We didn't want much -- just a quiet sail around the river. We got my parents onto Red Ranger, out into the bay for a little sail and back to D-dock without mishap or problem. Luck, hard work, planning and experience all came together. It was a real privilege to share our sailing life-style with my parents.

Not everyone can climb over the lifelines to board a sailboat. But if the tide is low enough, it's manageable. A little hand-holding; a little care and we all managed to get on board successfully. That was just good luck. Remarkably good luck.

Our maintenance seems to have worked. Mr. Lehman started and ran flawlessly. Any of the bio-crud in the center tank seems to have settled back to whatever corner it lurks in. It certainly stayed out of the fuel filters. That's partly luck and partly hard work.

Since the seas were flat, we really didn't get much chance to see how the davit repairs worked. But that was a good thing. That was a matter of watching the weather. Because of a nor'easter, we didn't go out Saturday.

Not everyone wants a boisterous sail. And if the weather is calm enough, we can pull out just the yankee and poke along at 3 to 4 knots and have some serenity. That's a little experience.

We also learned a little more about how Red Ranger handles under just a headsail. Pulling out the yankee to run downwind is convenient and simple. It lets us take the folks for a sail without much sail handling. But, Red Ranger doesn't tack well, so we need to play around some more with this particular sail plan.

Luck, Work, Planning, Experience. But the greatest of these is Love.