We left Annapolis early and drove up to Sparrow's Point, to the Old Bay Marina where I'd been twice before to help Rodney do some work on his Tayana 37. The boat had been hauled out for over 3 years, Rodney doing the refit himself between sculpture projects. Two years ago I helped him step the mast, when the boat was on the hard.

Earlier this summer, Mia and I joined him and his wife Narda (and their brown dog Brownie) on a sweltering day to help install his new synthetic lifelines. I taught him how to make a locking brummel splice, using two custom fids he'd made in his studio from old pieces of stainless rod stock. They were beautiful, and worked great. Rodney and I met in 2010 when Arcturus was hauled out for the summer in Annapolis, Mia and I doing our own refit. He'd read some of my Spinsheet articles and got in touch with me through my editor there.