July 7- 10 -- A "W" Day, an "O" Day and a Very Short Day-sail on "Deuce of Hearts" with the Old Salts

I read an article in a sailing magazine of the Chesapeake last fall about how that publication tried to incentivize its readers to count their sailing days, as a means to increase their annual totals to a target of 100. As a part-year live-aboard retired guy, I soar past that target. And such an incentive is not needed for me because, as riders know, I've long been a compulsive counter. The article included days of "messing about in boats" toward the hundred. My own log has three basic categories. The largest number of my days are those on which I sail or sleep aboard or both.  "W" days are those on which I work on the boat but neither sail nor sleep aboard. And "O" days are for days of other sailing related activities -- off the boat -- such as hanging with sailing friends, visits to Maritime museums, club work parties or meetings and the like.

I had the most productive W day with Ed Spallina On Tuesday. Fresh water, Check. Cockpit VHF, Check. Inverter, Check. Port side hatch screen installation, Check!  All in four very low cost hours. Ed solves boat problems intuitively; he just noodles them until he finds the solution. And his price is a very small fraction of the price that, for example, Precision Marine charges. And in addition he does not charge for travel time from his home in Connecticut. Another thing: he does not mind and indeed enjoys the fact that I work with him and never makes me feel stupid for not being able to do it myself, as some mechanics do. Two hands are much better than one for many jobs, like the VHF radio: he held the wire in place at the breaker panel in the salon while I pushed the "On" button at the radio in the cockpit. If you want a good man, contact me for his number. Then I stayed two hours longer to put away many tools, vacuum the boat (including all the sawdust created by the carpentry job) and a proper washing of the dishes and pots from the L'Hermione trip which had only been salt water washed.  A very productive day, indeed. I was ecstatic over how much we got done. I can tolerate dirt, disorder and systems that do not work, but Alene is less tolerant.

The "O" day was for a visit the the Department of Motor Vehicles to register the new dink and pay the almost nine percent sales tax on her.

We had the shortest day-sail yet of the Old Salts. Six of us, including Marcia, whose boat is undergoing engine work, and Ray, Ritchie's brother, sailed on "Deuce of Hearts".  But we were underway for only about 45 minutes because visual observation of the clouds coming in from the NW confirmed by radar views on the phone wisely persuaded Captain Mark that we better get back to the mooring before getting drenched. Rain had been predicted, but such predictions are often false alarms. The passing front looked ugly but an the event it was not electrical and wind and precipitation were moderate. Better safe than sorry. The G&T was just as good as ever, in the cat's big partially enclosed cockpit.