Driveway sailing

[Riley Smith]

My wife and I looked at the GOES satellite last night before we went to bed. It was obvious cooler air was intruding into north Mississippi and heading for the coast. I woke up to a strong north wind and cooler temps and had to make a trip to Mobile. Then finally got all the ducks lined up this evening and stepped the mast on the boat for the first time since my surgery. I think a jacket will be in order when I continue tomorrow. Temps are forecast dropping into the high 40s Fahrenheit. It took a while this morning for it to warm up as the north wind was blowing 15-20 kts, although I sat in the afternoon sun waiting on the children and school bus and was as happy as a bug in a rug.

I've got some slight modifications on the rigging I want to do. And clean the boat up from sitting in a dusty shop. I think I'm out of paint but I found paint chipped on the deck right up on her bow. It's always an on-going thing to keep the thing looking good and actually working. I also have to try the floorboard that I repaired  after breaking it after the FL 120. I haven't touched the boat since all this medical stuff, so it is almost like the start of the year Best thing is nothing is hurting after tugging and yanking and lifting!

[Timm R Oday25]

As a committed northerner , we expected snow flurries any day . To read that you've been experiancing temps in the 40s is a little disheartening .
Feels damn good to move with out pain after surgery .

[Riley Smith]

I know about the temps right? Correct that to the LOW 40s in real life. I forgot to subtract the 5 degrees the north side of the river drops to. That means I'll have to wear socks today. It's ALWAYS something says Greta ( Rosanna Rosanna Dana), and she's right. In reality it'll warm up quickly if the wind don't blow, although Shelby (my deceased father-in-law) always said the wind would blow for three days after a front like that. I got a little worried about a noise my neck was making a week ago but it went away. It squeaked!! Yes, pain free is a god-send.

 And so after a little pause for maintenance on ME, I can pretty much continue with life!!! Yay!

I still haven't made the eye-splice in the halyard and so I just tied a bowline for now. I'll get back to it sooner or later, but I want to solve the boom lift line problem. The sail hangs initially and is easy to get going but I'd like it to FLY up the mast, so I'm examining different configurations where the line attaches to the boom at the boom jaw.

 Gaff rig...you gotta love 'em. I'd love to go sailing before the cold comes.