Sail The Weather, Not The Weather Report

I think I've learned this now. Time will tell. Last weekend, although rain was predicted all weekend, Saturday provided some spirited lazy man's sailing (15 -20 only the genoa) . And anchoring in Oyster Bay was quiet, pleasantly cool, and very relaxing. I was joined by another club member and we had a pretty good time, I must say.

Sunday resulted in a very pleasnt sail back, with the attendant downpour upon arriving at the dock. But still, I'm glad we went. Got some good sailing in, and the normal anchoring fun.

This is not to say one should totally ignore NOAA's weather reports. Very often, ok, sometimes they're spot on. Sometimes, they totally underestimate wind and sea states. I got stories about that, too.

But for coastal daysailing, expecially in a sound, you're probably a better judge. You're right there, and NOAA is doing all this from geosynchronous satellites. Clearly, if it's nice weather but a hurricane is coming up within 24 hours, that's a whole different matter. Use your common sense.

Oh, yes, and sometimes you'll be wrong.

On another tack, I've been on the web looking for nice track mounted cleats. I have these cheesy black plastic ones that came with the boat. They serve the purpose, but I saw in West Marine some really nice ones by Schaeffer - beautiful, shiny stainless steel. But they were $111 each there! Arrrggghh!

Ok, so you might not find cleats titillating. But get this: at Binnacle.com I got them both for $139.90! All right! I can't wait. Also, from D&B Marine I got a replacement speed sensor for my Raymarine ST-40. Feh. Didn't need that! Anyway, got a good price, and had it the next day! What a surprise that was! More surprising was that they were still in business- I had heard years ago they went out, but apparently they are doing well still. For what they have, they have good prices.

This weekend, Labor Day 2006, is promising to be a washout - as it was last year - but last year it was actually spectacular. So who knows.

One way or the other, I'll be on the water - I hope to see you there!