The best laid plans
Last week signs of fall began making their debut in Philadelphia: sunrise a few minutes later, sunset a bit earlier, longer shadows, women trying on boots, and Eagles shirts on passersby. Two beautiful days at the end of the work week promised to be followed by at least one perfect summer day on Saturday. We planned to take full advantage of it by planning our weekend sailing trip: a sail down river with Saturday afternoon’s tide and then anchor, barbeque (see Galley) and enjoy a full moon, making the most of our favorite season before it ends.
Friday evening we had cocktails on the patio and enjoyed the sunset and the nearly full moon coming up over the river while we tested out the new camera. Saturday morning, I awoke to a beautiful sky and ignored the niggling “red sky in the morning” warning. After a run and getting a few chores out of the way, we prepared to leave the marina in the early afternoon. Suddenly black clouds rolled in. We ignored the sky’s warning again and thought maybe it will blow over as quickly as it blew in. Once out, the rain was hard to ignore, but we rationalized a bad day sailing is still better than sitting indoors.
Up the Schuylkill: Exploring Philadelphia’s other river
As the rain got heavier, we decided to head home for the night. On the way we took the opportunity to explore the Schuylkill River. This has held a fascination for me—to see how the river connects from the Schuylkill river trail to where the mouth meets the Delaware. Normally we would never take several hours to get somewhere we can walk to in 20 minutes, but we wanted to add a little adventure to Saturday’s disappointing weather. Imagining ourselves as explorers entering the unchartered interior didn’t work for long as we saw smoke stacks, oil refineries, and eventually the city skyline. But it was a cool view of Philadelphia and the natives seemed friendly!
Deep Water
Our weekend ended with a deluge and an inside movie day. We chose Deep Water which Peter told me was the story about the 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, the first single-handed, round-the-world, non-stop sailboat race. Not knowing Donald Crowhurst’s fate before watching made it much more engaging. I felt the anxiety that Donald’s wife expressed because I can imagine Peter being out there alone. The danger the men faced and the compelling call of the sea for them were haunting. The wisdom of both Clare Crowhurst and Bernard Moitessier’s wife were highlights for me. These women somehow held it together while their husbands faced unfathomable odds--they are the professional sea wives!
While the weekend didn’t turn out as we planned, we felt lucky to be tucked in safely as we waited out the storm and we’ll hope for next weekend to be those great summer days we need before the end.
