Well, while Scotty Potti fiddled with his el-cheapo GPS, we left on Friday for
anywhere aboard Alien. The plan was originally to go to Huntington, but we left
later than expected so we'd let the wind decide. What wind!!!?? There was very
light air and it was clear we weren't going anywhere without the motor. Still,
Suzanne said it didn't matter so we ended up at Cold Spring Harbor and H&M
Powles Marine. No room for us, so we anchored and paid 5 bucks for the dinghy
dock. Walked around the ultra tiny town which was quite upscale and went to a
Italian eatery, a bit pricey at 40 dollars a plate, but the food was pretty
good. They also had a live jazz trio which was a lot better than some guy on a
recorder!
Took the dinghy back to the boat and enjoyed the evening, which got down into
the low 50's!!!
Next morning I went ashore while Suzanne slept and rounded up a nice breakfast
for her. Set sail two hours later and....NO WIND. Even as we left I was
watching through minocs and all sailboats were motoring, so I knew we'd have a
depressing trip home. We attempted to sail, but flopped about. Of course there
were a thousand powerboats out and the wakes made things even worse. Enough! We
anchored outside of the Sand Hole and took the dinghy in to explore; quite a
beautiful spot, so we actually decided to wait for wind. It picked up a bit,
but barely, so we hung on the hook and read. We watched the wind fall off
again, so we watched Marathon Man over burgers! Well...the wind clearly wasn't
going to take us home. A few boats were trying to sail, but they could only
make progress for brief periods. So....might as well put some hours on the
diesel. It's healthy to run the motor, rather than just let it sit. On the way
home we managed to sail for about an hour as the sun went down. Oh well, you
can't have wind every time. Today doesn't look much better, but we're going to
wash the boat, then take friends out for the afternoon. Give us some wind!!!


RB