Somethings just aren’t meant to be. Like a lovely little sail to Martha’s Vineyard. I’ve been facing challenges the past couple weeks just getting the boat ready, which delayed departure by several days, and has left me in a rather sleep deprived state (if I were to depart this morning, I would have had to do it by three AM in order to count on making it to Cape May by midnight…Sandman says “no”). And now with a deep low pressure system moving down from New England, the weather forecast just doesn’t look good (15-25 knots, seas building to 6-9 feet by Thursday). It’s nothing the boat shouldn’t be able to safely handle. But it would be brutally uncomfortable, would likely over exhaust me to a point which exceeds my safe operating threshold, may stress the capabilities of the autopilot, is opening up the possibility of boat damage, and is causing me great concern that I never found the time to install jack lines (although I did happily install some hard points). With competent crew I might make the attempt. Single handed, however, it just isn’t prudent.

I may give back a couple weeks of vacation and just plan on taking it in September for my normal sailing trip. Given how much work I’ve feverishly put into the boat of late, though, I think I’m going to take a few days to sail around locally. I mean, she is as ready as she has ever been.