We had a shake-down sail yesterday. Well, rather a motoring, and the good news is, the motor seems to work. We went to Thomas Point Shoal light, pictured above. The light structure is a bit surprising–isn’t a light house normally a tower with thick walls, bunch of steps and no windows but at the top? The answer is no. Weathering Sandy in that light house must have been something.

The Chesapeake bay was strikingly beautiful. Deeply green water, a sailing regatta going on (they all had the same boat, same sail, same everything–no boat had an advantage, just the sailing skills), and so forth. So, what did I do among such beauty? I worked some more on the zippers of the canvas and barely saw anything (see picture). I much enjoy thoughtless, repetitive tasks when otherwise overloaded with new experiences. In the present case, I was mentally preparing for our first docking coming up after the little trip. I was to loop the spring line around the first pile at the dock (like lassoing a horse, but with plentiful cold water to fall in), and if I missed it, I had another chance at the second pile, and if I missed that second pile, Peregrine would crash in the dock. In the end, a generous soul sprung to help at the dock, and we did not crash.