Flotilla

Marathon Public Library

Today the winds and seas settled down for the first time in many weeks. A whole flotilla of boats waiting to start their nortward migration left the harbor. Many of them wanted to leave 3 to 4 weeks ago. They still have NE head winds, but they are 15 knots or less, and the seas are down to 2-3 feet.

Should we leave also? The farmer's philosophy, "Make hay while the sun shines," would seem to apply. But, I want to stay here at least one more week. We'll take our chances on the weather. There's no guar antee that it won't turn against us. On the other hand, it may turn to southerly winds. Last year we left around April 7 and we had a great sail: 22 knots southerly winds, and 180 miles in one day, our personal record.

I learned a new phrase from a sailing magazine yesterday. I saw it in an article about ice boats and ice boaters. The ice boater in the article referred to people like me as soft water sailors. Wow! I never thought of it that way. OK, I give. I'm a soft water sailor, but don't let me catch anyone calling me a softie.