I didn’t post much last year (actually, I posted only once), and for the past six months, I’ve been thinking about why that was. The truth is, last season was a bit rough for Splendido, but we still had a lot of fun when we did manage to get out on the water. So here’s the story, belated though it may be:

At first, I thought the season was going to be a breeze. Spring commissioning went really well, with lots of new upgrades, including a new mainsail, lazy bag, and lazy jacks, Raytheon wirelesss instruments, and new Navy Blue Krypton bottom paint, too. But then…

I noticed hairline cracks in the fiberglass in the bilge area made me nervous (this does not take a lot, as friends can affirm). After grinding out the cracks and thoroughly inspecting everything, I realized the repair was beyond my comfort level, so I took Splendido to my local fiberglass expert. A cool $950 later (ouch!), she was better than new. The repairs set us back a few weeks, so we didn’t launch until nearly July. So there’s that. Then…

Wildland fires in California made the lake basin smoky for a good part of the season, so that cut into our sailing time a bit.

Thunderstorms kept us guessing for a fair amount of the season about when and where to sail.

The weather patterns seemed different, although they made for some very interesting cloud formations. I believe the clouds shown here are called mammatus clouds, and they form on the underside of anvil clouds. They have a particular beauty, especially when the sun hits them at a low angle.

When the sailing was good, it was epic, and so I tended to try to squeeze every drop out of it. Hence, the burkha-like headgear to protect my pale skin from Tahoe’s high-elevation rays.

Boat camping was a standard weekend activity for us when conditions permitted. We enjoyed a number of two-night stays at anchor, often rowing in to shore to take walks and explore Tahoe’s forests and glades.

Sometimes you can sail in the morning at Tahoe. One weekend when Debbie was hanging out with one of her girlfriends at our home in Reno, I spent two nights on the boat. This shot is of a 7 a.m. sail northwards, just ghosting along at about 2-3 knots with a gentle westerly.

Other mornings, you just hang out and enjoy the beauty of a quiet anchorage while you sip your morning coffee.

In August, the water was warm enough for swimming, and Debbie and I did a lot of swimming off of Sugar Pine State Park.

Debbie is getting a lot more comfortable being skipper, although she clearly still doesn’t like having her photo taken.

A rare easterly storm in late September shook my brand-new wireless Raytheon wind instruments off the mast and tossed them in the drink. Because Splendido was on her mooring ball when this happened, I knew they had to be somewhere within a 50-yard radius of the ball. So, on a placid day in mid October I donned a wetsuit, gloves, hood, flippers and mask and tried to find this precious gear somewhere on the lake floor. After two hours of diving and chilled to the bone (the water was 50 degrees F.), I spotted a glint in the muck at about 25 feet deep. I broke an eardrum and got a bloody nose because I didn’t clear my ears properly, but I got the d@#ned instruments. Best of all, they still worked after spending three weeks in the water.

Royal blue is not Navy blue I loved how good the Total Boat Krypton Navy blue paint looked on Splendido at the beginning of the season (see the first photo at the top of this post), but I didn’t buy quite enough, so I ordered another gallon about a month after I bought the first gallon. The day before we launched, I touched up a few areas on the hull, and the color looked normal when it was applied over the rest of the Navy blue. However, when we pulled the boat at the end of the season, I was stunned to see that the “touch up” part was actually Royal and not Navy blue. I called Jamestown Distributors to tell them they were putting the wrong color in the Navy cans, but they thought I was hallucinating – until I showed them what the hull looked like. They sent me another can, free of charge – and it, too, was labeled Navy but filled with Royal blue paint. Bottom line, I guess Splendido will be sporting a Royal bottom this year. Word to the wise: Always buy your paint at the same time – and check the cans!

Fair winds and smooth sailing, DB