I’m back, and I’ve gotta say, it’s good to be here. I apologize for the long lapse, but I’m not going to sugar-coat it: 2012 was a rough year. My wife and I live in Reno, arguably the hardest-hit economy in the U.S. during the Great Recession, and we closed two of our businesses last year. Debbie shut down her beloved café in the Nevada Museum of Art because of slow sales, and I shuttered my   advertising agency for the same reason. As a result, we had to make some tough choices, one of the most painful of which was not putting Splendido in the water at all last year. Now, don’t get me wrong: a lot of folks had it a hell of a lot worse than we did, and our hearts go out to them. God knows, we’re not living in Syria and nobody’s shelling our neighborhood. We know how lucky we really are, and as much as we enjoy sailing, “it ain’t nothin’ but a thing,” to quote one of my dear friends. Debbie and I are both incredibly grateful for the lessons we learned during these hard times, and it’s brought us closer together, and closer to  friends and family, too. Debbie’s put all her heart and soul into her flagship restaurant and catering company, The Cheese Board & Wine Seller. As for me, I’ve taken a position at the University of Nevada, Reno where I manage the brand and create marketing campaigns for this dynamic and growing Tier 1 university. Now, as you can probably guess, once we started to get our legs back under us, we began to think about getting Splendido back in the water. And, while I’m proud to say we did what we had to do to weather the economic storm, we’re super-excited to get back out on the water this summer if things go our way.

The sailing season at Lake Tahoe is short (three months on the short end, though some hardy souls sail year-round) and spendy (about $4,250 for in & out and buoy mooring at a marina on the North Shore. The South Shore is about half of what they charge on the North Shore, but the drive down is a long one–certainly not something you’d do after work.) That doesn’t cover the incidentals like the boat license, boat insurance, trailer license, invasive species inspection, gas to and from Tahoe (about an 80-mile round trip a couple of times a week) munchies, wine or N/A beer for me, and tipping out the buoy boat drivers at the marina who do such a great job.

This year, we’re looking into renting a private buoy a mile or two down the road from the marina. If we’re lucky, we can save $1,150 on mooring and still get in as much sailing as in 2011. The thing with renting one of Tahoe’s 4,500 private buoys is, you’ve got to have a dinghy. We didn’t have one when we started looking at private buoys, but lo and behold, CraigsList had an ad for a guy who was looking to sell his Walker Bay dinghy or trade it for a gun. In classic Reno fashion, I looked under our bed and pulled out a shotgun I hadn’t used since my wonderful ol’ shooting partner passed away in 2007. We traded, and I got a dinghy with two oars, a hefty marine battery and an electric motor…all hardly used at all. So, we’re getting ready: I’m varnishing the last of the teak wood I pulled out of the boat last year, and I have my punch-list of things to accomplish before she gets her keel wet. It was a wearing year sitting on the beach, but it will make getting back on the water all the sweeter. I’m looking forward to it, and to sharing it here with you.

Fair winds and smooth sailing.