Rumor has it, spring is on the way. I say “rumor has it” because here in Maine—tucked up in the far northeast corner of the United States—this last weekend of March has brought snow. A week ago, we were in shirtsleeves being tricked into such conversations as “Shall we pull the boat out of the garage and do some work on it?” Even yesterday, despite the wind and a forecast of snow, the sky was cloudless, the temperature hovered somewhere in the 50s, and the central heat barely kicked in. But here we are, the last Saturday in March, and we have woken to two inches of snow on the ground and more still falling from a leaden sky.

As a recent import to these shores—I moved here nearly 20 years ago from southwest England where the thermometer rarely dipped below freezing—I have always been fascinated by winter, and snow in particular. I enjoy those harsh days when the air is so dry and cold that it literally takes my breath away. I take satisfaction in shoveling paths. I’m intrigued by the icicles that grow down from the roof outside the kitchen window. But by the end of March, even I have had enough. Now, I am ready for spring and warmth and getting out on the water. It seems I’ll have to wait awhile.

But, while I wait, I can do two things: I can make ready, and I can dream.

Each year, around this time, I start to think about getting boats ready for launching. The Shellback Dinghy in the garage is due for its five-year paint job and now that the ambient temperatures are mostly above freezing, my weekends will be taken up with scraping and sanding and painting. The 16’ daysailer needs less work and will stay snug and dry under its tarp until the forecasters stop talking about rain for three days straight, but I’m still itching to get at its topsides and bottom paint.

And then there are the trailers, which are called upon to make a half-mile round trip delivering the boats down to the harbor each spring, and back again in late fall. Despite their essential role, year after year those trailers are forgotten until the last possible moment. Only then, with the boats loaded and ready to go, and one trailer after another is hitched up to the car, do I think to check that everything is in working order.

This year, I have no excuse. Thanks to Kent and Audrey Lewis’s thoughtful, easily referenced Road-Ready Trailer Checklist in this issue, I have all the guidance I need to inspect both trailers in plenty of time to get replacement bulbs, inflate tires (buy new ones if necessary), and check on all the car-to-trailer connections. Of course, if I follow my usual MO, I’ll still wait far too long and it’ll still be a last-minute scramble, but we can always hope.

And in the meantime, my dreams of summer boating are well underway, inspired, in no small part, by Davis Taylor who in this issue shares his story of a short-but-sweet voyage on the Bagaduce River last September. He saw no other boats, camped on uninhabited islands, dealt with tidal currents for the first time, and relaxed through long leisurely mornings waiting for the water to float his boat each day. It wasn’t an overly ambitious trip, nor was it one of high drama and excitement, yet such stories never fail to inspire me to pull out the charts and plot some island-hopping adventure of my own.

Rumor has it spring is on the way. Here in Maine those rumors may be exaggerated, but when spring does eventually find us summer will be hard on its heels, and my boats and trailers had better be ready.

To those of you already enjoying fine and fair boating weather…see you on the water soon.