Willsboro

Willsboro Bay
N 44 23.916 W 073 23.543

Yesterday we had our friends Bob and Carol and Phillip on board for a day sail. They have a summer camp nearby on Willsboro Bay so we picked them up there. As it turned out, it was perfect for a day sail around the lake.

The winds were SW at about 15 knots. 15 is is the ideal wind for just about any sailboat, Westsails included. We started by sailing across the lake to Burlington on a broad reach. Phillip was on the helm and under his hand we soon reached 6.5 knots, then 7.0 then 7.1. It was great fun for everyone.

As we approached Burlington, about 3 miles out, I called Jennifer at her new job at Coffee Analysts. Jenny had said that they had two telescopes that could look out on the lake. I told her where we were, she looked and it worked. She could even see what color shirts we were wearing. It brought back memories. Long ago as I sailed past Burlington on the lake I dreamt that some day I might have a house there and I would like to have a powerful telescope to look out at the boats on the lake.

We stopped for lunch in Shelburne. Libby had made a pan of chili the night before, and it really hit the spot. We also swam for a while to cool off. Despite the wind, the humidity was very high and the temperature was climbing past 90.

By around 15:00 we returned our guests to their camp and we swam once more to cool off again. Libby dove in head first. She usually enters the water by climbing down the ladder ever so slowly. It turned out to be a mistake because the cold shock of the dive gave her an instant headache. We retreated to this anchorage and we've been there ever since.

Today, Friday, we're holed up waiting for a cold front and severe thunderstorms to pass. All day long the weather reports have been saying, "The Cold Front is Coming." "The Cold Front is Coming." I expected it after lunch, but now it is 20:00 and it hasn't appeared yet. I sure wish that the forecast would actually state what time a front is expected to pass prominent landmarks. Perhaps they think that everyone has cable TV and can watch the Doppler radar on the weather channel.

My project for today was to replace the cotton/rubber bumper material around the gunwale of the dinghy. It is nice stuff, made of foam rubber and covered with the same cotton used to make fire hoses. I bought the replacement material from Hamilton Marine last year (Yes. I confess. The stuff has been sitting in the boat waiting for me to install it for more than 6 months.) I screwed in about 100 small screws to fasten it down. It took about 3 hours to complete standing in the hot sun, and when
I was done a swim was very welcome.