Thinking about sailing...

We just returned from a lovely ten-day trip to Glasgow, Scotland, and the moment I checked my backlog of emails I began to think about stepping on Alizee again for some sailing.  To be sure, the trip to Glasgow (for which I'll post an entry soon), but, as my friend Bruce Sinclair said in response to my spotting his photo sailing his little dinghy T/T Aquavit while I was gone: "I would have liked to have been there ... apart from this lovely boating life." 


I sailed with Bruce and his wife Gail down from Vallejo to South Beach Marina in San Francisco on their new-to-them Swan 36 Aquavit when I was last in California a month ago.  When I looked at the 'Lectronic Latitude edition recapping the bay area's week-long Delta Doo Dah 3D cruise up into the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Delta, there was Bruce sailing his dinghy in the event's dinghy race.  And I could spot Bruce and Gail among the crowd on the bow of Buffalo Spirit (Gail's wearing a black shirt and waving and Bruce sports a white cap and shirt).  Had I been there, I no doubt would have wangled my way into playing the keyboard that is almost next to Gail.  And, yet a third photo of the four in 'Lectronic Latitude shows their Swan anchored in Potato Slough with their little wooden dinghy floating off Aquavit's stern.

This lovely boating life, indeed, dear friend Bruce.

Another glimpse of the sailing life came in a check in the mail from Good Old Boat which alerted me that they had published my review of Frank Rosenow's Ditty Bag Book, a fun little guide to sail-making and canvas work for sailors of all stripes.  You can find the review here.

Finally, an email from the Seven Seas Cruising Association reminded me that Penelope and I have to decide whether we're going to try and make it to the gam in the middle of October which SSCA is holding in Punta Gorda at the top of Charlotte Harbor on Florida's gulf coast.  Meanwhile, the Dolphins Cruising Club of Tampa Bay, which we just joined a couple of months ago is planning their cruising schedule for the upcoming season, and we're looking forward to participating.