Cruising, at Long Last

At long last, we are cruising --choosing our destinations, not bound by any schedule, open to the vagaries of wind and tide and weather and able to adjust the sails to flow with the local conditions. We cast off the lines from the marina and set sail for Jamestown at 12:30, having tuna melts for lunch along the way as we beat upwind in 13-15 knots with a single reef. Bodhi was nothing short of appalled as he called the shortened sail "outrageous" and later referred to it as a "disgrace." Anything shy of sailing with the full complement of sails adjusted appropriately to the conditions seems unacceptable to the budding racer in the family. It's true that it wasn't the fastest trip down the bay, but it was a comfortable one.

We tied up to a mooring, Charlie 1, shortly after 2 p.m. Bodhi tuned into Zoom open office hours with the head of the middle school to address his tech questions for the start of the school year, as the school is starting with a hybrid opening (eight days in school followed by eight days of remote learning from home). Shortly after that I tuned into a peer consultation with two dear friends and colleagues.

The afternoon air thickened and a fog bank stretched into Newport Harbor, blanketing the eastern shoreline. Bodhi and Izzie and I rode the launch to town for a business trip for the dog and ice cream for the humanoids -- pumpkin and toasted coconut for Bodhi and coffee for me. We also scored some delicious cheese -- Prima Donna and Cotswold -- at a nearby wine and cheese shop and then returned to Puffling, an epicenter of cinematic scenery. Schooners emerged from the fog; two 12-Meters set out for evening sails as the humidity dissipated; and in time lights dotting the gracious curves of Newport's suspension bridge began twinkling against the darkening sky.

For dinner, we had seared scallops over homemade creamed corn with a tomato-pickled onion-basil salad. Coconut Milano cookies and clementines for dessert, (as if we needed that extra infusion of sweetness)...

oxo Pufflings