Anchored At The Blues Fest

The St. Peterburg’s Blues Festival was this weekend. We had not planned to attend but Jay, our next-boat neighbor, invited us along for a boat ride with him to an anchorage by the festival. Jay probably takes his boat out more than anyone on the dock. He used to be a competitive wind surfer but switched from board to hull a few years ago. We spend the lovely evening rocking in the water, listening to music and talking about boats. Jay went out Saturday, too, with his sister and nephew along for crew. Sunday, he was taking another friend out but called over to our boat that he had time to help us with our rigging project if we wanted. He helped us earlier in the week and knew we were still working on getting the two sidestays installed.  He came over and lent a hand again for just long enough to get the stays on. We poured a glass of wine and watched Jay leave for his third sail in as many days. Now that our rigging was up, there was no reason not to get out there too. We put the tools away and pulled out. There was good breeze for sailing but we really thought that the Blue Fest would be a good venue for testing our new anchor. We got the anchor down without too much difficulty. It held but Randall doesn’t think the snubber is going to snub. More work there. We were anchored out in reasonable clean water so we tested the watermaker. We didn’t have high hopes. Its an older model and didn’t appear to have been used since being reserviced several years ago. It started up and had about a gallon after an hour’s wait. Randall took a sip and offered it to me. I was reluctant. I mumbled a question about bacteria and Randall assured me it was bacteria free. I sipped and smiled. Can it be? The watermaker works? What luck! We clinked glasses for the second time that day and decided to head back. Jay, back from his sail too, snapped a picture of us making our way back in. She looks good, we decided as we looked at our boat from one angle we never see it – from the shore when she’s out. Wouldn’t the canvas be awesome all in beige? Yes, but we’re not going to think about that right now. We just need to follow Jay’s example and go sailing.