Ready for sailing ...

San Francisco lad that I am, I'm still having problems getting my arms around the idea that sailing season in Florida begins in October, just as sailing season in northern California is starting to wind down.  And, of course, Florida's season ends as the heat builds and the hurricane threat emerges in July, just as it is hitting its stride on the west coast.  Nevertheless, here it is upon us, and Penelope and I spent the past four days on Alizee, preparing her for some sailing ... in two weeks, we take a week long cruise with some of the members of our new cruising club the Dolphins.

So, this weekend was cleaning up our food storage, throwing out items that were expired or simply rancid, and making lists of what we need to restock.  We found that in two months (when I'd last checked it) our dry storage had been consumed by bugs and even a couple of beetles.  We chucked all the dried goods, cleaned the storage bin out thoroughly and, then, the next day found yet more microscopic crawly things and re-cleaned with 409.  That seemed to get them.

We defrosted the fridge and freezer, cleaned and vacuumed the interior, got our repaired head sails out of the loft and put them up and got a new zipper on the canvas binnacle cover.  We got our dinghy out of dry storage, ran the motor a bit as we re-explored the estuary near Fish Tales restaurant, washed it down to get crud out of the inside and pulled it up on the davits.  We washed down the topsides, took in all the storm lines that I'd rigged in August in fear of Irene.

Our four days ended with open-mike night at the Bayboro Cafe, just outside the gate of the marina, where I was invited to play keyboards.  Quite a change for me, playing rock and folk-rock, but Penelope tells me I was great, and several young musicians and listeners came up and told me so, too ... and by young, I can tell you they were twenty-somethings.  All in all, a very nice weekend on the boat.

Now, for sailing!!!