As it turned out, the broken seacock was not the end of our sailing season (although it was something of a comedy of errors trying to get it fixed). In the end, Brian from Tahoe Sailing Supply towed Splendido over to Obexer’s, where the skilled mechanics there lifted her out just above the water, quickly made the swap with a brand-new Marelon® seacock, and dropped her back in. Brian and a helper motored her back to her buoy, and she was good as new. Thank goodness for the good folks at Obexer’s Marina!

The weekend of Sept. 14th, Debbie had a big wedding to cater near Homewood, so I went up for a light-air sail and ghosted around a bit as she and her staff worked their rear-ends off in the heat of the afternoon. About 7:30 p.m., I put the boat back on the hook just in time to receive Debbie’s phone call that she was free. I rowed in and picked her up, and I could tell she was really tired after a long afternoon. I got her onboard Splendido and opened a Robert Parker-rated 90-pt. Garnacha I found at Ben’s Liquors for $9.99, and lo and behold, she liked it! (You never know about these things, especially when your mate’s a professional caterer and chef who’s got a palate like Debbie’s. 🙂

I was a bit tuckered out after spending the earlier part of the day taking the GMAT test (four hours of hell), so I made sure she had something to eat and then I hit the hay. I awoke Sunday morning to find her bundled up topsides, sleeping in the cockpit, where she had gone to watch the incredible Milky Way that shines down on Tahoe at night. We did a quick tidy-up and then motored south to Obexer’s for coffee and breakfast burritos (they do a great job with those, by the way) and then motored out for a sail. Silly me, I forgot to listen to the weather radio, and soon we were getting pitched about by crazy gusts. A strong cold front was approaching Tahoe, and so we “beat feet” out of there and did a little motor-assisted sailing back north to our buoy, where we put her on the hook and called it a day.

On Saturday, Sept. 21st, another strong cold front came through, with buckets of rain in the Sierra and a fair amount in Reno, too. Sunday broke brilliantly sunny and clear (though a bit cool), so I called brother-in-law Matt Waddington to see if he would be up for a sail.

He was, so we headed up to Tahoe, cheering on the Tahoe Ironman competitors as we went by. Winds were light with occasional moderate gusts, so we headed toward Tahoe City, then downwind wing-on-wing to Dollar Point, and then tacked back and headed home. It was only 50 degrees out, so we found ourselves bundling up in fleece and gloves. Debbie made some yummy chicken, arugula and heirloom tomato sandwiches on thick, crusty bread, and there was half a bag of stale Cool Ranch Doritos left on board, so we were in hog heaven.

This week, it got quite a bit cooler here in the high country, and so my thoughts turned to pulling the boat within the next three weeks or so. The trailer is down at the welding shop getting rebuilt (turns out it never was a good fit for Splendido, having been made for a different boat altogether), and I am awaiting the arrival of new boatstand pads via UPS, from Brownell’s (www.boatstands.com). I spoke to brother-in-law Tracy today to schedule a pull down from the lake to our lower elevation in Reno (~4,550 ft.), where wind and weather won’t be so tough on Splendido. There’s so much to do, and so many things to work on this winter. Still, it’s been a fun season of sailing, and I’m going to do my best to get a few more days in before Mother Nature sends us packing.

Fair winds and smooth sailing! DB