I'm sailing away.......
2004-09-23

It was the most perfect of afternoons. I sent out the call, far and wide to all the regulars. Come play, come play, but nobody did. Oh a couple expressed intrest. One even said he'd be there, but when it came time to cast off, he wasn't. So I went alone and it was fine.
There wasn't a lot of breeze early and what there was was dead from behind. It was pretty slow going, but I wasn't in a hurry. I got the boat balanced so that it steered itself and did some chores. I took down the bimini. Now sun is a friend, not the enemy so no need for cockpit shade. I tidied a few things up, and watched the world go by as I floated slowly past.
It is a different mindset sailing alone. The peace is nice, but the responsibilities are greater. You have to drive and trim sails and most of all stay on the boat. There is no one to return for you if you fall in. The boat will just keep sailing happily along. It must be a pretty devistating sight, the transom of your boat steadily moving away. I take it seriously.
I only drank water last night, but a glass of wine would have been nice. the spectacular sunset almost demanded it, but the diet said no. At this point the diet rules.
When I got to the other side of the Bay, I tacked and now the wind was on the nose. Boatspeed got much better and in between tacks I could feel myself smiling. During tacks you run around like a nut.
To tack a 40' boat alone, you have to first start unwrapping the line holding in the sail, grab the other side, flip the wheel over, release the sail side, pull in the other side, grind and then get back on course. It would be a fins job for an octupus. By the time the night was over, I had the timing down pretty good.
The moon was shining on the water and I had Dan Fogelberg in the CD player. Life was good, but it was time to go home. I rolled in the jib, started the engine and headed for the mooring. I didn't hit it perfect and it pissed me off. CaptainRon does not miss. Atleast I didn't have to do a second approach, that would be embarassing.
I put the boat to bed, and called for the launch. No answer. Dispite assurances from Mike on the deck that they ran until 8:00 this week, it really was 7:00 and I missed them. I had to rig fenders and docklines, restart the boat and turn the lights back on and head for the dock. The alternative was a very long and icky swim.
I was going to hit D dock but saw Johnny O running to help me dock on E. I never pass up help. O doesn't even have a boat so why he was there in the dark, I didn't really know. I appreciated the help though. I woudl have bought him a drink if he was in the bar, but by the time I got there he was gone. And so was I. Maybe I still am?

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