This afternoon I took the boys out sailing for the last time this summer. We only paid for two months at the submarine base marina. With the summer coming to an end in addition to being on furlough, we decided to not extend the time at the base. Susanna and I should get a sail or two in before we have to take the boat out of the water, but I don’t think there will be time for the boys to go sailing until next spring.
Today we motored south of the base and put up the main north of the bridges. A gentle breeze pushed us downriver. Before we passed under the bridges, the boys and I hanked on the jib. As we went south the breeze picked up. In New London harbor, the gusts would push us over at least 20-degrees, but the wind wasn’t constant. It would pick up and die down. It couldn’t pick a direction either. The gusts and waves made Ben a bit nervous, so we eventually dropped the jib.
We ran to pine island and turned around just short of the harbor entrance. Once we turned back into the river we beat into the wind upriver for a bit, finally grew bored, and started the outboard. I think our timing was pretty good. A storm passed south of us as we drove up towards the base – we only caught a little of the rain. The bridges disappeared in the haze of the storm almost entirely as we motored past the base. We reached our slip in sunlight as the storm headed east.
