Brother-in-law Tracy and I launched Splendido at Obexer’s last weekend (I won’t toy with your imagination…we fiddle-faddled around and took eight hours to put everything together…it was laughable…we forgot everything we’d learned, despite my bringing the notes from 2010!) and the staff there was terrific, including Jimmy, who gave us some good pointers about how to modify the trailer to fit the boat better. After we finally got her set up, I motored two miles north to put her on the buoy we rented on the south end of Hurricane Bay. Last night, I drove up to check on her and there she was, pretty as a picture, so I rowed out in the dinghy and decided to take a mini-sail, even though there was just a breath of wind. I hadn’t really single-handed her before, so I just set the mainsail and kind of ghosted along, heading toward Tahoe City…I think I hit a max of 2.5 knots. But, since there was no one on the lake at all, I went forward and did all my zip-ties on the turnbuckles, and generally tidied things up. Splendido needs a good wash after all the on-and-off foot traffic from launching her. Right now, she’s just a bare shell, as I still have the teak out (wood restoration is a pain) and in my garage, awaiting more coats of spar varnish. Nevertheless, it was just magical being out on the water again. My soul just beams when I’m out there. A full moon rose and the sky got that classic Tahoe pink right after the sun went behind the mountains. Kind of hated to put her back on the hook!