Thursday June 27th

I opened my eyes Thursday morning to bright sunshine coming in the porthole of our berth. That was a good sign, as was the gentle breeze. The previous evening Ron and I had put up the snap-on and velcro fastened mosquito net he and Teresa had fashioned to enclose the cockpit, so the cabin doors had been open all night to the cool lake winds. It was a beautiful morning in Converse Bay. After breakfast Ron hauled the anchor and Teresa motored out of the bay to the middle of the lake where Ron unfurled the "screecher" sail, which he thought was our best bet given the wind conditions for our sail up the lake to Burlington. 

We found some nice wind and got the boat speed up to over 6 knots for a while. It was sunny and in the 80s, a classic summer day. I got in a lot of time at the helm, and Ron provided a steady stream of tips and advice, and I feel like I improved a bit over the previous day, though I'm sure the favorable wind conditions helped. At the very least I learned a lot of sailing terms in theory, if not yet in practice! Teresa put out a toothsome lunch in the salon and Ron and I switched off at the helm while the other person ate inside.

As serendipity would have it, the winds did die almost completely for a half hour or so, a couple of miles south of Burlington, just when the day was really heating up and we were really starting to feel the sun. Since we were at a dead stop, we took advantage of the lull for a delightful swim break, way out in the middle of the lake, easily a mile from either shore, in about 150 feet of water. There were no other boats around and it was just magical to be floating on your back out there in the sunshine and cool, clear, water. Soon afterward the wind picked up again and we resumed our journey northward feeling quite refreshed.

Eventually the tallest church steeple in downtown Burlington was visible in the distance, and the rest of the city soon swung into view. After we lowered the sails and motored up close to the harbor entrance I relinquished the helm to the real sailors and sat up on the bow with Robyn to enjoy the view as we came in to the mooring area. Our wonderful jaunt on Quinita with Ron and Teresa was coming to an end. They brought us to the dock on the dinghy about 4 p.m. and we said goodbye. After a few days of sailing on a beautiful lake with our good friends, the prospect of a four hour car ride down the interstate to Massachusetts seemed so anti-climatic and prosaic!

Ron here.  Thanks Brett!  Teresa and I were surprised to see this boat on our way back to our anchorage: 

Ship’s Log: 2607.1nm, Today's log: 11.5nm, Season total: 153.2nm.