This is me, I'm smiling for the camera but in reality that's not how I actually felt.

I braced for chaos. Instead? Sun, thunder, rain, then sun again — and nothing went seriously wrong. My first shakedown cruise was uneventful. And that was everything.

I had the boat. I had the river. I had the wind. What I didn't have was a halyard that could actually raise a sail. Two halyards, zero sails, and the friends who saved my season.