It was Not Awful!


2010-01-18

The Martin Luther King holiday was beautiful in Seattle.  A lot of sun, a breeze, and temperatures in the mid 50s made an afternoon on Ripple inevitable.  I wasn't sure whether Marguerite would join me, though, so I went with maintenance puttering in mind.   I called her from the dock when she returned from her shopping and she came down with lunch munchies.  I had the boat ready to go, and I coached her on what we would need to do coming back in, and we rehearsed it, and then set out on our circumnavigation of Lake Union.

The wind was snappy, and temperatures brisk, but it was a pleasant trip ogling boats and houseboats, and seeing the city from the water.  Rounding Gas Works Park, we set the fenders, and lined up on the marina, and brought Ripple down to dead slow, what breeze there was, dead on the nose.   I slipped her nose in toward the dock as we pulled past Nancy's houseboat, and eased her in to the dock.  M was in her position, holding fast to the forestay, feet positioned on the rail, outboard of the life lines, ready to hop down to the dock with the bow line.  It all went smoothly, and we got an assist from a neighboring boat to complete the landing.  No urgencies, no drama. 

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