Delightful July day

Today I thoroughly enjoyed my retirement. Went for a run with Ellen first thing, then we washed her car while the driveway was still shaded, then we went for a dump run, then we went out to lunch for a Chinese food treat, and then we went our separate ways as she worked on a special something for our nephew Zachary and his fiancee Kat’s wedding, while I went for a sail on lovely Cupcake.

The wind was fluky but fun and I sailed out to the passage between Williams and Pettengill Islands to investigate the rock in the middle. I like to check up on it periodically. It’s covered at high tide but dry from about mid-tide and lower. The first time I sailed the first Cupcake into the bay after moving here more than twenty years ago Matt and I went right over that chunk of granite, blissfully unaware of the mortal peril. We were more concerned with the ledges stretching off from the islands than we were with the mid-channel rock! Protected by the luck of the ignorant and a 3.5’ draft. Today I kept my distance but was plenty close enough to smell the pungent cormorant shit when I was downwind.

I went back to the mooring as the breeze began to die. But once I had the sails down the wind piped up so I raised them again and dropped the mooring for another go around. Cupcake is a marvelous boat.

While I was out on the water I stopped at Cyclops to test the fit of the sun screens Ellen sewed up this week. The boat came with a sunshade for the aft end of the cockpit, now we’re covered on the sides as well. It was a project months in the making. Nice work Ellen!

And I buttoned up the extra hole in the boat. Took a piece of Starboard that I planed down a bit last night, cut into a circle, and today installed with a backing plate and 4200 adhesive. I’ll let you know when my mistake no longer rankles.