June, July 2003 written by John (edited by Rhonda)
Non-sailing activities.
The dogs had been exiled outside while we renovated our back porch / Florida room area. Probably live in the great outdoors forever if we can prepare suitable shelter from the worst elements for them out there. It had rained so much, then turned blazing hot, yet they were such good sports about it and were still so happy to see us when we poked our noses outside that I wasn’t sure whether to feel guilty or relieved. Just to play it safe I think I'll go with both. They got doghouse accommodations worthy of, well, good dogs; and we have our better smelling back porch again, suitable for company.
The room was a lot of work, done mostly while weathering an allergy attack from cutting brush. The brush cutting was mid-June and I was still coughing weeks later. Meanwhile, we threw a party or two. Started a batch of homemade wine. Got the new Harry Potter book. Got some kind of virus. Almost had the puppy spayed (finally did after the July 19th sail). Rhonda furnished the front yard with lawn furniture; it's like a living room, only with a terrific view of the woods. Weekends come and go, and it's one thing or another.
July 19, 2003 Sailing Activity 
Rhonda had been doing a good deal of email communication with Donnie from North Carolina over the last few years. He has a Windrose 22, like ours, and lots of ideas that we have taken advantage of. He also seems to be able to trailer his boat around with little or no trouble. He was on vacation and traveling around with his boat, sampling the water in various locations, so that weekend we were able to enjoy a pleasant Saturday sail with him.
We arrived at our marina, where he had docked himself and slept the night before, at a record smashing ten in the morning rubbing the sleep out of our eyes. We made the hour and a half drive in a mere three hours! I spotted his boat ‘Sea Ya’ (looked a bit familiar) and introduced myself. We chatted a while and compared our boats, which were obviously out of the same mold yet still individuals; such a beautiful thing about boats. He was quite interested in Whisper's kick up rudder and deck organizer hardware and snapped several pictures with his camera to help him remember. He also liked and took some pictures of our sink/stove stand that came with the boat that we never used, so we insisted that he take it because he would be more apt to use it. I liked the way he had the cleats arranged on deck and how his main sheet was rigged and poked the side of my head with my finger to help me remember.
Soon we were motoring out to the big water. It was not a day we would have normally gotten out to sail, since I had been ill and the forecast was for severe isolated storms, but it turned out to be ok. The wind was a bit iffy; puffs and blows and calms. An uneven overcast made it cool and pleasant, and the occasional dark and threatening low clouds lent a bit of drama to the scene. Donnie sailed circles around us, literally, while we snapped photos of each other. He had a quarter to a half a knot on us just about all the time. He says it's from practice, since he got gradually faster over the years and sails more often than we do. I think his jib had several square feet on us, but I think that that ‘practice and experience’ thing probably really is the greater variable.
We came back after two or three hours of sailing because he needed to get to the ramp before the falling tide made it dangerous; there's a drop off at the bottom of the ramp you don't want your trailer to discover. By the time we were tied up and stowed away, he had ‘Sea Ya’ loaded on the trailer and in the parking lot. I gotta hand it to him, he does this trailering stuff so much better than we do. We hung out in the parking lot sitting on the tailgate of our pickup yacking and watching him pack up and lower his mast, with one hand! Okay, he used the other one a little. We got lots of good ideas from him, and I'm sure he got some from us, too.
Afterward, Donnie sent us some great pictures of us 
sailing around. The first thing I noticed was that our jib sail was really not cut for our boat. About three or four feet of forestay is just hanging out there not holding up any sail at all. The next thing I noticed is that Rhonda is just smiling away as happy as a lark in those pictures, while I'm looking as crabby as Scrooge with a hangover. (I just don't know what the deal is with her, I really don’t.) Lastly, our outboard is dragging in the water, which we fixed a little later so that isn't the reason we were failing to keep up but it did contribute at first. We don't normally go long distances with the outboard propeller gurgling along in the water like that, but sometimes it escapes our notice. I am thinking of new sails now, and while I'm at it maybe new rigging overall.
Afterward, also, the pictures we took of Donnie were destroyed in a freak accident involving the natural spring-action of wound-up film and its amazing modern instantaneous sensitivity to light, even indoors. All efforts to save it were futile and, in retrospect, went on entirely too long. It was the most completely and thoroughly overexposed roll of film I ever saw
. Donnie was a good sport about it at least, which we appreciated. Overall, it was a good sailing/outing and pretty cool to see another Windrose in person.
Sailing with ma & pa or back to 6. Mobjack Bay, 2003
