After thinking I'd do a few blogs a week while we were on the boat in July, I look back and find our last blog was right after the 4th of July. So we have a lot of catching to do.

The weekend after the 4th, Brooke and I welcomed two sisters, Sheila and Suzanne, who had won a weekend on Options by outbidding everyone else at the Heart Ball. We couldn't have asked for better company and high spirits in spite of the oppressive heat. We had fun in Annapolis and St. Michaels, although the passages between ports were sweltering.

Right after that, Brooke flew home for a week while my daughter, Julie, flew out to join me for a sail up the coast to New York City. Along the way, we had a nice, but too short, stay in Cape May, New Jersey, visiting Mel and Hannah Young. We didn't get half the things done we wanted to do, but that's how it went in July.

Brooke rejoined Options in New York City and, after a fun weekend, including a death-defying sunset cruise in New York Harbor with Brooke's sister Sandy, brother-in-law John, nephew Bob, and his two eldest children (playing chicken with ferries, tugboats, tour boats and other pleasure craft, and almost losing!), we got up at the usual oh-dark-thirty and set sail for Connecticut. The early start paid off, as we made it through Hell Gate and all the way to the mouth of Long Island Sound before the current turned against us. As the mouth of the sound widened, the current weakened and we made good time.

We stayed in Milford, CT for the first time. It was a great little town. We met our friend Scott Stone as well as Julie's really good friend and college roommate Jessica for dinner and had a good walk around Milford the next morning. We sailed out with the tide in mid-morning.

As we approached Mystic, CT in the late afternoon, we talked to the dockmaster and found out he was leaving at 5 pm--unheard of! Fortunately, he arranged for a couple of fellow boaters to give us a hand. We needed every bit of their strength to pull us alongside the dock. There was a strong wind pushing us away from the dock! Once we recovered, we dropped our dinghy into the water and motored about a mile upstream to the middle of town. We had a great dinner and a bit of an adventure on the way back to the boat: It was so dark that you could barely make out the shore line!

Along the way, we had a repeat of last year's problem--the master toilet crapped out on us. De ja vu all over again! Brooke ordered a new toilet and it was waiting for us when we got to Newport, RI. I had talked to a friend and owner of a sister ship and learned what the real problem was: The toilet's pump was getting burned out because its output hose had arteriosclerosis--salt and other build-up had gradually choked the hose until nothing could get through. So down I went into the pit with my trusty "snake" to do battle with the salt-choked hose. I won the day, but I would not recommend the experience.

Newport is a great place but we barely had a chance to see it. The first afternoon was toilet installation time and the next morning was diesel maintenance time (oil changes for both engines and the generator). The second afternoon and evening were fun, with friends Dick and Jo Liddy and relation Anthony Hayward (married to Brooke's cousin Cole and no relation to the ex-CEO of BP) joining us for a seaside lunch, a peaceful sail on the way out to sea and a challenging return to the dock: There was a regatta coming back into harbor and they all seemed to possess a "get out of my way, I'm important and you're not" attitude. Luckily, due to Dick's and Anthony's expert helmsmanship, we survived.

From Newport, we had a long day, fighting current all the way and finally tying up to a mooring outside of Plymouth just before sunset. It was one of the most gorgeous sunsets we've ever seen, but our pictures didn't do justice to the flaming reds we saw. The next day, we moved on to Boston, tying to a mooring right above the Blue Line--we could hear the subway trains going underneath us! We had a great dinner with friends Lee and Beth Oliphant on Saturday night.

On Sunday, we had a whole day of fun--with no long trip on the boat and no boat maintenance! It was great! We started with a long walk to Bunker Hill and back, then caught the Green Line to Fenway Park. Brooke had snagged some good seats for us that were not too far from home plate and, as an added bonus, a view that was not obstructed by a pillar! The Toronto Blue Jays seemed to know how to play off the Green Monster (the 60 ft. wall in a very short left field): Just pop the ball to left field and what is normally an out is a home run in Fenway! When the ball bounced off the wall, both teams' left fielders expertly played the caroms, so it was very hard to get a double.

On Monday, July 24, we achieved our July goal: getting the boat up to Portsmouth, NH, so we could spend time in Maine during our next trip in August. Of course, achieving this goal came at the cost of not enjoying the journey along the way--too many crack-of-dawn departures and long days on the water with little time to stop and smell the roses in port. And, because we were in a hurry, we almost always motored rather than sailed. As with life, sailing is about enjoying the journey rather than getting to the destination. One of these days, I'll get it right!

David