Getting Better . . . . Slowly

SHIP'S LOG:

This week is a week without the launch, at least until Friday night. It means having to get across the 100 yards or so from the boat to the dock. Trying to steer a 39 foot, 11 ton boat into a dock (a wooden structure that goes "squeak" or "thud" when hit) without hitting it more than a very glancing blow, so that you can step off and tie the boat securely and safely to it is not a skill that people are born with. It comes with practice, practice, practice! And I have had a lot of it this week. I can't say that I am necessarily any better than I was previously, but it is not as terrifying as it once was. It is definitely a skill I am going to have to acquire some proficiency at if I am going to go South - still a possibility - as I will have to do it at least to pickup fuel. Still it is hard to be comfortable with something that doesn't have any "brakes!" Only throwing the boat into reverse, playing the wind and the current and praying really, really hard can keep disaster at bay. The again, they don't always work and I have the scars to prove it! Well, not me but ABISHAG.

The wind has been honking all week and there have been small craft warnings up. The weather has gotten a wee chilly and it definitely seems as if fall's acommin'. I find this most depression and long for the hot and humid days of summer. What happened to them? Hopefully, they will return for one last go-round.