July 5th, 2011

It's been a while now since my last post, sorry about that. I knew going into the summer that June was going to be a very busy month and I would not be able to spend much time at the boat. I mentioned in an earlier post that my son was going to spend June in North Carolina for a month long visit. We had a fantastic time here as well as a wonderful trip to New York to visit the family. I can't believe how fast that month went, but like life when you hit 40, everything seems to go fast now a days. :)

So it is now July 5th and time to get back to a bit of normalcy. I will probably be going back down to the boat sometime around the 3rd week of July. Have a lot to do to say the least. As a matter of fact, I woke up in the middle of the night and found myself writing out my to-do list for the rest of the summer before I forgot what I had been dreaming about. It's been on my mind a lot lately and I feel bad that I have waited this long to get it all done. But with the recent move, my sons visit and work, it's amazing I have even had time to THINK about it all much less do it.

Talking about July 5th, you might have noticed that 2 days ago, July 3rd, was the 1 year anniversary of moving Skylark to Florida. Talk about time flying. I look back at the year and I am pleased with at least some of the progress I have made, but cringe at the thought of the engine situation. To that affect, I have once again changed my mind about the re-power direction. I am not going to go into the months of thought behind this decision, but lets just say, I have decided to go with a A4 replacement...short and sweet, it just makes the most sense for me at this time. That's that. :) So Scott and I are back on track to finish this all up. I think we finally both have the time now to do it.

As you Floridians know first hand, the weather has been unbearably hot the last month or so, so to be honest, I am not that upset I have been up in the NC mountains. I am ready to get back though and hope the weather evens out a bit. But of course it's summer in Florida, and as I know first hand, it's hot regardless. I am very much looking forward to Fall this year as I know everything will be ready to go by then to enjoy perfect sailing conditions. In the meantime, I am lucky enough to keep up my sailing skills on my buddy Matt's Erickson 34 on Lake Norman, NC. We went out on the 3rd and had a wonderful sail. He has done an amazing job on the refurb and as soon as I get some pics, I will post them here.

That's it for now, thanks for checking in from time to time. I promise to have something worthy for you all soon. Fair winds to you sailors out there...and if you are in FL, stay under the bimini. :)