Thus spoke a little girl playing on her parent's pontoon boat; and with good reason. When they had dropped a hook just outside of the "NO WAKE" buoys at Coles Creek, Nomad was a couple of hundred feet away nodding on her own anchor line. Deb and I had decided to pick up our own anchor and head for home. Since the wind was on the light side but out of a good direction for such antics, we were going to give it a go without the help of our engine. (Twice this weekend we sailed into Coles Creek, spun up into the wind, dropped a hook and the sails, and had settled in without the aid of our own little noise maker.) As the little girl watched our main went up and as the anchor came on board, our big drifter blossomed out of its bag, Nomad picked up the traces, and we passed off the bow of the pontoon family accelerating out into the lake. I'll bet it looked pretty cool!
I know its silly to get such pleasure out of so mundane a thing as sailing off the hook, but I'm pretty easily entertained. It was something new for Deb and I to try, it was fun, and a little girl got a kick out of it. That's all pretty good stuff for a Sunday afternoon. And the "pretty good stuff" is why we sail at all. Among the other good stuff of the weekend was the annual marina party which focused on checking out other people's boats, meeting some new friends, and watching a spectacular lightning display played out in front of a double rainbow. All stuff you can't get on your TV screen.
(or how to move onto a sailboat) With the advent of our 50th birthdays came the usual sorts of life evaluations that one goes through. At what have I succeeded? What contributions have I made? What do I have left that I want to do before I die? Living on the water was high on both our lists. For any who share the dream, and for our family members who might not understand, this is our story. We don't know where it will take us, but welcome along for the ride!
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