How to Have a Perfect Sail

Preparation for a Perfect Sail:

1977:  Give birth to a son, Joe who has the patience of Job and who has inherited the love of working with his hands.

2001:  Joe marries Katie.

2002:  Joe and Katie move to Maine so that Joe can apprentice in wooden boat building at the Atlantic Challenge Apprentice Shop.

2008:  Joe and Katie buy Robin, a 40-foot ketch that has been badly damaged when “she parted her mooring” in a storm.  Restoration of the boat begins.

2009 - 2011:  Restoration, rebuilding and refitting continues (and will continue for all time.)

2010:  Shelley gets a Southwest Airlines credit card that gives one free round-trip just for signing up.

2011:  Shelley encourages Noel to also get the credit card so that he, too can get a free flight.  He does.

April 2011:  Joe and Katie give birth to their son, Finn.  Noel and Shelley have the perfect excuse to use their free flights (as if they needed one.)

Execution of a Perfect Sail

August 2011:  Noel and Shelley fly to Maine.  Noel spots whole lobster at the store in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for $4.99 per pound!  He pairs it with corn on the cob.  Joe, Katie, Finn, Noel, Shelley, the lobsters and the corn board Robin in Rockland Harbor and set sail for a two-day journey on a lovely, blue-sky day.  

The new little family.

We're heeled over pretty well here.

It truly was perfect.  And it was only 33 years in the making.

Joe had to repair a light.

Finn Taylor, the First Mate.