Dana and I went sailing for the first time this year on Sunday. It was quiet, relaxing, exhilarating, and exhausting -- just like a day on the water should be.
It was just Dana and I again, Katie had a bad head cold and Joey had some homework that he wanted to work on, though he did help me put the lines on the boat again. He's downright useful a that sort of thing nowadays. Load, pack, hook up, and go took about an hour, but I wasn't hurrying.
Towing the boat is remarkably stressful since it jumped off the hitch last year. Everytime I go over a bump I glance in the rearview mirror to make sure that Odyssey is still with us. The leaf springs on the trailer have a loud squeak in them, that didn't help to hear as the trailer settled back down after a bump.
The toughest challenge to overcome this trip was figuring out how to pay for launching and parking. We thought we had to pay for launching and parking ($11), but it turns out we only had to pay for launching ($8), the first 24 hours of parking are included. Unfortunately, we didn't bring change for $8.00, and the machine doesn't give change. Through fits and starts, we finally managed to give the machine the $8.00 we needed to for our launching ticket, after we managed to give it (and lose) $10.00.
In we went, and off sailing we went. The wind was, as usual, fluky. Stiff, soft, and non-existent by turns. It always pleasant though, out on the water, so we had a good time.