Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Good on You

Sometimes I wish I was a believer. If I were, at the end of a day like this day, I would raise a glass to what ever Entity it was that I believed in and say, "Good on You."

We coasted away from Elliott Key this morning, sailing off the anchor on a broad reach in a light breeze, headed for the middle of the Bay. Once there, Kintala turned her bow on a deep, deep reach, making the most of the less-than-ten knots of winds ruffling the surface. The preventer rig borrowed from Friend Stephen was the perfect setup for our work today. There were at least four other boats out testing their skill against the wind as well, two of which sailed off of their anchors behind us. We led one of them through the narrow channel through the skinny water dividing the bay, both of us making the best of the breeze with the motors silent.


Once through, Kintala had worked her way close enough to civilization for my phone to be back on the grid. Deb dialed up Mountain Radio on my Pandora and plugged in our totally awesome little ball speaker. The glory of Leslie West ripping through guitar riffs the way guitar riffs were meant to ripped through, echoed across the waters.  We worked wing-on-wing to get a good angle on the channel back into No Name Harbor. The only real mistake I made all day was in getting the sails down as we turned toward the harbor entrance. Kintala is so tender that the perfect sail set for going downwind in 10 knots of true is way to much sail for going into that same wind. Someday I will figure out an elegant way to drop the sails but hell, if I was perfect someone would have to pay me more. The main fell into the lazy jacks and the jib got rolled in eventually. No harm, no foul.

With the hook set we rigged the deck for sitting and sleeping, including fixing the hammock over the foredeck. I settled in with one of Deb's perfectly iced Gin-N-Tonics (she doesn't drink them but she sure knows how to mix them) and watched the world go by. A perfect breeze flowed though the harbor, keeping the bugs at bay and softening the heat of a sun filled day. It was then that I thought a day like this day is just too good to go by without special notice. A nearly full moon was glowing in the sky as the sun faded below the horizon, a last little bit of perfect to an already perfect day. Good enough. I hoisted my glass to this little bit of the cosmos ...

"Good on You."

 





 A  perfect end to the day...






 
Night everyone!

7 comments:

Rharriscpa said...

I am only guessing but the move north was Miami Boat Show influenced. The big strictly sail magnet was drawing you north. Just guessing. Looks like you are having some fun. Fair winds.

Deb said...

Nope sorry. No boat show plans. The move North was weather motivated. Winds are swinging around to the West finite and we didn't want to be on a bumpy lee shore.

Ben & Terri said...

Hope you have many more days like this.

Unknown said...

very cool ... almost crying so happy for you ..

good on you . too

Ryukyu said...

WOW! Those are awesome pics of the sunset. Looks like the "Green Flash" was on steroids that day!

P.S. The S/V formerly known as Chardonay is now Ryukyu.

Deb said...

@James - what does Ryukyu mean? I assume it's from your days in Japan?

Ryukyu said...

The Ryukyu islands are a chain of volcanic islands between Japan and Taiwan. You may have heard of Yonaguni, which is thought by some to be a location of a huge "lost city" under the water (very popular dive destination. Okinawa is in the middle of the island chain, where I was stationed for seven years and my two youngest children were born. I wanted to make their middle names Ryukyu. I could not convince my wife. Okinawa is where I bought my first boat (a 30' motor boat) and enjoyed exploring the Kerama islands with family and friends. Very magical place.