T minus 8 days

We are a little behind schedule and today Sid admitted that we may not be able to leave on time. Technically, we have wiggle room because the first lake we hope to sail does not have any slips available, so it would be the most difficult to deal with and we don't have any reservations to cancel except, perhaps, the hotel night we had scheduled a couple days after arrival. Then there is the issue of disappointing my mother if the dates change since she is to be our very first stop, But 89-year-olds don't keep a full social calendar, so hopefully she can work us in whenever we show up!

The plan had been to retrieve the boat on Friday morning from the lake. Practice stepping the mast again. Load the boat for a practice overnight in the boat, which would be on the trailer, in the yard. Though I liked the idea of sleeping outdoors in the yard as a kid, it.doesn’t sound quite as fun now!

But then, Sid worked on the trailer all day Friday in an attempt to remedy the problem he believes affected the keel drag in the initial launch. He also has a nagging suspicion there might be more to the keel problem. "Show-stopper" was the term at midday.  At 6 pm. he was still working. Eventually he took a little break and then announced  that he wanted to go get the boat. Now.

Blue dot = Sid (in life jacket)

Our romantic Friday night of a holiday weekend!

Close-up of our fancy mooring 😂😂😂

Sid reached the boat and shouted:

“Want me to pick you up and we go for a little sail around?”

Me: “I don’t want to trailer the boat in the dark.”

Sid: “OK, but the dock isn’t busy.”

But after a few moments I wondered if I shouldn’t get on the boat so we could investigate the troubling sound a little closer. Sure enough, it does NOT seem to be anything loose in the cabin. The noise seems to be coming from under the boat. 🥺

We headed for the dock where there was suddenly high demand. I got more backing-the-trailer practice. Should probably charge admission for that! And I only had to get in the water up to my knees.

We got home after 10 pm but did see some nice fireworks 💥 en route.

Traffic jam-3 boats plus ours 😂