Our daughter, Joy, took the train from New York City where she lives/works to Port Washington on Thursday night ; and Friday morning we all headed to the World's Fair Marina, which is right by Laguardia Airport, Citi Field (where the Met's play) and the National Tennis Center. We tied the boat up securely, anticipating fierce winds. Based on our various weather sources, we decided we had adequate time before Earl was to arrive to take a walk over to the tennis center. We said "adieu" to Joy who had tickets to the US Open and returned to the boat. By that time it was noon. The boat was in need of a wash, but naturally the expected rains would more than adequately rinse it, so we had lunch and settled in for an afternoon of reading, waiting for Earl. And wait we did. When 5:30 rolled around and there was nary a drop of rain, we hauled out the hose, pail and brushes and got to work. Fortunately for many, Earl turned out to be "the hurricane that wasn't", and thankfully so. But by Saturday morning, the front that pushed Earl away from the coast had kicked up some huge winds. We stayed put in our slip. It's always nice to have a day to read, nap, and relax. And that' s pretty much what we did. 
By Sunday morning the winds had died down enough that we exited the marina for a mooring at a nearby yacht club. By the time we got there (only an hour later) the winds had picked up again. This is a very crowded mooring field and it took a lot of concentration on the part of the captain to make his way through it and identify the mooring ball. With it's low freeboard, the KE is a perfect boat in which to pick up a mooring. (At the previous mooring field, we observed a couple aboard a sun deck cruiser with a high freeboard. She was at the helm, and he was trying both to direct her and - in vain - to pick up the mooring stick. Things got very animated and they were yelling back and forth at each other. It was comical to watch, especially since every boating couple can relate, to one degree or another!) We identified our assigned mooring ball, and I easily grabbed it from the aft deck and walked it forward. But the wind and closeness of our neighboring boats made it quite challenging. There's a saying amongst boaters: "Boating can be hours of boredom, followed by moments of sheer panic." So much for all the relaxation from the prior day. For a few seconds, our blood was definitely flowing! Successfully attached, we took a deep breath!
Joy joined us again at the yacht club, and we spent the day watching the U.S. Open in the comfort of our salon. Tomorrow it's back to Port Washington where I'll make one last stop at the grocery before we continue east toward Newport.
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