This Father's Day was a little strange; neither of my children were with us. Dan is at Fire Island with Serena (they had an invite to use a friend's house), and Lily is in Paris. So my first sail of the year was late, and it wasn't with Dan and Lily.

But Deb and Talia were up to see Dad, so on Friday evening (June 15), I met them at the boat for an early evening sail. Patti couldn't make it down in time, so it was just the three of us. Talia had been nervous about the sail, and was wearing wrist bands. It was not very breezy, but we took it easy and only used the Genny. Conditions were calm: winds less than 10 knots and flat seas. We sailed within the harbor only; we had 7:30 dinner reservations at Lenny's, and I didn't want to freak out Talia. After sailing for around a half hour, we headed back, where Patti met us at the dock. Then, off to dinner at Lenny's!

On Saturday, Patti and I went to the boat for the real first sail. It was breezy at the dock, but I didn't think breezy enough for a reef. However, when we got out into the river, the winds were stronger, and by the time we hit the harbor, I decided that with Patti aboard, we needed a reef. Patti wanted to sail with the main only or with the genny only, but I told her we would be more stable with both sails up, so we went with the reefed main and about a 100% jib. But that was too much for Patti, so we dialed back the jib a little more.

The Admiral was nervous, but didn't want to be a party pooper. She put on a PFD and perservered. Once we got about a mile offshore, the winds moderated a bit and she began to enjoy the ride. The weather was beautiful: mid-70's, a few clouds, with seas at about 1-2 feet. We even rolled out more of the genny!

After about a couple of hours, we decided to head back and maybe pick up a mooring or anchor in the harbor and have lunch. But we didn't see any moorings with whips, and I didn't feel like anchoring, especially with the chop that was running (even in the harbor). So back to the dock for lunch and a beer. And some cockpit lazing.

The boat needs a cleaning! The deck is still filthy. And I haven't given the cabin a good cleaning yet either.

On the plus side, my replacement cowl vent fits into the existing fitting perfectly. Although I think I'd like to take the opportunity to remove the old fitting and replace it. Make it watertight.

And the new ladder rung I ordered fits perfectly on the old ladder. I now just have to epoxy the wood spacer blocks to the last step to give it some extra strength. Can't wait to try it out!