Seneca Lake days are over, packing for Mexico gets underway

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - Adm. Fox and I pulled the Spirit of Louise pontoon boat out of the water Wednesday, a harrowing affair in 15-20 knots of crosswind at a shallow launch ramp.

But after three tries, I finally drove the boat up onto the trailer (risky business, indeed) and summer officially was over for the Valois Point Yacht Club.

Doug Hazlitt offers a Heineken salute

At Village Marina we found Eric and Tina Hazlitt just about to head out for a final summer sail and were lucky enough to jump aboard for a few hours of sailing. Eric's cousin Doug Hazlitt was out and about on his newly built sailboat and, well, of course we raced!

 No need to dwell on results here, except to say it was a lot of fun in some pretty stiff breezes. It was so windy I could barely hang onto my wine glass as we tacked back and forth heading back into the dock.

We left the Spirit of Louise in the Village Marina parking lot overnight and will take the ship down to brother Dan's shop in Big Flats today where it winters under some heavy tarps.

At the helm with Tina Hazlitt tending the jib sheets

Getting the pontoon boat out of the water means it's time to get serious about packing for Mexico as well as ramping up our efforts on preparing stories and photos about our trip to Tonga and the Regatta Vava'u.

Adm. Fox set a date of Nov. 8 for us to put on a show-and-tell slide/video show at the Hector Wine Company about the trip. Gulp. Where did I put all those video chips?

And in the midst of all this, granddaughter Samantha turned 15 yesterday. Fifteen. Jaysus! Happy Birthday, Sami... We'll Skype tonight.

A Sunday sailing expedition - a reminder of Mexico's water

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - We were having a late lunch at the Village Marina and Bar (owned by amigos Karen and Michael Schamel) when we spied Eric and Tina Hazlitt and their cousin Doug headed out the dock to climb aboard Doug's 40-foot C&C sailboat for a trip from the marina to the mooring in front of his house.

Before you can say Magic Hat beer, the Admiral went out and chatted with the crew, coming back with an invite for us to travel up the lake - a three-hour tour, more or less.

Adm. Fox demurred from taking the trip, opting instead to get the car back to Valois.

But our amiga Laura - our resident Spanish teacher here and in Arroyo Seco - and I hopped on board for a great ride up the lake, all downwind.

Even though the water was cold, the wind was not and it was sooooo reminiscent of downwind runs along the Mexico coast in our former sailing vessel, Sabbatical.

It was the first sail of the season for Doug - and the boat - and everything worked just fine.

What's up with that?


Getting the furler working


Eric at the helm


Captain at the wheel


Captain and Laura


Coming in to the Hazlitt dock