing and marketing – salaries are now in the 30-90K plus endorsements of course.
1999:  Women’s World Cup – Finals – HUGE success
2000: WUSA – huge but believed in the success too soon – spent 5-year $40mil budget in 1st year.

2007: Hillary Clinton – 18 million cracks – but campaigning for her I can tell you many many stories about how far we still have to go
2008: Sarah Palin:  I do not agree with her politics at all but she certainly has balls.
2008: Summer Olympics - Highest % of women competing in an Olympics 42% - but we still have to get to equal and 10 years ago when I was fighting with ISAF I asked Anita de Franz – what % does the IOC consider equal and she patiently said … Dawn equal is equal as in 50%. ☺
We have a ways to go for EQUAL but we ARE making progress!

Last week I also spoke to the Stone Clinic as the opening Keynote speaker.  My task was to give an overview of women in sports and the glass celining and how we are being judged.  I have had quite a few requests to publish the speech but since I am working on a book and it is quite a long speech I am just going to put up here a copy of the timeline which I gathered to show the impact sport has on society and to put in perspective truly how far we have come .. so far.

Joy of Grinding

The America True Grinding Machine is once again introducing kids to sailing on land. America True’s Executive Director Dan Leininger had it out at South Beach’s Street Fair on Sunday. I love this series of shots from the day.

Dan explaining the way it works to a somewhat nervous participant.

This is harder than he said!

Oh it is fun too!

A future grinder is born! 

Return from Burning Man

Here are a few photos from Burning Man.  I am still struggling with how to describe the experience .. and it WAS an experience.  I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how much I did enjoy myself.  The whole ‘city’ was impressive in it’s shear size not to mention the amount of STUFF that people brought.  It wasn’t just food and water and tents.  Almost every group  had something to ‘contribute’ as in - they set up a bar or a stage or were doing performance art or educational seminars on a VERY WIDE variety of things.  Some of them on the bizarre edges of social behavior and others very spiritual as in yoga and reaching to find your past lives.  There were also things in  between like the bike ride on Thursday - all naked men who met in the middle of the Playa for a ride.  I was telling someone about this event that some in our group had watched, and they said .. oh don’t worry  you get your chance tomorrow. The Naked Woman Ride (different name but that is not for family reading).  Well I can tell you that a naked woman might be a beautiful thing but NOT on a bike in a somewhat bumpy desert! 

The weather was evidently better than in past years.  We arrived at about 1:30 am on Thursday morning.  It took us almost 1.5 hours to check in to the gates but there was no real rush as the place was alive!

We walked around and explored until abut 5am. As you can imagine with a name like burning man - many of the insallations had things burning.  This was the Celtic Forrest which a friend of George Clyde’s contributed to.  For those of you who don’t remember - George has been an AC lawyer for the last three cups and is also an announcer on a local radio station in Marshall CA.   

After a quick 4 hour nap and we were up and about again.  We only had two bikes so Arne and I went on about a 3 hour ride to look at the ‘installations’ out in the desert.

It was impressive!  It was also very hot but the sweat just dries on your skin. And this first day I don’t think we got above 100 degrees.  The next day - not so much!  It was hot and we were very happy to  have an RV with AC.  A couple of people stopped by including Eric Lee my friend and artist from Marin stopped by and we made them icy drinks  (G&T) and sandwiches.  This is all a philosophy of the ‘community’ concept - everyone does their best to share whatever you have and there is no money exchanging hands.  

Out on the Playa a HUGE open expanse of desert there are things like this ’study desk’ set up in the middle of no where and people contribute by writing their thoughts.


One of my favorite intallations was the birdcage.  This is standing on the edge and inside is a multi level swing.

Back to the weather - the final day for us - Friday there was a HUGE wind/sand storm.  Again Arne and I were on bikes and we were at The End - literally the end of the playa where they set up a snow fence so people don’t wander off and get lost and die in the desert.  It is also the downwind extreme of the settlement.  Well the wind came up to about 35 knots or more and the dust was incredible.  For most of the trip back we couldn’t see more than 10 feet.  I am glad we were prepared with face masks and goggles so we could at least breath.  

Thes pictures are mild compared to real life.!  There is a reason taht I had to do 5 loads of laundry when we all got back!

And the dust is even there at night making flash photography not a good idea.  This is a picture of Bart reaching for one of the most beautiful night time instillations.  All of these were lit up and looked like a trailer with a beautiful garden of colors.. when we got closer it became a little more comical than beautiful.

Finally what everyone wants to know - yes there were a lot of people walking around naked but after the initialshock of walking to the porta-potty the first morning with my eyes barely open and almost physically running into a guy with a lot of piercing and nothing else on -the naked people just blended into the whole Mad Max - esque scenery.

Burning Man

This Labor Day Weekend I will be doing something new and different for me.  I’ll be attending the Burning Man Festival.  It has been likened by some as a counter culture excuse to get dirty in the desert to a ritual and life passage to something that everyone person MUST do at least once in their life and likened to the Louvre and the Eiffel Tour.

These are a few pictures that I borrowed from a friend - he was one of the 44,000 people who attended last year and I hope to be able to find him up there this year.

You can see more info at: Official Site

I figure that I basically try anything once - including skydiving and bungee jumping and eating ducks feet in China so - why not.  This temporary community is set up every year in the desert about 140 miles from anywhere and the community is built on sharing and commerce is rejected except that sharing is encouraged.  Often people set up small ‘villages’ in the community and provide gifts to the others.  Some make grilled cheese sandwiches.  others provide bloody marys for the very thirsty.  I figure that with all of the planning I have put into this my contribution will be a copy of my 5 page excel spread sheet for anyone planning on going.

Well for now - I am off tomorrow - no cell phone - no computer and ready for a new experience.

Two Parties

The SCS Dems picnic and my housewarming party were both very succesful and both had about 80 people show up.  That means that I catered for 160 people over the past couple of days.

The housewarming had different groups work their way through from 6pm (where we had the 1st guest Dorothy help with the final set up) until 3:30am.  Of course I went to bed at 2;45 and told everyone that they were welcome to pull out either of the couches to sleep on but I was ‘done’!

Cousin Brian and Dana who have been keeping their boat outside of my house.  It has moved now and I am sure the neighbors are upset because they loved to motor by and drool over the engine power on the back of the boat.

Aunt Pris and Uncle Ron by the food table: Arugula salad with garden fresh cherry tomatoes, cous cous, bbq lamb, mozzarella balls and garden fresh cherry tomatoes on skewers, cucumber, feta and lime salad.

A couple of days later the menu had some similarities: 

Vegies and dip and baba ganosh were leftovers but more picnic like with  Kielbasa, baked beans and Tuna pasta Salad.

Making Tuna Pasta Salad for 80 took some creativity as the pot was big enough but the colander was way too small and I had to cool the pasta quickly so it didn’t over cook. My handy ice making machine came in handy so I just dumped as much as I could into the colandar and then threw all the ice I had into the pot. Crisis averted:-)!  And all had a great time - including Senator Carl Levin.