One of the first things Uncle Al discovered this year in the Marina common room (below) was a Reader's Digest. Soon, he and Tony were doing the Word Power test found in each issue. We aced it, of course. But as the beer kept flowing, we decided that we had found a challenge to be met: attempt to use all 15 words from the test on this page. My attempt follows, and the relevant words will be in red. This may be dumb but Tony and I are immutably convinced of the rectitude of such a course of action. He and I have a transcendent predilection for vocabulary which we will magnanimously share with you. We aver that it does indeed "Pay to Increase Your Word Power". And any person of discernment would surely agree!    

It didn't take us long to make ourselves right at home at the Smith Island Marina. Our faces, as you can see, reflected our felicity. Unfortunately, Pauli and her husband were away in Iowa for Pauli's father's 80th birthday. Still, we refused to let this be a cause for despondence. We did after all, have lots of beer to palliate against such a mood. In any case, the good news was that they had left Pauli's brother, Mike, in charge, and we had a lot of interesting chats with Mike. But first, Hans and I needed accommodations. Quickly, I went to make my supplication to Mike and got us, in return for reasonable pecuniary considerations, what turned out to be the last empty room in their Chesapeake Sunrise B&B.
(l to r) Dick, Mary, André, Richard, Hans, Tony, Alan, Roger - click here to see full-size pic

We had rushed to make it to Smith Island before the Bayview Restaurant's usual 3 PM closing time. But, the vicissitudes of life on Smith being what they are, we were aghast to find that it wasn't open at all this day, there having been no tour boats come to Smith. This was not a propitious sign, and we sincerely hoped that this development did not presage a night on short rations!! But the ever resourceful Dick went foraging and came up with this fine alternative just a couple of hundred yards down the road. Above, you can see Hans luring Uncle Al with a can of beer. (Al's note: see! the challenge has been met! easy!)

... it was! There was a single bed as well, which Hans graciously chose, and even a trundle bed for Mary who would be our guest since she tends to feel claustrophobic, wedged under the main thwart of the Wayfarer. Hans's suggestion of upgrading our cruise accommodations from the Wayfarer floor was looking more and more like a stroke of genius!!

André still looks unconcerned here as he pumps out water that he was assuming had sprayed into his boat during the late afternoon sail. A couple of hours later, our party in the cabin was interrupted by the unwelcome news, that the port bailer on W3098 seemed to have sprung a significant and permanent leak after the lads had unwisely tried to force the bailer closed with a rope wedged through its opening. Al recalled a 1999 cruise north of Manitoulin Island where a similar problem was successfully addressed with duct tape and single malt scotch (the latter being optional)(click here and go about 1/3 down the page for that fiasco). That duct tape had held for an entire week of sailing, so all we now needed was a place to tip the boat such that the damaged bailer could be made duct-tape-accessible. A quick scout-around by Tony revealed a (relatively) dry patch of saw grass a couple of slips further down, and "Operation Sleep Dry" was quickly ...

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