I went sailing alone yesterday. Made a quick trip
out the channel, and touched the last two buoys as
I turned around. Well, halfway home, the wind
shifted, dropped, and then quit completely. I
paddled for a while and then hitched a tow the
last 1/4 mi to the boat club.

Powerboats do have their advantages. And I
appreciated the tow.

Today, the current was ripping along at max ebb!
I need to measure it sometime. It looks like 5
knots, maybe 6 knots or more! Someone told me the
Housatonic River has the strongest currents in
New England. It was as bad as the worst I've
seen in New Jersey. Plus the spring run off
makes it worse

I wanted to go sailing today, but chickened out. I
was worried about running agound, by myself, when
the tide was dropping at it's fastest--at least a
foot an hour, and two feet in two hours. Getting
stuck could mean sitting there for more than five
hours.

Now the water temperature is up to 52 degrees. The
water makes the air much cooler on the water. I
couldn't get in to push myself off a sandbar, nor
did I want to risk sitting out in a cold boat
waiting for hours for the tide to rise.

Since I'm 8 for 10 times running aground in the
river in the 12 months, I decided to go put another
coat of fairing material on the big boat instead.
I just finished 16 hours of sanding--so fairing is
a welcome change.

In any event, it was wonderful sailing yesterday,
and it would have been fun to go out today--in a
powerboat.

Bart


Navigator wrote in

DSK wrote:


In all, I'd rather be sailing an Etchells. Well, the tugboat definitely
has it rewards.

The smell and noise?

Cheers MC