Finally . . . the first sail of the season

. . . although I found out that Paul had taken JB out last Thursday, the sly dog.  And now that Dane has gone with us, he'll also probably be borrowing.  I cannot borrow alone.  I am a doofus.
I wouldn't get out of the anchorage without causing a million dollars in damage to everything around me.
To remedy this, someone dropped off a small, indestructible boat in my yard about 3 weeks ago.

Which I can practice on.  I cleaned it up a bit. It is a Galilee 15, built in 1983 by a company in MD that no longer exists.  But I have the owners manual and it says they can never sink.  Which is key, when you are me.

In the meantime, here is Jeff on a very hot Sunday (yesterday), "racing" against Winsome (which has a centerboard so we were kind of dusted).


 but that didn't last long because soon there was no wind at all and I was asked to whistle a few show tunes (apparently that calls the wind); Don told me you should drop coins into the water to buy a bit of wind but I didn't know that at the time. Plus, I don't think the wind was selling yesterday.

This is Fishers Island and North Dumpling island on the right, looking, as always from this angle, like a battleship, even in the haze.
 
 Dane did a nice job on the bowsprit. Which I was out on the end of, clinging to, as we came in, looking for rocks since we were going so slow and couldn't maneuver very well.  At least I was useful.  Clinging, watching, whistling, wanting another day when just me and Paul would go out so I could humiliate myself in private.  Except for everyone with binoculars on shore.  That's why Winsome came out--they saw us and got shamed into it. :)
 

Jeff Brown's debut at the Wooden Boat Show

Gosh, I almost forgot to post these.  Last weekend was great--perfect weather, big crowds at the Seaport, and Jeff moved to his rightful place beside the Emma C. Berry for all to admire.

Jake the caulking god just happened to be rowing by in a "crimping" boat with his mom, invited me to hop on and take some up-close photos (which is how I got the one above).

Then we went on a little tour andI took some more from different angles

Jeff and Emma had many admirers, although I have to admit that the amount of gleaming varnish, perfectly-faired hulls and blinding brass on the other boats there drew some of the attention away . . . but they were mere flashes in the pan compared with these two dignified smacks.  Unfortunately Winsome was not able to attend, but she's now in the water so we'll see her zipping around the Sound shortly.
When will the sails go on, you ask?
Je ne sais pas, but I'm hoping soon.

Happy 4th of July to all the boats in the harbor!