Anyway, this past weekend, my good friend Catherine, her boyfriend Joseph and her son, Devin were going sailing and asked if my son Spencer and I would like to join them...so naturally we said, "yes". I'm always up for outdoor adventure.

We agreed to meet at a designated spot...Joseph's house. Catherine sent me the Mapquest directions and we were on our way....btw if you ever used Mapquest you may notice they do not always give you the most direct route... in fact they take you on roads past some of their advertisers stores...so the journey does indeed become a quest.

Well this quest took us on a tour of the backwoods of Westchester...luckily as I was looking for my next clue, Joseph happened to call and rescued us via cell phone and brought us in for a landing in his driveway.

All six of us (we invited Vanessa, our neighbor's daughter) then headed in a two-car convoy to Westport, Connecticut to rent a sailboat. We followed Joseph's car, as he made more turns than a merry-go round, questioning if indeed he himself secretly worked for Mapquest, or was just lost and too embarrassed to tell us. However he apparently knew exactly where he was going and we found ourselves pulling up into a country club golf course.

After a few minutes of driving past frustrated, but sophisticated, golfers (every notice all golfers seem to know how to maintain their dignity no matter what?) we were by the water.

There, amidst all the beautiful country club people, were boats in all assortments and sizes for rent by the hour.

After sticking our things in a locker, we went to the rental counter. We showed our ID's, filled out some liability forms and rented a 17-foot sailboat and a two-seater kayak. We felt that five people on a 17-foot boat would look more like a family escaping from Cuba than an outing at a country club.

Now came the fun part...who goes with who. Since Spencer and Devin hadn't seen each other in a year, they decided to team up and become a kayaking duo. Before we could even get our boat in the water, they were off.

We on the other hand had to climb upon the catamaran sailing vessel. Captain Joseph took the helm, but first he hit me in the head with something...I think it was a rudder...nice way to start out the trip with a concussion. Makes you rugged.

As I rubbed my welt, Joseph explains the rules of his "ship"...which was pretty much if I yell out something do it quickly so we don't topple over. You know little things like switch sides to keep the boat balanced, watch out for the sails, don't hit that rock...shark ahead. (Okay, there were no sharks, at least none that we saw.) We practiced taking orders and were good to go.

It was nice day with some winds...not winds that made us fly out at 90 mph, but we weren't exactly paddling the boat either.

Spencer and Devin of course thought it fun to catch up to us and then latch onto our boat for a few minutes for a free ride.
That was until the captain ordered that we get rid of those buggers. So being "obedient" crewmates, we ditched them and made plans to rendezvous at a nearby island.

The boys took it as a challenge and raced ahead.

Once upon the island we had a quick discussion if anyone wanted to abandon ship and change crewmates...but the boys liked the kayak, so everything remained status quo.

So there we were, off again sailing into the wind...moving merrily along. At one point the captain let Vanessa man, rather woman, the craft...

After a while we headed close to shore. We had to be careful not to hit shallow water...the last thing we wanted was to get stuck or have to tow the boat out to sea.

We were also being time conscious because with rentals there are other people waiting in the wings for your vessel.

We saw the boys off in the distance standing in the kayak, spraying each other with water, you know doing everything your not supposed to be doing while kayaking on the open sea. (Actually they weren't that bad or I'm sure the patrol units would have sent out their safety boat swat team.)

Anyway there we were in the midst of our glory when all of a sudden the wind dies. It just puttered out like it was tired from blowing. Now I don't know if you have ever been sailing...but when the wind dies...so does the boat. It goes nowhere.

To try to catch any wind, we kept changing the direction of the sails. At this point I was thinking too bad we didn't bring a battery operated fan and blow it into the sails...hey it works in cartoons.

We all sat there for a while just waiting and telling stories. I had a flashback of the time I was with a Polish sailing team for a July 4th weekend. Our plan was to sail from New York to Mystic Connecticut to see the fireworks. However, there was no wind then also (hey, maybe its Connecticut)...anyway we were in our Polish vessel with Kabasi cooking on the grill, cruising along at an earth shattering three miles per hour. All of a sudden a storm came out of nowhere. As if the special effects unit at Disney was turned on. The seas picked up, the boat was rocking and we all donned our rain gear. Then I saw something that I couldn't believe. All of a sudden this racing sailboat captain pulls out a manual and starts to try to read it in the rain! I don't know what chapter he was looking for...but there he was trying to read it as the ship throwing us back and forth. I remember seeing the black ink on the pages drip down. He expression was priceless. He's got one hand on the book and one hand on the controls. Instead of me being worried, I just started to laugh hysterically. I kept thinking, "Oh my God...is this going to make a great comedy skit."

Anyway, luckily there were was no "perfect storm" ahead of us on this clear day in Westport...just a lot of calm seas, and two kids messing around in a kayak.

Finally the wind picked up a bit and we made it back to the dock area.
The boys were drenched and smiling..."What took you so long?"
Nothing like a wise ass at the end of a trip.

After a quick lunch, Captain Joseph decided he needed to redeem himself...so he decided to rent a smaller craft and take the three kids out on individual rides. He let Vanessa man the craft again, giving her another free lesson. As for Devin and Spencer, he made sure they got a real nice spin on the two-person sailboat.

Catherine and I of course were amused. We also used this as time to catch up, get a tan, and just enjoy the day.

After two hours of sailing and fun, we called it a day. We headed back to our perspective homes...beat. How do I know? Because everyone in the cars except the drivers fell asleep. I gotta tell ya...it was a fun but tiring, and I barely did a thing! I think I'll go back to work, because this not working can really knock the wind out of you!

Happy sailing.