You’re underway with your feet up on the steering console, the helm chair tilted back a bit, and the autopilot remote in your lap. Heading into a moderate chop, you have yet to feel the boat pound or shake – her fine bow makes for a smooth ride. The forecast calls for the wind and seas to pick up later in the day, and although you know the boat can handle rough conditions, you’re glad her sixteen knot cruise speed will bring you in before the seas start to build. At sixteen knots you will have covered over a hundred miles in less than eight hours, yet the ride is soft and the navigation manageable. You recall a trip made last year on a different boat that ran at thirty knots – buoys and waypoints coming by so fast you never had time to enjoy the view and arrived exhausted. Today you are covering ground, but at a pace that let’s you relax.

By early afternoon you slip into a quiet anchorage and drop the hook.

After dinner the breeze fades and the heat and humidity return, along with the mosquitoes. You start the generator and the air conditioner and close all seven main cabin windows. You settle into the recliner, with a book, a glass of wine, and some quiet music. You look up from your book, and your eyes wander from detail to detail, unconsciously searching for something amiss, and not finding it. The warmth of the cherry joinery, exquisitely fitted and finished, keeps you engaged. Once again you feel that everything is right, and return to your book.