Very hot, kinda tense
25 July 2020
Mike Stern
On Saturday, July 25, Patti and I went to Mom and Dad's to meet with their new RE agent and discuss putting their house on the market again. We were prepared to go right to the boat afterwards. Lily was working at home, but wanted to come, so we told her we'd meet her at the boat.
We stopped off at the Harbor Deli to get a sandwich, then to the boat. I putzed around until Lily came, and then we took off. Or we tried to. The undocking was not good. The wind was blowing us off the dock towards Roger's boat. Lily was on the bow line, but it wasn't enough as no matter what I did, the stern started swinging to the left, bringing the bow closer to Roger. We eventually hit Roger on his bow pulpit with our pulpit. Which meant our anchor, which was in the holder on the pulpit, was knocked out and fell into the water. I yelled to Patti and Lily to stop the chain from running out, but neither of them had shoes on, and it was good they didn't try to do so with their hands. The guy in the power boat behind us stood ready to help and fend off, but it turned out to not be necessary. Patti and Lily hauled up the anchor but didn't secure it, while I got the boat to back out, mostly as I wanted. Once we got going, down the river, Patti went back to the bow to try and secure the anchor. She made it better, but only by getting herself all muddy and giving herself a good scrape. She washed off and, bless her, laughed it off.
Before raising the sails, I went forward and put the anchor away in the locker. It is staying there now as the plastic mounting plate for the pulpit now appears to be mostly broken.
We raised the sails in the Sound, with winds being about 12 knots. I kept the reef in the main and rolled out about half the genny. We sailed along in beautiful, if hot weather directly south. We got some occasional gusts, and before we got as far as Branford Reef, Patti asked if we could head back and pick up a mooring.
So back we went, furling sail out in the Sound, then heading for the harbor. We picked up the now familiar mooring #210 easily, then put the toys in the water. It was about 4 pm by now, and we all had a very nice swim in the uncrowded area.
Our docking was as uneventful as the undocking was eventful. I put the boat to rights as Lily and Patti went to change. Unsurprisingly, the bow was a muddy mess and needed to be scrubbed.
This sail was good for Lily in that she needed to be distracted from her troubles with her roommate situation. I think it was, if only for a brief time. Lily and Patti headed home in her car, while I followed about twenty minutes later in mine.