sailing again!

Well, Cal 20 #1220 went into the water on April 28, hung mast-down on her mooring until May 4, and then last night, May 5, I set sail for the first time this season. It was a little bit chilly for a guy in shorts but I sailed across Grand Traverse Bay in a very light wind (perfect for first sail) and then came back to the mooring. At that point, I loaded the shiftless (literally) outboard into the tiny dinghy, barely avoiding capsize, and rowed it back into shore so I can get the shift rod reattached. The mast got stepped in the highest winds we've had in weeks. This involved starting my balky outboard in forward gear, casting off the mooring lines without running over them or the dinghy pennant, and powering into the local marina and down the fairway and into the slip, all the while the wind is shrieking, and getting the motor shut off just in time to glide into the borrowed slip. Then I had to wrestle the boat out of the slip with my mast-stepping buddy's aid, pointed in the right direction, then start the forward-only outboard and roar away into the wind. Miracle---noting went wrong, despite many opportunities (well, the backstay did catch on the outboard when the mast was 1/2 way up, but it always catches on something). HERE'S A QUESTION for you brilliant minds. My old hard dinghy, one of those little 8' fiberglass ones that is probably splashed from some famous little hull, has aluminum oarlock sockets. The oars have those clamped-on steel oarlock pins. If they are not greased, they squeak badly and the sockets wear (one is oval-shaped now). If they are greased, the grease turns black from aluminum wear products, and of course _everything_ ends up touching the black grease. It's a mess. I'm wondering if bronze oarlock sockets would be a better match. Maybe I could get by without grease? HELP! Chris Campbell