Yesterday (Sunday, Aug 6) Patti and I went to the boat in the afternoon, hoping to sneak in a sail at the end of the day. It will be the last chance to get out before we leave for LA and Hawaii on Wednesday.

The forecast was for partial clouds, low 80's, and very breezy in the morning and early afternoon, with winds predicted to be about 18 mph until around 5, when they were supposed to drop off to about 10 mph.

We got to the boat around 3:30, and the winds seemed variable. At times almost calm, then with gusts of clearly more than 10. It also became almost completely overcast. We debated whether to go out at all, but we ultimately decided to take a shot.

Motoring out, the winds were clearly blowing from the west, right up the river and moving against the still ebbing tide. Once out in the harbor, we unrolled the genny, but left the main furled. The wind was still variable, sometimes light and sometimes strong. We sailed out into the Sound, and the wind picked up, along with the waves. Patti was uncomfortable, but stuck it out for 10 or 15 minutes until we got a big gust that heeled us over another 5 degrees, and that was it.

We headed back in and relaxed at the dock for about a half hour, snacking on some chips, having a beer (at least I did) and reading. Then home!

Notes: On Saturday, I watched a "Sail Life" video where Mads removed and replaced rotten deck core and dried out his hull. I was inspired, and took it upon myself to make the new head "shelf" that was rotten. I found some scrap plywood in the garage, measured and cut the replacement, using my table saw for the first time since the great Starboard Kick Back of a few years ago. No problems (that goodness). I also cut a new support cleat from the leftover Starboard; that's the piece that is most likely to get wet again, so I wanted it to be as waterproof as possible.

I knew I couldn't just use an unfinished piece of plywood, but I couldn't find the leftover white paint from the fence. I did find spar varnish from the tiller job I did last year, so that went on. Two coats on Saturday. I was hoping that it would be dry and look good enough to install on Sunday. However, when I checked Sunday morning, it was dry, but the coating wasn't uniform; some areas were glossy, and some still flat. So, one more coat went on on Sunday. I will install it when we get back from Hawaii.

We also needed gas to go out on Sunday; there was about a 1/4 tank left. However, I had forgotten that I had used up all of my oil, so I thought we would need to make a stop on the way.

Luckily, I found some ACE 2 stroke oil in the garage. But I only put in enough oil for one gallon. In looking at the container, I saw that this particular oil was not formulated for marine applications, and was made for air-cooled engines. Maybe that's why I stopped using it? Anyway, it's only a gallon. I clearly used most of the container before, and it didn't end the world. I'll get more marine 2 stroke oil when we get back.