Today Joe got to come sailing with me! It was supposed to be wild weather and a small craft advisory again. But when we left, little did we know that it had blown itself out. But the rain had not left. Closing the hatches we put on our warm jackets with hoods and weathered the sporadic downpours. The wind still seemed to be strange enough to have the storm behind it as it was blowing midday right from the east - which it never does! It blew us right down the first channel without having to tack once. That was a nice treat! Then the wind clocked around to the north. And then when we got out to sea, it changed again to the south and then to the south west and then to a complete calm!
Joe and I sat out at sea for a whole hour with a very light breeze and just talked. 'X Box Live' and the 'Assassin' video game became the topic of conversation. And then we had our first fake million dollar bet (with interest of one penny). I bet Joe the wind would come out at 6:10 pm and Joe bet me it would come out at 6:05. We were both wrong as we sat and watched the flat calm. So then we tried again. This time Joe said 6:20pm and I said 6:18. Again the wind did not come. So I changed mine to 6:30 and Joe's to 6:35. At 6:30 on the dot, the wind switched again to the north and I won the fake million dollars and one penny! We came cruising in over a flat sea with the wind blowing firmly on a close reach. Meanwhile Joe suggested that our original X Box was not being sold anymore by stores and was worth $700. I told him this was a great insight but that we would probably get no more than $100 or less for it. So we took the fake million dollar bet again. We have still to find out who's the winner! Once inside the breakwater, the wind faded almost out again - leaving just enough pressure to take us a quarter of the way in. So we again took a bet on the wind and then had some hot chocolate to pass the time away and warm up. Mmmm! It tasted good and the cup was warm on our hands. Being out there in the water with my son going through crazy windless circumstances, drinking hot chocolate on a cold rainy night was really fun!
We then got the opportunity to row together until the next breeze blew up. The breezes did eventually come and that helped. Rowing was fun at first until it got old (an hour later!) Now Joe was getting tired and wanted to just be home. Someone actually was nice enough to offer pulling us in but at the very moment they offered, the wind sprung up again and I declined the invitation. Tacking twice and with some more rowing after that, we finally got home two hours past our ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival). So we had been out to sea for 6 hours instead of 4. Joe was at first happy to be back - until it hit him that he had truly and unforgettably dropped his cell phone that afternoon in the sea and there was no way of getting it back. I asked him if he would like to write something for my sailing blog and he replied that he was just sad! Okay Joe. I understand. I lost my cell phone in the ocean too and it was definitely not fun. Lost pictures, phone numbers, etc...you know how it is! 'Like father, like son!'
