It was 4 a.m., and I could not sleep. I'm too nervous about a date later this morning. No, not that kind of date. I'm bringing a new Bimini top to a friend – a top that I created.

My mind was racing. Did I do it correctly? Will it fit? Will he be disappointed? Will he laugh? How did I get myself into this anyway?

When I first got my sewing machine, an LSZ-1 from Sailrite, I told a few friends with boats that I was trolling for projects so I could learn the ropes (threads?) of canvas work. I'd done a winch cover, a cushion cover, a sail cover for my boat and a sprit sail for a small wooden boat. Now I was about to turn over a completed Bimini top for a vintage Bertram 28 to a friend.

That friend was Joe McCarthy, a virtuoso drummer with a Grammy winning band called Afro Bop Alliance, a really hot Latin Jazz group. When Joe was growing up, he had a friend whose father owned a Bertram. He crewed on one for several years, and dreamed of one day having his own.