At 6:31 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on September 22, 2020, the sun will cross the equator as it moves from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere. This is the autumnal equinox, the point in time when the sun is right over the equator. It signals the nominal end of summer and the beginning of fall.

The latest Latitude 38 Facebook post made me slump lower in my seat. An entire summer has come and gone in the blink of an eye, and I was expected to welcome fall with opened arms and multiple layers of warm clothing.

In the comments below their post, sailors from all over shared their favorite summer sailing memories which twisted the knife in my side a little deeper with each shot of smiling faces and sails full of wind. Despite my raging jealousy I was thankful that our boat was at least floating and our long list of projects was getting shorter each day thanks to Chris’s efforts. 

Bulwark, dry fit!

Avocet was basically externally brand new with her freshly painted sides gleaming in the last bits of summer sun. The new bulwark was installed after months of waiting for the Cumaru wood to arrive and once placed aboard gave our floating home the finishing touch to be classified as sea worthy again while reinforcing her curvaceous lines. Under the water line her dark blue bottom was still growth free and the Autoprop begged us to leave the slip and see what it could do.

We were anxious to feel movement again as our dock lines had become more like shackles, holding us back from where the  wind and sea tauntingly called out to us. We remained focused in our projects, making progress daily even when we would get the notorious interruptions of 2020 that caused us to drop everything and abandon ship for the time being- remember the Creek Fire? We were just about to finish our bulwark install when we had to race to the mountains to help evacuate our families. 

At least our dockside prison has a lovely view

Lately the early morning weather bites my cheeks with brisk coldness where the summer sun once kissed. I reminded Chris it was time to rotate my wardrobe, taking my warm long sleeved apparel out of the vacuseal bags and replacing them with my tank tops, shorts, and sundresses… maybe I’ll leave a pair or two of shorts out as a sign of sheer optimism that the universe will gift me with one more day of summer sun. 

My phone screen lit up, a much more subtle way to signal that I had received a message in comparison to the buzzes and beeps of others’ cell phones. It was a message from Chris:

Chris: The boat is ready

Although September is coming to an end we are eager to welcome October with sparkles in our eyes and adventure in our hearts because the first week of the new month we are breaking out of the marina and escaping to Santa Cruz Island, at last! 

                                           Little Wing, on our last island getaway September 2019!

We look forward to taking photos of our “new” Avocet, tucked away in a SCI anchorage while we finally reap the benefits of our hard labor. You know what they say: Good things come to those who wait.

As always, thank you for reading! Fair winds and following seas,

Marissa, Chris and Cleo