Heave Ho!

Could not have been a better day on the lake Wednesday.  Moderate wind . . . enough to push Sparkle Plenty through the water.  Warm - - - 79 degrees . . . total short sleeve weather.   Two other large sailboats beside SP on the lake . . . two smaller ones.  A couple of hotdog fishermen in their overpowered boats sped by a couple of times  . . . one of them minus the muffler which interrupted the peace and the quiet of the lake.  It was tempting to arm the flare gun and pop off a round in his direction.

Wifey and Grace were guests that day.  Everything sailing, start to finish was mine.  They sat, enjoyed and loved not having the duties of casting off, pulling in sails and all that goes with starting her up and putting her to bed.  I had brought and they consumed sandwiches from the corner deli, ice cold sliced watermelon and drinks.

Grace spent most of her time time in a stern "catbird" seat . . . as seen here.  Wifey had found an extra 20 foot length of mooring line and attached a fender (rubber bumper used to protect the sides of boat while moored) to it.  Grace delighted in throwing the fender off of the stern and towing it through the water, pulling in and out pretending it was this thing and that thing. 

While she dangled the line in the water I told Grace a story of how, during long automobile trips with mom and dad, that I'd tie something to the end a very long length of string and reel it out of the backseat window.  It was so very fun to watch whatever I had tied to the string bounce along the road very much to my amazement and certainly to the amazement of the people in the car in back of ours.

Dad usually never discovered whatever it was I was doing in the backseat having occupied himself with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other.  But when he did notice dad leaned over the seat to give me a smack where ever his hand happened to hand accompanied by a warning never to do that again.  Never paying much to attention to these warnings, I was soon back at the string out the window thing until the next slap came which was usually worse than the first.  You'd think that I would have learned.  Well, I did learn but didn't care.  Bob was going to do what he wanted to do regardless of the consequences. 

The wind died about 3 in the afternoon so I pulled the sails down and motored back to the marina.  Once there Wifey and Gracie packed up and headed back to the car for a trip home leaving me to button up Sparkle Plenty for the night..a chore that I love doing alone.  It's peaceful.  It's quiet. Just me and SP.

It was a great day sailing.  Definitely a prelude of things to come in our second season sailing on the lake.  Life doesn't get any better than this.