a sunny yet cold and blustery day in February

President's Day brought sunshine. It also brought the promise of 48 degree temperature. This is pretty good for February. But the presidents also brought wind, lots of it - white caps and damn big rolling waves that lifted the bow up like a lap dog then dropped that bow down like a hot potato. The boat didn't seem to mind, although, we were momentarily concerned. But then we raised the main sail, ran downwind and the sea seemed to calm for us. All in all - a fine day on the water. Afterward, we crowded in the cabin, smoked cigarettes and got to know our new crew member, Andre. Andre is from Poland. He is very soft spoken so it is hard to be certain, but from what Micah and I can gather: he is living in exile from Poland after dodging a draft, he moved onto his girlfriend's boat last year and, unfortunately, his girlfriend has abandoned him and her boat so that she can work on an oil rig in Texas. Andre seems detached from everything. During small craft advisory conditions, he arrived at my boat, ready to sail, wearing dress pants, loafers and a button down collared shirt. I told him he absolutely had to go find something more to wear. When he returned a few minutes later he had added this tweed sport coat to the mix. It goes without saying, I was a little jealous.