Reunited

Plattsburg Bay, N44 38 W73 23
(08/26/05) Shame on me. It's been several days since I wrote a blog article. On Wednesday Libby drove her car up to Vermont and we
were reunited. We took the opportunity to go ashore to mail letters, post blogs, and run errands.

We tried three stores to buy a snorkeling mask, but no luck. Today all the stores are stocked with fall goods and no summer
clothes or gear are left. It's frustrating.

Wednesday night we anchored near a place where we could park the car. It was also near the place where the super rich Vermonters
like Howard Dean live. I was afraid that Howard's primal screams would keep us awake but that didn't happen.

Our anchorage gave us a bird's eye view of a Lake Champlain Yacht Club sailing race. Right around 17:30 many sailboats came out of
the yacht club. By 1815 the bay was crowded with perhaps 75 of them. Each boat had 5 or more crewmen. That means that over 350
people were taking part in this race. They all looked enthusiastic.

As we watched the boats jockey for starting position, it looked like total chaos and constant near collisions. When the race
started, we watched but we couldn't understand what the goals were. It was too confusing. Both Libby and I wondered why those
people thought it was fun. We never sailed in a race in all these years and we have no desire to.

At the end of the race many of the boats drifted over near Tarwathie to take their sails down and pack them away. I was impressed
by the number of different ways to rig a boat, and also by the apparent professionalism of the crews. They looked to be very
experienced in their tasks.

Thursday we sailed north toward Valcour Island. On the way we stopped at the mooring at North Burlington to see if we could dive
down and retrieve the mooring chain on the bottom. It was sunny and still and the water is only 10 feet deep. No luck though. We
couldn't see underwater without a mask.

Last night we anchored in Sloop Bay on Valcour Island. Valcour is one of our most loved placed in the world. We've returned to
Valcour year after year to sail sometimes and to camp other times. Sloop Bay was very crowded and the bottom was overgrown with
milfoil weeds. It took us four tries to get the anchor to hold. The weeds prevent the anchor from reaching the bottom.

This morning we walked on the Island and visited the campsites we used in past years. It made us miss our dog Pup very much. Pup
loved Valcour as much as we did.

I'm sure we'll return to Valcour several times in the coming month. Hopefully, after Labor day it won't be so crowded with boats.

My wiring repairs are not 100% successful yet. We still don't have wind speed indication.