It is finally summer and beautiful! I know that all east coasters are basking in the light, warmth and green of these months. Even Boston public school teachers will be out of school by next Tuesday! Almost July due to all continual snow and snow days. In any case, yippee for summertime. My first taste of real summer was about 2 weeks ago when I was invited to go out for an evening sail in the Boston Harbor by our friends Carter and Peggy Bacon. What a gorgeous evening and what a dynamic harbor. Boats or all kinds, planes taking off from and landing at Logan Airport from all over the world, blue sky, steady wind, and an endless summer ahead. There were 8 of us aboard for this harbor cruise including Carter, the captain, and Jim one of the crew who will accompany Carter on a big sail coming up soon...The Transatlantic Race 2015. Another member of the crew will be Sam Bacon, Carter's youngest son. They will be one of two father son teams in this race.

Captain Carter and his 6 strong and expert young sailors will race with the 40 other boats entered from Castle Hill in Newport, Rhode Island to the southern most point in Great Britain, the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall. In their 50 foot boat, Solution, they expect to take 15-20 days for the crossing. Ashley is cooking for the crew, 3 meals of a hardy beef stew frozen in liter blocks! We are thrilled to be going to Newport to cheer them on and see them start the race at 1:30 p.m. this Sunday the 28 of June.

Mostly, we are in awe of this kind of spirit of undaunted courage taking on such a great challenge. Hard to imagine many things that require more skill, teamwork, dedication, endurance, courage and love of the elements especially the sea, the wind and the weather. One of the blog posts on the Transatlantic Race site quotes Mark Twain. This is a line to remember, to quote and to live by...even if you are not sailing across the Atlantic Ocean in a 50 foot wooden boat!

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than those you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the wind in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Happy summer sailing to all of you!

Louise and Ashley