The Sailmaker's Apprentice

We bought a new mainsail recently that just needs a few adjustments to fit.

One of our friends is an experienced sailmaker and has been working on it in his spare time.

While he was here working one day, his adorable son was also here to help him out!!

So cute!!

s/v NP

Snapshots of our "Summer Sailstice" 2011

s/v NP

Cuisine: Caesar Boats

Make these SUPER-SIMPLE-kid-friendly Caesar Boats for ANY occasion!!

We went to a Baby's Blessing recently and these were served along with Little Caesar's Pizza, Crazy Bread, Brownies and Soda.

I thought it was a terrific way to serve salad as 'finger food'!!

And it'd be an easy-to-assemble, easy-to-store item for onboard too!!

The Dad who made these said, "It's the best way to get our kids to eat salad!!" And he was right, the children who were present were just as excited about these as they were the pizza. 

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

Romaine lettuce hearts
Caesar salad dressing
Croutons
Shredded parmesan cheese



HERE'S HOW TO PUT IT ALL TOGETHER:

Seperate and wash the romaine heart leaves.  Carefully blot them dry with a towel.  Arrange leaves on a platter and then gently drizzle the caesar dressing on each leaf.  Put a few croutons on each leaf and then sprinkle the tops with parmesan cheese...SUPER EASY!!



OPTIONAL FANCY STUFF:
You can dress them up with a few extras such as:
 sliced cherry tomatoes
 sliced chicken
or use shaved parmesan instead of shredded 

Also, I put similar leaf sizes on the same platter.
  The smallest leaves are on the platter above.

The tiny heart-middle makes a great stand up garnish too.
ENJOY!!
s/v NP

A special thanks to Brett and Carol's family for this great idea!! 

EEL GRASS

No matter what I say,

All that I really love

Is the rain that flattens on the bay,

And the eel-grass in the cove;

The jingle-shells that lie and bleach

At the tide-line, and the trace

Of higher tides along the beach:

Nothing in this place.

~Edna St. Vincent Millay~


s/v NP

Chris Learns to Sail in Smaller Boats

Christopher already has a basic knowledge of sailing, because he has helped us in the large sailboat, but we wanted him to get a better 'feel' for how different-sized crafts respond to the wind and water.  So, everyday from 10:00 a.m to 1:00 p.m, during the week of June 20-24, Christopher had lessons which covered all the basics of sailing. Here's what his week looked like: Day 1:  He learned how to rig the boat, how to sail away from and back into the dock, and how to trim the sails. Day 2: Was filled with tacking and gybing and learning how to get to the place he wanted to go. Day 3:  Included lots of practice of the skills previously learned.   Day 4:  Included solo flights...AND the students purposely capsized the boats and learned how to recover from the mistakes.  Chris was pretty excited to text me about tipping the boats over on purpose!!  Although the pictures aren't very clear (they were taken with a cell phone), here's what THAT day looked like:

On Day 5:  The bigger boats (in the 18'-20' range) were brought out and sailed by the students in pairs.

It was a great week!! When we asked him about which boats he likes to sail best, he said the smaller boats are WAY MORE FUN, because they go faster!!

Next up:

He's decided to try his Mom's sport of Windsurfing!! 

FYI:

The teachers at Western Washington University's Youth Program were fantastic!!  Here is the link to their program.  They offer a variety of courses to choose from. 

http://www.acadweb.wwu.edu/eesp/youth/sailing/index.html

s/v NP