Last week, I invited Josh to come sailing with me. We settled on Tuesday evening. The weather was fine, if a bit windy. Josh was on time, and since he is a sailor, we quickly got the boat ready to go. Alan from across the dock helped us leave, and we were off without a problem. However, as we travelled down river, I noticed that the temp gauge was running hot, about 180, when it's usually around 150. And it was climbing higher. I quickly turned us around and headed back to the dock. Five minutes later, we were back and the temp gauge was pegged all the way to the right. Damn. I let it cool for about 15 minutes, then restarted it and saw quickly that there was no water coming out of the muffler. Damn.

Josh and I had a drink at Dockside, then headed home. I went on line and got a bunch of suggestions on what it might be: busted impeller, clogged intake, clogged raw water strainer, etc. When Patti and I went to the boat the next Sunday to relax and enjoy the weather, I decided to at least try and fix it. Using some rather detailed instructions I got from the C28 Owner's Website, I removed and cleaned out the water strainer. Once I put it all back together, I started the engine. No water for a couple of seconds, then "flump" of dirty something, then the regular rhythmic flow of water. I let the engine run on high idle for about 10 minutes, and the temp gauge barely moved. I call that a full success!

I also installed a cam cleat on the furling line that I got from West Marine with the kids' gift certificate. I picked the location with the full expectation that I could reach the underside of the coaming to bolt it on. But after drilling the holes, it seemed I had been a bit optimistic. I could reach. But barely. After much boat yoga and cursing, I was able to get only one of the two nuts on the bolts. Since all of the load on this cleat is fore and aft, I'm hoping the "bare" bolt will be enough of a support for other the nut/bolt. I'm hopeful, but we'll see.

In light of the now purring engine, Josh and I rescheduled to last night, Sept 1. We met at the boat at 4:30. Winds were at least 15 knots.

Alan told us that it had been too sporty for him earlier in the day, but we thought it would be nice for a sail. We were right. On the way out, we passed Windy City on their way in. I called out to them and asked if they were going to sing the Hukilau song. They did.

We raised sail in the harbor, leaving the reef in the main. We rolled out about a working jib's worth of sail too, and cut between Blynn and Taunton out into the Sound, heading towards the Cow and Calf.

It was sporty. Winds were at least 15, sometimes feeling like 20. Seas were a good three-five feet. We were cruising! We sailed at over 6 knots most of the time, hitting over 7 sometimes. This was one of the most exciting sails I've ever had. We were heeling at around 15 degrees, banging through the chop, making a big wake, all while being completely in control. Occasionally, a wave would splash us. It was intense.

We headed southwest, then tacked to the east, then northeast. Once we got somewhat near the mouth of the river, we realized that if we wanted to get back before dark, we had to motor as the wind was coming from directly where we wanted to go.

Docking was uneventful. Almost. Windy City was at their dock and they asked us how it was out there. I told them that the mau-mau was the kau-kau at the big Luau for sure. That set both of us off in dancing the hula. Not such a good idea for me as I was supposed to be steering us into the dock.

Of course, one of my fluid hula hand movements triggered my life vest to inflate just as we were coming to the dock. I had to laugh.

This weekend is Labor Day. Where did the summer go?