After Amanda returned to the Rag Doll from dropping her mother off at the airport, she sat down to work on a chore she’d been seeing to be increasingly necessary for some time, but didn’t want to do with anyone but Beffy around. She needed the time for contemplation and didn’t need the distractions.

She sat down at the dinette table in the cabin – she hadn’t had that before – and while Beffy curled up in her bed inside the kitty carrier, she took out the notebook with the lists that had been driving her since shortly after she laid eyes on the Rag Doll.

There were pages upon pages of entries on her list in the notebook – many, many things to do, some major, but most pretty minor. A lot of them had been marked off; in fact a majority of them had been – but the list needed a good, thorough going through to make sure she hadn’t missed something, either overlooking the need for it to be done, or it having been done and not marked off the list.

With that done, she took a brand new spiral notebook and started transferring items off of the old list – but this time breaking them down into three categories: Before going north, Over the Summer, and Next Fall.

The first category was pretty obvious, and just getting those items organized pretty well set her plans for the next month. The big thing was to have the boat taken out of the water toward the end of February so she could work on the hull for a few days before going north.

The list to be done over the summer was shortest, since it would be a time where she’d be busy on the charter boats and at the Channel Stop. It included things like the new boat cushions, getting the mainsail into a sail loft for cleaning and repairs, and buying things for the boat for installation next fall, like electronics – radios, a GPS chart plotter, depth sounder, and such.

Next fall’s list was a little more fuzzy to her and stood chances of changing. There would still be some boat work to be done, but she’d also be installing some of the things bought over the summer. Fitting out, stocking up, getting set to go – that was the goal and it seemed reachable. There had been a time, not all that long ago, that it had seemed almost impossible.

The old list had pretty much been driving her life for the last several months. Now the new list was doing it, and the items kept coming off of it. There were ideas that she wanted to think about and some things she hadn’t considered, but they mostly went onto the summer and fall lists.

By the end of February, almost a month after her mother went back north, she and sometimes her friends had done a pretty good job of beating the immediate list down to nothing. Most of the items remaining were things that would come after the boat was out of the water for the summer. When that happened she’d be moving back into the motel with her father, since it would be hard to live aboard with the Rag Doll on the hard. And she’d be heading back north as soon as they were done, not long after the first of March.

While she still wanted to get the Rag Doll done, somewhere in that month her attention began to turn back to the north, to things that would have to be done up there. It had become increasingly clear that she was going to be spending a lot of time as skipper of one of the charter boats, probably on a rotating basis. She’d looked forward to that for years, and now it was a long-held dream coming true.

A couple days into March Amanda had to go to the airport to pick up her father. For practical purposes this was the end of her living on the Rag Doll for the winter, and the time they had left was getting short. There were still a few final things to do before the boat could be lifted from the water, and they knuckled down to doing them.

It was mostly Amanda and her father working on the project, although Zack helped out on an off day, but on their third day into the project they had a somewhat-expected visitor: Adam came up to the dock in the Knick-Knack under the power of the Honda outboard. He’d been on his cruise since the day after Christmas. Amanda, Jake, and Ron had frequently wondered how his trip was going for him, but there had been little word, only a couple brief phone calls.

“Hey there, stranger,” Jake called as Adam started to idle the Knick-Knack into the empty slip next to the Rag Doll. “Fancy meeting you here. Did you have a good trip?”

“Better than I expected,” Adam replied. “It sure beat sitting around the apartment and watching the snow fly.”

“Surprisingly enough, we didn’t get a lot of that,” Jake replied as he stepped onto the pier to get the lines from the Knick-Knack. “It’s been the warmest winter I can recall. The harbor only iced over once and then it was just a skim. It was back to open water in a couple of days.”

“It sounds as if you’ve been back, then,” Adam replied, tossing him a line.

“Yeah, I’ve only been down here for a total of about four weeks. Rachel came down for a while to help Amanda out,” he replied as he took the line and snubbed it to a dock post. “She wasn’t real hot about the idea of me being down here all winter and leaving her up there to freeze her butt.”

“So how’s it coming with the Rag Doll?”

“Getting there. Slowly, but getting there. We won’t quite have it licked when we have to head back north in a few days, but we should have it to the point where Amanda will only have piddly stuff to do when she gets back down here next winter. I haven’t made up my mind if I’m going to come back down to help her with it or not.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see him down here,” Amanda grinned. “I think he likes getting away from the cold weather. That’s why he and Mom have come down here and used the Winter Haven for a month or so each year in the past.”

“Didn’t use it at all this year,” Jake smiled. “We wound up spending too much time on this thing, but she’s going to be a hell of a boat when she gets done. So how did the Knick-Knack work for you?”

“Surprisingly well. It gets very cramped inside, but I got used to it after a while. I picked up several things I’d like to do to the Moonshadow if we can before I head down the lakes with it.”

“Depends on what they are,” Jake replied. “Tell you what. I’m tired of messing around with this thing today. We’re going to get it up on the hard in the next couple days, give the hull a good cleaning, and that’ll be that for the winter. Let’s all sit down and have a beer. You can tell us about your trip, and tell me what you have in mind for the Moonshadow.”

It took them a while to get things buttoned up on both boats, but soon they were in a bar that had a good restaurant, talking things over.

“So,” Amanda asked, “just what was it you did?”

“Oh, mostly just messed around, saw the sights, and took it easy,” Adam smiled. “I went across the state on the canal, and then down into the Keys before coming back up the East Coast. Some of it is a little bleak, but some of it is really nice. I met some interesting people along the way, and had some good times. If nothing else, this trip proved to me that the cruising life is going to work out for me, at least for a while. I may not want to do it for the rest of my life, but it will make a great break from what I’ve been doing.”

“I wouldn’t have been surprised if living in that tiny space would have driven you half out of your mind,” Jake commented.

“Actually, it wasn’t too bad, once I got used to it,” Adam explained. “It got to be a little tight at times, but I was outside a lot, and occasionally got a motel room to be able to take a real shower and sleep in a real bed once in a while. But I’ll tell you what, the Moonshadow is going to seem like a luxury super yacht.”

“I’ve lived about that long on the Rag Doll,” Amanda nodded. “And while most of it was very primitive, I think I’m just as glad I wasn’t crammed in there the way I would have been on the Knick-Knack.”

“So what else are you going to want me to do to the Moonshadow before you take off with it?” Jake asked.

“A few things,” Adam shrugged. “I got to talking with some other people I met here and there and picked up a few ideas. The big thing I want to add is a Bimini top. There were some afternoons that it got awful hot in the cockpit while I was sitting at anchor. I visited on some other boats where that awning made it an awful lot more comfortable.”

“We ought to be able to find something out of a catalogue that would work,” Jake said. “It wouldn’t have to be custom made.”

“Maybe you ought to find something that could also be rigged as a dodger,” Amanda suggested. “It would have really been nice to have one when Adam and I brought the Moonshadow home from Traverse City last fall, it would have really been nice to have one.”

“That’s a possibility,” Jake nodded. “Anything else?”

It turned out that Adam had a notebook full of items he wanted to do to the Moonshadow based on his experience with the Knick-Knack. Most of them were fairly minor, and some of them he could do himself, but there were a few items, like ordering and mounting the Bimini, where Jake’s or Amanda’s assistance would be appreciated. But the big item was a major upgrade on the boat’s electrical system, adding solar panels like Amanda had done on the Rag Doll, except that his would be new, and not salvaged. They would allow him to be a lot more independent of slips and marinas, which was a feature that Amanda could appreciate, too.

“There’s no way I’m going to be able to get started on this list of yours before we get done down here,” Jake told him. “None of it is major stuff, but we’re going to be getting the boats ready for the fishing season, too.”

“Well, there’s no reason I can’t help you with it while I’m down here, and when I get back north,” Adam said. “I want to get headed down the lakes as soon as the weather is reasonable, but I don’t have to be in a big rush.”

“That’s not going to be before the first of May, if then,” Jake told him. “No matter that we’ve had a mild winter up north. But it doesn’t seem like there’s going to be a big rush for you to get down the lakes if you’re going to mess around on Georgian Bay this summer.”

“Well, I’m not planning on it,” Adam admitted. “I don’t know if Amanda told you about it, but back at Christmas I was kicking around the idea of taking the Moonshadow down the Seaway this summer, and going on to Newfoundland to see Mary and Matty at Blanche Tickle.”

“She told me you were considering the idea,” Jake nodded.

“It’s more than just kicking it around, now,” Adam smiled. “After this last couple months it seems like a pretty good idea. I figure if I can get a good start, I ought to be able to make it to Blanche Tickle fairly early in the summer. I can see Mary and Matty for a while, then head south down the Atlantic Coast. If I get behind schedule and the weather catches up with me, I ought to be able to find a place to put it up for the winter. But if I time it right, I ought to be able to make it down here before the weather gets too bad next winter.”

“That sounds like a hell of a trip to me,” Jake nodded. “I think a few months ago I would have told you that I think your experience is a little limited for a trip like that, but now I think you’ve learned a lot in the last couple months. If you take it easy and be careful, you ought to be able to have a good time with it.”

“It would go better if I had another set of hands with me,” Adam sighed. “But right at the moment I don’t know of anyone who would be up for going with me. Well, I’ve got a couple people who may be available to ride along for a while, but that’s not going to be all summer.”

“I sure would love to go with you on a trip like that,” Amanda replied, thinking of the musings she’d had about it a few weeks before. “But I’m going to be busy on the fishing boats this summer, so there’s no way I can get away.”

“It’s amazing how many people can’t get away for a trip like that,” Adam agreed. “In fact, I’m a little surprised that I’m able to do it. Two years ago, maybe even a year ago, it would have been impossible. Well, if someone had asked me to go along with them a year ago it would have been tempting, but I wouldn’t have been able to do the whole summer, either. I had too many other irons in the fire, but mostly I’ve dealt with them.”

“Well, maybe someday,” Amanda sighed. “I suppose if you ran into trouble one of us might be able to help you out for a week or two, but that would be about it and we couldn’t do it at the height of the season, either.”

They wound up sitting there and talking for a couple of hours. Adam filled them in on some details of where he’d been on the Knick-Knack, and Amanda noted that he hadn’t said anything about having someone with him for part of the trip, so that seemed doubtful from the way he’d talked. But apparently solo cruising was working out for him, and the experience of over two months had done a lot for his confidence.

The very next day Cordy walked the boatyard’s old crane over to the boat, and with help from Adam, Ron, and Shades, lifting straps were run under the hull. The crane took a strain, and for the first time everyone saw the underside of the boat. It was, as they had expected, a major mess; there were places that the crud on the hull was six inches thick or more. Back when they’d picked up the boat, and more recently when they’d taken their little putter around the bayou Amanda had noticed that the boat needed to have a bit of port helm on to keep going straight. She figured that it was because there had to be more crud on the starboard side of the hull than the port side. This proved correct, although no one wanted to guess why that might have been.

“I can’t say I didn’t expect it,” she said as they stood looking at the mess in wonder. “But it looks like we’ve got a lot of work here.”

A cradle had already been set up for the Rag Doll, although it had to be fitted to the boat. When on the hard, sailboats like the Rag Doll normally stand on their keel, with the cradle just keeping them upright, but even the bottom of the keel had stuff hanging onto it. So they had to roughly chisel it off while the boat was hanging from the straps to even be able to get it onto the cradle in the first place. That took a while since they had to work gingerly, but after a while they had it to where Cordy could swing the boat over the cradle and let it down gently. She had to keep tension on the straps while Jake and the others made some modifications to the cradle so it would fit, but finally they were able to take the straps away. The Rag Doll was in its new home for the summer.

One other chore had been planned for while the crane was easily available – to replace the standing rigging going to the masthead, since the old rigging had started to develop “cat whiskers,” which meant that a lot of its strength had gone. After some discussion they agreed to take the mast out of the boat so any other maintenance could be done while it was lying down. Fortunately the mast and rigging only took a day or so, and since the crane was still handy they put the mast back up.

With that done they turned to cleaning the hull. It was not a quick job since some of the problem was salt-water barnacles that didn’t come off easily – chisels and ultimately power sanders were needed. It looked like the project was going to take several days, especially since they wanted to sand, fill, and paint the whole hull before heading back north. The crane would have to be used to shift the boat in the cradle slightly so they could work on the whole job.

But it went well, sometimes with several people working on the project. Once the marine growth was gone, they could start sanding on the hull and filling some gouges they found in the process. Good quality marine paint changed a scarred-up mess into a bright, clear white hull, and before they were done they had several coats on it. It would still be necessary to put anti-fouling paint on the boat to protect it from more problems in the future, but that would have to wait until the fall when the boat went back into the water.

Finally, they were just about out of things to do. On one of the last days, Cordy walked the crane over to the docks and quickly lifted the Knick-Knack out of the water and onto its trailer for the trip back north. After two months in the water there was some crud on its hull, too, but Amanda, Cordy, and Jake helped Adam make a quick job of cleaning it up, and unloading a lot of his stuff from the boat into his pickup.

“Adam,” Amanda asked as they worked, “I’ve been wondering. What do you plan to do with the Knick-Knack?”

“I don’t know,” he shook his head. “It really has worked out to be a good boat for me, but I don’t really have a lot of use for it now. About the only thing I can think of is that if I wind up with the Moonshadow down here in the hot months of the summer it might be fun to tow this thing over to Georgian Bay and mess around with it over there. But that won’t be this summer.”

“I suppose we could park it down by the boat shed with a ‘For Sale’ sign on it,” Jake said. “You wouldn’t have to take a low-ball price on it, and that way we’d be able to keep an eye on it.”

“I’ll give it some thought,” Adam said. “In any case, I think I’m going to head north with it in the morning. I’ve got a few things to do around the metro area before I can get up to your place, but I think taking it up there is probably the smart thing to do.”

The next day Amanda, Jake, and Cordy waved good-bye to Adam as he drove out of the boat yard in his little pickup, towing the Knick-Knack behind him. “In a way I’m sorry that I didn’t get to make that trip instead of him,” Amanda said as he went out of sight. “That was what I bought that boat for in the first place. But I think that I got a better deal out of it by waiting.”

“In case you’re wondering, I think you did, too,” her father said. “I was a little surprised he bit on the idea when I first suggested it, but it sure looks to me like he had a good time with it.”

That was the last day they had to work on the Rag Doll, and a lot of the work of the day consisted of getting it set to be left alone for the summer; Zack had a day off and came over to help them. They closed things up tightly, and fastened tarps over the boat so the Florida summer sun wouldn’t beat up the new paint job too badly. The boat looked a whole lot better than it had when she’d first seen it a few months before, and while the job wasn’t all the way done yet, it was within reaching distance.

There were other chores to be done too, such as cleaning out the storage shed, throwing away a few things, and loading others into Jake’s pickup truck. Some of the odds and ends Amanda had taken off the Rag Doll and the Sea Bright were destined for her father’s junk bins at his storage shed, just in case someone visiting the harbor broke something and needed an emergency replacement.

Finally even that was done. They packed up most of the stuff in the motel room, except for a few overnight essentials and Beffy’s kitty carrier. That evening, Ron and Cordy joined Amanda, Jake, and Zack for a final dinner. It was sad to see some good days come to an end.

After dinner they got set to go back to the motel. Amanda and Zack had a long kiss in the parking lot of the restaurant. “Hey, Zack,” she said. “We’ve had some good times together, and I’m going to be missing you when I’m back up north.” She meant it, too – while there didn’t seem to be much of a chance of their relationship going anywhere, they’d had some good times together, after all. “I’ll be seeing you, oh, about November.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it,” he told her. “In case you’re wondering, I’m going to be missing you, too. It’s really been nice to have you around, and you’ve been reminding me of some good things. Maybe you can take me sailing next fall.”

“Looking forward to it,” she grinned. “We’re not done having good times together, Zack.”

“I hope not,” he smiled. “I’ve enjoyed getting to know you, and I just wish we’d been able to get together more, and maybe get to know each other better. You’re a great girl, Amanda, maybe the best I’ve ever known. It’s just a shame that things have to come to an end this way, but maybe next fall we can pick up where we left off.”

“You know, I think I’d like that,” she told him. While he hadn’t exactly lit her fire, the potential had been there. If he’d been able to be a little more open with her, and if his being in the Coast Guard hadn’t meant their time together was coming to an end, well, perhaps there was the potential to get something burning. But now, it seemed likely that she’d never know. Next winter seemed like it was a long way away. “I’ll see you around,” she added.

“Yeah, see you,” he replied, and all of a sudden they were in another long kiss, one that went on and on, and seemed as if it might have more meaning than their words had said.

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