On Tuesday afternoon, my nephew Eric, brother-in-law Matt, and brother-in-law Tracy joined me for an afternoon sail. Winds were light and variable, but we managed 5 knots on our cruise south along the west shore of Lake Tahoe. At the outset, we found ourselves gliding through large rafts of sugar-pine pollen that coated the near-glassy lake, but these disappeared the further south we sailed.

The boat music alternated between Yo Yo Ma and White Snake, and between rounds of beers for the guests and St. Pauli N.A. for me, we joked and laughed and sat back in awe at the stunning beauty of Lake Tahoe.

We were celebrating the summer solstice, and glad that it was the longest day of the year, actually, because right as we passed Tahoma, the wind died. Just before it did, we practiced a man-overboard drill, and got the floating cushion on the first try. Matt served as pointer, Tracy manned the sheets, and Eric was the boat-hook man. Very proud of everyone’s efforts, and happy to have a drill under my belt for the first time this season.

As the sun set and a cool pink light settled over the surrounding skies, we fired up the Perkins diesel and began our long, slow motor back to Tahoe City Marina. Overhead, a handful of jetliners cast long contrails to and fro in the western sky, and slowly the lights of lakeshore houses began to appear. Overhead, the firmament shone like diamonds in a midnight-blue sky. Eric had the helm, and with prompts from our hand-held GPS, was able to guide Splendido right into the channel. As we were offloading our gear at the gas dock, an older couple on a Catalina 22 ghosted by us, gently motoring out for a look at the sky full of stars.

Fair winds and smooth sailing. DB