Sunday I took Alexis and her folks out sailing. It was the day after a cold front, so the temps were in the low 60's and the wind was kicking up some whitecaps on Tampa Bay. This was the first time I Lexie's parent had been out sailing with me, so I was a bit nervous. I spent the days before checking out noaa.gov and www.sailflow.com as well as coming up with alternate plans in case the front turned the bay into a washing machine. The Tuesday before I scrubbed and reorganized the cabin and galley, brought the dishes home and scrubbed the Magma grill. I'm 33, and I was as nervous as a high school kid picking up his prom date!

Vinoy park hosts several events during the year with a couple days of music and food. Ribfest is usually time for me to anchor of the park, grill and enjoy the tunes while floating on rafts tied to the boat. Anchoring in a chop is not advised for anyone with possible motion sickness. And even though the water temp was 78, the cool air made getting OUT of the water undesirable. So, we grilled brats and kraut with a great salad at the dock. That was washed down with some beers while enjoying the oldies blasting from the antique car show going on at Straub Park adjacent to the marina.

Lexie's parents John and Kathy

The forecast models at www.sailflow.com proved to be extremely accurate, and the wind settled down to 12-15mph by 2pm. I decided to forego tucking a reef in the main and go with the full main, but keep the genoa furled. If it had been me and the boys, the whole 150 would have been out and we would have been rockin!

We stayed in the lee of Snell Isle while heading out, so the chop was minimal. The mainsheet traveler was great, allowing me to depower the main easily and keep us on an even keel. John, Alexis' dad, had the tiller the whole time and seemed to have a blast. He grew up sailing a Jack Tar and Surprise dinghies in the Sarasota area.

Kathy brought a nice digital SLR camera, and I can't wait to see the shots they took on it. We had dolphins, a few F18 flybys from MacDill AFB and a beautiful, sunny cool day. Not to mention Styxx, yep Styxx was rockin the Ribfest. We could hear them playing their set as we sailed east from the Pier.

On the way back in, Kathy asked me if sailing was my solace. At first I wasn't sure how to respond because it does bring me great peace. But if that was just the act of sailing and maintaining the boat, I would just sail by myself (which I never do). I love sailing because it provides a great excuse to sit around with people you like to spend time with without any noise or distractions to talk over. It is a realitivly unobtrusive activity that provides a great backdrop to camaraderie. A day on the water leads to some great conversations and memories, like we had that day. So yeah, sailing does bring me great joy and comfort because I do it with friends.

Alexis and I