under cover of daylight

Under cover of daylight, hard frost still on the lawn, I rolled SPARTINA out of the garage, hooked the trailer on to the jeep and headed down the road.  West until we neared the Dismal Swamp then south on the road that runs along the old canal.  I stole across the state line, a buff for a face mask and a pair of rubber gloves on the seat beside me.  Two trailers already at the ramp in Elizabeth City, I wasn't the only one who wanted to get escape.  

I took my time rigging SPARTINA, stiff new sail covers to remove and then stiff new sails to rig.  An uncommon southeast wind, maybe 10 mph or a little more.  Not a cloud in the sky.  I backed the trailer down the ramp, launched the boat for the first time in over two months.  It felt so good.

Sails up and I saw that I had a crease in the main.  Rounded up, dropped the main to tighten up the throat and the clew.  Over the next hour I probably dropped the main four or five more times to make adjustments to robands and outhauls, finally getting something close to a smooth set.  No doubt I'll be tweaking the rigging over the next few sails, it always takes me a while to get it right.

I spent the next few hours sailing up and down the river, enjoying the beautiful day and the crisp whiteness of the new sails.  A few waves from the folks along shore, social distancing at its best.  

On the road home I thought about what I might have physically touched besides my jeep, boat and trailer.  Only thing I could think of was brief contact with the pilings as I tied on to the dock.  Nothing else.  Kind of like the signs at the state parks say:  Take nothing with you, leave nothing behind.  That was the goal.  But I must confess I did take something away.  A smile.  Cheers.