I had Friday, July 3 off, so Patti and I went sailing. This was the kind of day that makes you happy you have a boat. The weather was perfect: upper 70's, a few big puffy clouds, low humidity. The winds were about 10 knots or so.

We raised sail - full sail - in the outer harbor, and tacked once to get out past the rocks, heading southwest on port tack. And we just kept going. So perfect. The sails were set perfectly, with all of the telltales flying back straight, a little heel, and us flying along. I set the Tiller Tamer and only occasionally had to make a minor adjustment.

Man, it was glorious! It felt like we were really moving, but the fact that we were on a 23' boat was brought home to me. I noticed a Frers 33 on our port quarter. They must have been a mile back or so and were on a parallel course; within a very short time, they had caught up to us, then quickly passed. I don't think we could have been moving faster: the gps said we were going about four knots, but I think that our SOG was considerably less than our speed thru the water due to the ebbing tide. And still, the Frers really iced us. Oh well.

After about an hour or so, we had made it to Lighthouse Point and decided to head back. The GPS said that we were moving a full knot faster. Again, just glorious sailing. After getting back to the dock, Patti and I took a dip in the pool and relaxed. Dan and Serena met us at Dockside for dinner. Only ok food, and a little disappointing that my Brewer's card didn't give us a discount as they changed their policy this year.

The next day July 4, looked gray and gloomy. And zero wind. We met Paul and Lisa for lunch at Lenny's, then to the marina for our planned sail. We (really Paul) decided that we should motor out and pick up a mooring. So off we go. I missed the ball the first time (actually forgot to put the engine in neutral so I couldn't hold the whip when I grabbed it), but made it on the second try. As soon as we were secure, it started raining. Not hard, but actually raining. We stuck it out for a few minutes, then decided to head back in. Of course, by the time we docked, the rain had stopped. And within an hour or so, the sun was out and it turned beautiful; by 6, there was even a nice breeze too! Maybe next year.

One bad note: the Yard called me to tell me that they had run the die over the bolts on the handrails so that I could reattach them to the cabin. However, when I tried to run nuts on the bolts, I had almost as much trouble as before. The old sealant seems to be gone, but the threads seem as reluctant as ever to accept the nuts. Not sure what to do now, but I will call Ed this afternoon to discuss.