I got to the dock by 10 am to try a short sail alone, but when I got to
the dock the water was utterly flat. One of Sailtime's Hunter 39's
motored in and he said, "no wind at all."
Oh well...it was cloudy, but not yet raining so I opted to head out
anyway. I feel as though the engine needs more run time, so off I went.
But the moment I cleared Hart island it started to drizzle. Nothing
annoying. I throttled back and got my foulies. Nearly at a dead stop,
my instruments reported barely 3 knots. True, that's no wind for a lot
of sailboats, but Heart of Gold is more capable than most..I hoisted
the main, eased the outhaul and unrolled the genny. Well...it wasn't
exhilarating but Heart of Gold sailed and handled even in the light
air, making a couple of knots. You know that soft hiss of rain on the
water, the quiet of no other boats out and when you're alone at the
helm in air so slight that the hull is silent... It isn't blue water
solitude, but it's a nice way to catch one's breath After about 90
minutes the wind actually picked up...maybe 8-10 knots. It also seemed
like the humidity had tripled....really soaking, but I didn't care.
Flipped on the autopilot and sat up at the bow for a bit. It was just
one of those neat little moments when the whole world, while still very
close, seemed far away.
At 3:00 My cell rang and it was Suzanne. Thomas was sleeping. Man, I
missed the little guy! I figured that if I headed in I could be home in
time to catch him before he awoke.
And so it was. Some days are just as perfect as they are simple.

I notice the rest of you were here posting. And that's where you'll be
tomorrow when I'm sailing tomorrow night, Saturday and Sunday. You'll
chant about long trips, blue water dreams, steel rusty hulls and broken
rudders.
And we'll be sailing. Days like today make it so clear that most of the
people here just have no clue about sailing. No clue at all. And I must
say that it saddens me.


RB
35s5
NY