Wednesday June 26th

Brett here again. The sailing gods did not hear my prayer - we awoke on Wednesday to a gray and misty morning with sporadic rain spattering down on Quinita. After a hearty breakfast we left the mooring in Burlington harbor, southbound about 13 miles down lake to Converse Bay. We had barely cleared the breakwater when lightning began to arc down again from the west. Ah, now I got it - the sailing gods decided that my first day of learning some of the rudiments of sailing should be a challenging one with lots of variety - rain, lightning, fog, and very light and variable winds. 

Once we got out into open water and raised the main sail and the genoa sail (I was pleased as an Italian to see my people got one of their cities into the sailing lexicon) Ron put me on the wheel and said we would be beating (zig-zagging into the wind). My ego certainly took a beating as I frequently overcorrected at the wheel and slowed our progress even more as the genoa lost the meager wind. With light shifting winds we were only making 1 knot or so boat speed most of the time so progress was already slow.

Rain was falling heavy now and the occasional lightning flash made me feel like a celebrity caught leaving rehab by the paparazzi. Then fog moved in and we lost our only visual reference point, an island off to port, and I got a crash course in reading the electronic nautical chart and keeping my other eye on the compass. It was cold and wet in the cockpit and Robyn sat smiling at the table in the cabin, warm and dry, drinking coffee and reading a magazine like she was on a cruise ship while I soldiered on under Ron's ever-patient but watchful eye.

After about 20 miles of sailing due to the zig-zags and everyone having a turn at the wheel, we neared Converse Bay under brightening skies in the late afternoon. We anchored in the middle of the bay in sunshine, finally, and had a nice swim, followed by drinks and appetizers in the cockpit while we dried off as the sun set over the Adirondacks to the west. Now this was what I had dreamed about when Ron and Teresa extended this invitation to us months ago!

As dusk gathered Ron grilled salmon fillets on a nifty little gas grill that clamped to the stern while Teresa prepared asparagus, carrots, and spiced couscous in the galley and then broke the silence that had settled over our post happy-hour mellow scene with the pop of a wine bottle cork that served as our dinner bell to sit down at the table. We ended the meal with some locally-made fruit and chocolate sweets that Teresa had bought in Burlington and after some more chit-chat called it a night. As we settled satiated into our berths, a light breeze kicked up and Quinita rocked us to sleep and into dreams of clear skies and a steady wind for our sail back to Burlington in the morning.

Ship’s Log: 2595.6nm, Today's log: 23.1nm, Season total: 141.7nm.