saturday sailing

Had a nice sail today. It wasn't the sail I wanted or had planned, but that's the way it is. I was going to meet friends Tom and Malcolm on the Eastern Shore of Virginia for some sailing, even behaved well enough to earn a kitchen pass from the family for an overnight stay there. But the boss had other plans and turned my three day weekend in to a one day weekend. Tom, Malcolm, thanks for the invite. I'm sorry I missed out. Maybe next year. I did have time for a short sail today on the Elizabeth River. With the spring activity is picking up. Lots of tallships today, including the Peacemaker, above. From their website it seems that it is sailed by a group with distinct religious and social beliefs. I don't know if I would agree or disagree with them, but the crew waved and they seemed like nice folks. I do I agree with Graham Greene when he said he could not mock a man for his beliefs, he could only envy him for having something to believe in.

And Full Circle from Greenwich, NJ. Got a nice thumbs up and "Cool boat!" from the guy taking the pictures. They had a pretty cool boat too. I'm sure they had a great winter down south.

That's the Spirit of Independence taking a group out for a tour. I'm glad to see folks out on the water.

And that's the American Rover taking some more folks down the Elizabeth River. Nice day! I had the good fortune to do a Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race years ago on the Rover. Very nice trip down the bay. I think we are coming up on the 20th GCBSR this year so I've got to figure out a way to get on a boat for the fall event.

Five weeks until our trip, I feel like I'm in training. I did come across a problem as I had a hard time shutting off the outboard (usually I have a hard time starting it!!). Suspect there is some corrosion build up on the kill switch. I'll check it out this week.

Not the sailing on the Eastern Shore that I had hoped for, but pretty nice.

-Steve