There was a brisk easterly breeze yesterday afternoon and I played hookey. Our inflatable is hung like laundry inside the boathouse at the Red Dragon Canoe Club nearby. Balancing it on my back, I hauled it to the gravel shore, attached the oars and the seat and rowed out to Bluebird, about 100 yards offshore.
After rigging the sails, we slipped the mooring and, sailing against the current and the wind, tacked up toward Burlington City, about two miles away.
One other sailor from the club, Del Rife, had a head start on Bluebird, so of course my little boat thought she was in a race.
Just before you reach the city, the Burlington-Bristol lift-span bridge looms above. Del turned back before he reached the bridge and before I had a chance to catch up. I sailed by with a wave and then slipped under the bridge in a weakening breeze. On the far side of the bridge, the river turns north and the wind did, too. On a beam reach, Bluebird made it all the way to the center of the city before turning back and running against the tide, which had turned.
There is no better time to sail than in autumn, when the air is crisp, the sky clear and the sun is lighting the muted fall colors on the shore. Bluebird is well behaved, liked a good dog, a perfect companion if you want to play hookey.