What a great sail today

Kelly and I sailed Puddleduck up under the bridges (again) to anchor out and have a swim. When we were at the marina before leaving, we saw a huge column of black smoke across the Bay. Then we heard all the Coast Guard and fire traffic on channel 16. It seems a boat burned. Scary.

We had light and fluky Southerlies all the way up to our preferred anchoring spot, so the sailing was less than rousing. We did have a lot of fun swimming, though. The picture is of the Route 40 bridge, from our anchorage, and prior to swimming. On the way back down, though, the wind had kicked up to 12 or 14 knots, and we had a lot of fun. We needed to get home to work on dinner, though, so we weren't able to stay out too long to enjoy the breeze! It was a fun day, though.

On the way back in, I amost singlehandedly docked the boat. Loretta says that's like almost being pregnant. The only thing Kelly did (as requested) was to grab the port bow line on the way in. It's a little wierd to think this, but once I make two modifications to the boat (a Tiller Tamer and a couple of Harken 150 cams for the genoa sheets) I'll feel pretty comfortable single handing her around.

Unfortunately, we noticed a tear in the mains'l, at the seam behind the first slug. I pulled the main off the boat, and I'll have to sew on a patch this week. Fortunately, Vince (at Tidewater) is a sailmaker, so I might stop in to ask him a few questions.

Looking forward to sailing later this week!