Sailing with Tao and Song Lei

 

This was the weekend that Tao and Song Lei would finally be able to sail with me.   I wanted to get down early to make sure everything was "ship shape", but I had a lot to do during the week this week and an appointment with my dentist on Friday during lunch.  So in the end, I left from the dentist and headed down to Rock Hall to finish working into Friday evening.

The big news down at Osprey Point is that Captain Gary (a dock-mate who also was our delivery captain on my delivery trip to get Seas The Day down to Rock Hall) has sold Elusive (his 50 ft Beneteau).  He and Patty have plans to tour the US and Canada by land over the next couple of years.  As I was rushing to get set up for working, I saw him giving lessons to the new owners.

One of the last times Gary was on Elusive

After finishing work Friday evening, I had just enough time to swab the decks before sunset.  During my final rinse I tried to capture the beautiful colors in the sky at sunset and ended up getting a great sunset photo of Silver Eagle, Frank & Linda's Catalina.

Silver Eagle at sunset

Just as I was closing up, I noticed that the moon had incredible coloration -- almost like during a lunar eclipse.  I realized this was from all the soot in the air from the huge wildfires in Oregon and Canada.  The iPhone photo captures the orange color, but doesn't do the scene justice.

Saturday morning, I woke up right before sunrise and did another early morning walk.  This time I walked out to the beach to see how calm the bay was.  It was very calm... weather prediction was for 3-inch waves mid-day.  The photo at the top and the next few from from early morning at Osprey Point.

I walked to the beach to double check the sea state since the last time Tao came sailing she felt a bit of motion sickness, so we had searched for a calm day when they were available.  After we rounded the #3 buoy I was monitoring her (she was fine), but noticed that Song Lei was showing some signs of discomfort.  I hopped below and brought out the wrist bands, some ginger gum and my new puke bucket just in case. (I'm happy to report it remains unused).

The combination of wrist bands, gum, and taking the helm seemed to be working.  But when I asked where to go from here, he jumped at the chance to turn back. 

We spent some time visiting while playing a game of chess.  Despite them both being new to the game, I blundered and they trounced me.  I'll have to stop reading chess books and start playing some more games.

After Tao and Song Lei left, I introduced myself to Pat & Sonia (Elusive's new owners) and caught a photo of them taking out their first guests on their boat.  I later went to dinner at the Osprey Point Inn before relaxing in the cockpit with my nightcap before turning in.

Pat & Sonia taking out Elusive

I was lazy on Sunday morning.  I did walk to Muskrat Alley for breakfast.  It was hot and humid and since I had no guests coming, I decided to spend the morning watching Netflix before eating lunch and then heading home.