Last night (Wednesday), I finally got to go sailing again. It's been a rough summer, with the weather and other things just not cooperating.

Patti and I spent last weekend in Newport for a quick getaway: free hotel room, courtesy of all my stays in Holiday Inns, a nice day at the beach, a megayacht sailboat race (Candy Store Cup), a nice dinner, and a tour of the Elms the next day. So this week, I was determined to go sailing.

On the Friday before we went to Newport, we had dinner with David and Diane, and David and I set Tuesday or Wednesday aside for a sail. Wednesday turned out to be better for both of us, and the weather couldn't have been better: mid-70's, very low humidity, and sunny. Winds were from the east at about 12-15 mph.

I got to the boat around 5:15, and David was on time at 5:30. I gave Dave a little sailing lesson as we avoided the Wednesday night racing fleet, eventually heading southwest, making it all the way directly south of Lighthouse Point before turning around to head back.

David thought the weather was the nicest we've ever had while he was on the boat; I had to agree. It was great. We had the full main up, but only rolled out enough of the genny for a 100% jib size to reduce heeling a bit. Still, we were cruising along.

Back to the dock by around 8. While furling the sail, I couldn't understand why it wasn't folding as well as it should have. I saw back at the dock that it was because one of the sail slides had broken. Fortunately, I had an extra in the tool kit, and was able to install it before we left. A great night.

And the marina actually did install the boat nameplates in front of each slip. Looks pretty boss. Combined with the views of the Candy Store Cup from the Newport Shipyard this weekend, a very yachty few days.