theyacht

shortly before Jill and i left for Japan we got to spend a (very hot, and mostly windless) afternoon sailing with my grandfather, Bill. he has a 22-foot Catalina yacht docked in the Great Salt Lake and it is very appropriately named Cariad--Welsh for "my love". as long as i can remember Bill has owned a sailboat; the Kalyanda moored in Abersoch in North Wales, and this one purchased very soon after Bill made the move to the States. many afternoons find him down at the boat, just making this improvement or that--not even sailing.

on this day, we did sail quite a long way out from the marina before the wind actually died, and the return trip was slow and uneventful, but it gave my grandpa and i a good chance to talk and reminisce, mostly over old sailing trips and the way things had been in the old country. due to the heat Jill wasn't feeling too well by the time we got back to port, but she very graciously indulged our chat for some hours. i have many fond memories of spending time as a child with Bill--playing "lions" at home or having wars in any one of the numerous forests he knew; along with countless screwpunches and biffaroos. now, far away, these pictures of a day of almost- sailing provide me with some more great memories. Thanks, Grandpa.

thejayfather and thegrandfather out on the open lake, and back in the marina later.