Summer and the boating season are about 18 weeks long in Northern New England. May 15th through mid-September is about as good as it gets. We all try to stretch it earlier or later but let’s call it 18 weeks for my purposes here. (In fact I tell all of the boaters from out-of-state that September and October get really cold so they leave and I have the ocean to myself on those spectacular fall days)

So here we are in mid-June and Tiger Woods is slogging around Bethpage Black trying to find his golf ball and I am looking out the office window at a never ending rain. I am discouraged until my phone rings and it’s a call I have been expecting. On the line is Jed Elderkin. Jed is the owner of E Marine Australia and he’s a very successful importer of Back Cove boats down under. Jed has placed Back Coves all over  Australia and recently delivered one to Tasmania and another to the city of my birth, Adelaide, South Australia.

Jed (Jedediah actually) and his wife Evie are from Maine and have returned home for a visit with family. Now you would think that if we are going to get together we would not go boating. But quite the contrary. On Saturday I am heading for Robinhood, Maine and will meet them for dinner there. Rain you say? To heck with the weather, I have a Back Cove 33 with an enclosed helm deck and days like this are why we keep boating while all those sporty white things are tied to the dock. They would get wet if they went out and we don’t care. In fact having a few less boats on the water is OK with me.

But getting out on the water and meeting our good friends for dinner will make it a sunny day. Let it rain and hopefully Tiger will make some putts.

Happy Father’s Day to all you Dads