SURFING WITH THE WIND AND THE WAVES

It's Wednesday evening in Mystic Seaport and the boats are gathering for the Wooden Boat Show here in this historic shipbuilding port in CT. The MollyBelle is tied up at the face dock of the Mystic Seaport Museum after a rough day on Long Island Sound. Our departure from Weehawken after the rain subsided on Monday provided us with awesome views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the bridges and canyons of tall buildings across NYC. More memories of times spent working, studying and playing there were brought to mind as we traversed down the Hudson River, around the tip of Manhattan and up the East River out through Hell's Gate and past Laguardia Airport into Long Island Sound. The storm clouds lifted and we made good time getting to Milford, CT, where we were greeted by our old friends, Kathy and Jim, and tied up at their dock. It was great to see them again, catch up and spend some time reminiscing about trips and adventures from the past...like our visit to Foxy's in the BVI's in 1979! Kathy reminded me that I kept a journal back then but I don't know what became of it. Back out into LI Sound again on Tuesday, heading to Old Saybrook, CT, to meet up with friends Peggy and Bill Chadwick from Grand Harbor. We enjoyed a delightful dinner with them at their lovely home and discussed plans for our upcoming annual Boston reunion with fellow members of the "Grand Harbor North" contingent. Bill has our tickets for the Sox game on August 21, and we will host a gathering on the rooftop deck of the Bullfinch Building while the group is in town. Captain Dick said we have been sailing with the wind and the waves on Long Island Sound the past couple of days. And that is a good thing because the seas have been rough--wave heights at three to four and sometimes five feet and the wind has been quite strong. He said that today we "surfed" a few five-footers. The MollyBelle is earning her sea stripes...and so are we!