…but I finally got my wife out on the boat! I haven’t been one to rush her getting to this point, although I’ve asked her several times. I guess all the stars became properly aligned and when I suggested it this time she said yes!

She’s never been out on the boat before, and I want to make sure that when I take her sailing for the first time it’s nice and easy. I’m thinking 80 degrees with 8-10 mph winds would be  the perfect scenario. That was not the weather we had this date, but I was glad she wanted to go with me. The winds were sustained at around 18-20 mph and gusting to almost 30 mph. WAY TOO much for her first trip out.

All I really needed to do, however, was run the outboard motor for a while since it had been about a month since I ran it. I figured it’d be a good excuse to just motor around for an hour or so on the lake. I tried to get her to steer with the tiller, but she didn’t want to take that step just yet… 🙂 Overall, I’d say it was a success. She seemed to enjoy the little trip.

As we arrived back at the slip, I noticed the rudder seemed to have a little more ‘play’ than it should. I looked down at the lower gudgeon and all three bolts were very loose. Add that to the list. It never ends….lol.