Yesterday, Sheryl took advantage of a truly exceptional weather day to paint the bottom of our dinghy, Patience, with anti-fouling paint. I, of course, sat at the computer working. Which of us has the tougher job? {not a rhetorical question, I assure you...more of an opportunity for personal introspection}

In the early evening hours, we asked our neighbors, Steve & Shelia, if we could borrow their kayak. Their son visited recently and left them an 8-foot sit-on-top kayak (the Ripper by Wilderness Systems, for all of you kayak aficionados out there). Sheryl and I, in turn, each tried it out briefly in the water. It was comfortable and moved quickly across the water. For such a short kayak, I was impressed (of course I have been in exactly two kayaks before, both tandems and separated in time by 5-8 years from today, so no real comparative experience here).

We also wanted to see if it would fit into our v-berth. If we were to purchase kayaks, we might be able to find room for them on deck in calm weather, but would want to stow them below for passages of any length or when conditions turned bad. It did fit, but just barely. We would be hard pressed to get two 8-foot solid kayaks in our v-berth. And, even if we did, anything else which is stored in the v-berth would be impossible to access.

It appears that we are going to have to consider inflatable kayaks. If anyone out there has experience with inexpensive, rugged inflatable kayaks, folding kayaks, or hybrids, please contact us via e-mail or enter info in the 'Comments' section, below.

As we head into Friday, we plan to spend this weekend in the slip. We want to spend some time investigating and 'tidying-up' our electrical system and maybe change the raw water impeller on the big boat's engine. Of course, I had those intensions last weekend, but other distractions intervened. We'll just have to wait and see.

Since weather has become a very important part of our daily lives here on board Prudence (and because a friend asked what weather sites I use, from among the hundreds available online), I offer the following list of our Weather Favorites here in New Bern, NC...

This one from the Newport/Morehead City NWS is my personal favorite. It has a nice line-graph hourly prediction of winds, temp, precip, etc... NWS Graphs

I usually correlate the graphs above with what is predicted to happen on the NWS national maps (12, 24, 36 & 48 hours), paying attention to Low and High pressure systems, fronts, and distance between isobars... NWS Maps

This site by Unisys has a nice national level loop for the same type of 'big picture' analysis of current conditions... UNISYS Loop

If I really want a 'deep dive' into what is happening with these systems, I check the following site (which has satellite images, surface and upper-air analysis, etc., etc.)... University Corp for Atmospheric Research

Weather Underground has a nice site with NEXRAD Radar. I have this up on the computer anytime skies look threatening in order to try to determine if we need to be ready to close the hatches, before a surprise soaking gets us... NEXRAD Radar

Sometimes, I just want basic metrics for current conditions (temp, wind). I check the airport station... EWN Airport

Our friends in the Bahamas use this site quite frequently in order to predict wind strength, and make decisions about sailing around the islands. We currently have it set for offshore NC, but greatly anticipate moving it to more southerly maps... Dream Catcher's Favorite

Finally, the one we check daily with some trepidation, hoping to see 'No tropical cyclones at this time.'... National Hurricane Center

Please keep your fingers crossed for us as we head further into the summer. 'No tropical cyclones at this time' are the best six words which can appear on our computer screen.

Until next time, dear Reader.