Continuing from my earlier quick update.
The evening before I had told John and Luke that I wanted to take them to dinner and get them properly fueled for their almost century ride today. They protested, but I insisted. Their guidance on the trip down the coast saved me a lot of planning time and even more consternation. John W drove us to his favorite Mexican restaurant and we all picked a special which came with a happy hour priced beer. I had a burrito bowl. Delish.
I woke up to the sounds of John and Luke packing up. Luke likes to get out early, so I said my latest goodbye to him (as in “never say never”, I’m not saying “final”) and John W double-checked his route, John, John W, and I had some coffee and talked while John finished his breakfast and coffee. Then another “See you soon!” to John and off he went.
John W invited me along on a sailing outing with his daughters, some of their friends, and a couple he was friends with. Brock & Norma, Mo and Kelsey joined John W, Brenna, Shallaney, Gabriel and me. John W doesn’t own a boat, but charters one when he wants to sail. After a hearty breakfast of eggs, pancakes, and fruit we all headed to Marina Del Rey.
The sailboat was a 41′ cabin cruiser and though the systems were a bit different from the boat I sometimes crewed for my friend Chris on Lake Glendale, the concepts were the same. After we were out of the harbor, Brock took over at the helm. I got to trim the mainsail and remembered to “get rid of the luff” (sail is flopping near the mast which means the sail isn’t taut). OK. So far, so good. Once we were on a good tack paralleling the coast I rode in on the day before, Brock offered the helm to anyone who wanted to try. Kelsey, Mo, and Gabe took their turns, and then I got a shot. We were on a tack that was eventually going to take us to the coast and I verbally (and theoretically) went through the steps of tacking with John W. “We’ll turn 90 degrees to port and loosen the jib sheet on the starboard side and tighten it on the port side. Not that I’m going to do that!” “Yes, that’s what we’ll do, but quite yet.” When the time did come, John W said go ahead and turn upwind and let me do the tack! “Coming about! Hard alee!” Wow, I remembered that stuff. Thanks, Mr. Chris for all the sailing lessons! 😁 ⛵
There was a lot of food, snacks, beverages, and Norma made me a tuna sandwich which really hit the spot. We were out about 5 hours and made our way back into the dock. Back at the house, Shallaney, who is a cook at a local restaurant, made steaks, mashed potatoes, asparagus & mushrooms, and grilled artichokes. Quite a feast for someone whose mainstay evening meal was usually an avocado & tomato wrap, sometimes with tuna or salmon, and sometimes with cheese, and sometimes with salad greens, and on rare occasion, all of the above. All in all a pleasant day and evening.
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