A Day on Dalliance

So it's Memorial Day weekend and Seas The Day is still on the hard... what's a person to do?

I get it.  This is pretty much THE definition of "first world problem", and it's a pretty blessed problem to have.  Still, Sunday was supposed to be a fabulous sailing day, and I wanted to get Vicky out on the water before she has to head back to China for work next weekend.  Our friends, the Miller's, had just traded in Fiddlers Green for a new 42' Catalina 420 - Dalliance - as their family is growing, and the old 32' was getting a bit cramped.

So we blatantly begged...

It turns out they were just on the boat yesterday, with plans to go again on Memorial Day, so the kids were looking forward to an electronics fix at home.  Brandon, however, was eager to try out his new toy some more, so we headed up the parkway and fought through the NJ shore traffic.

We met and had a nice lunch at Lenora's with the whole family and then let the kids and Tina head home while we met Brandon at KYC.

They purchased Dalliance just this spring and Brandon and friends recently sailed her down from her previous home in CT.  She's a beautiful yacht.  A Catalina 42 from 2007.  We got a brief tour of the spacious interior, and her incredibly wide decks, which will be really nice for his family.

Soon we were underway and Brandon took her through her paces.  Brandon is a much more aggressive sailor than I am (most people are), so I didn't try and take photos while I was hanging on for dear life while he "buried the rail".  A couple photos capture some times with a bit less heeling and show you what she is capable of...

The "Old Orchard" race was going on so we passed Observer (the KYC Race Committee boat), as well as a couple of our friends.

I don't usually get to work the lines with someone else at the helm (or when someone else is available to capture a photograph), so that was a new experience for me.

After a couple of hours of sailing back and forth along the western Raritan Bay, we headed in.  I requested that we sail by our (empty) mooring and it looks like Dan (our diver) had done a fine job getting things ready.  Hopefully by mid-week, Seas The Day will be in place and if the weather holds, we can get Vicky out on our boat towards the end of the week.