sailing in light air

This past weekend I sailed my other boat on the day when the weather wasn't threatening rain. The wind was forecast to be light and it was exactly right, all day: maybe between 7 and 3 knots. It was supposed to be cloudy, and that was wrong: it got less so, mostly sunny. It wasn't supposed to rain, and that was wrong: it sprinkled intermittently, enough that I scrambled below and put on the foulies so i didn't sail the rest of the day with wet butt. The boat has an old, 1961 genoa of vast dimensions. (When I needed a new one, the sailmaker said "you don't want one that big!") That's what was suited to the day. It pulled the boat along as well as could be expected, generally between 3 and 6 knots. It's fun to sail in light air when the wind is consistent and doesn't go to zero, leaving you with sails slatting. There were about 20 other yachts out, all of us trying to squeeze in as much saling as possible before the dread haul-out date. Haul-out on that boat, which lives in a nice safe marina, is mid-Oct. Sadly, haul-out for my Cal 20 is this Thursday,. assuming that we're not in a lightning storm then. The mast comes down Wed. evening. The days are too short now to get any sailing in after work, and the weather conditions affecting my semi-exposed mooring are such as to encourage haul-outs about now. I've reached the age at which I can accept inevitable seasonal changes and not get TOO grumpy. Chris Campbell