August 7^th- We went into shore and walked up to the general store and market where we met Mike and Ivy so we sat with them a while and chatted. Finally around 10 we headed out. Instead of the 5-10 NW we were promised it was SW. We beat out of the bay and through another tangle of islands to the East passage. At least the wind was light and the water was relatively flat even though we had a contrary current. It was nice sailing as we were doing about 4 cruising along. Right around the entrance  to the Thorofare the wind died and we motored the last couple of miles into Seal Bay. This has a pretty narrow entrance and sort of weaves its way through some small islands and rocks until it opens up nicely to a large bay. We continued through this bay until we  wrapped around a couple of more islands and into a long channel where we anchored. This is a very scenic place a lot of it is protected so you can explore all the nooks and crannies. There were about 10-12 boats anchored here but it didn’t feel crowded at all. However this was the place of the attacking flies. The flies swarmed over us and seemed to be everywhere. The cockpit floor was carpeted with the carcasses of all the ones I was swatting but they still kept on coming. Nightfall did bring relief as  we had a nice quiet evening.

August 8^th- We got up early to try and catch the falling tide but all we seemed to do was catch more flies. They just seemed to nibble at you. I swatted another couple of hundred until the wind picked up and we left them behind. The wind was light NW until we reached the end of the island and the open ocean. There it picked up to 10-15 SW and we sheeted in and had a nice sail. We tacked through this maze of islands and reefs past Brimstone Island and up into Carver Bay. We went flying down the channel which was filled with lobster pots until we pulled into the harbor of Vinal Haven. There we looked around and amongst the hundreds of moored lobster boat we found one of the 3 rental moorings. This is a working harbor and it is filled with fishing boats and their supporting industry. It was fun to watch the activity. It seems amazing to me that the world could eat this many lobsters and that there would be some left under the sea.

    We rowed in to the head of the  harbor and got out and walked through town. It is an interesting mix of working folk and the tourists and second home owners all walking the streets together. We stopped in at the famous Harbor Gawker for lunch and gawked at the passing parade of people.

    The wind picked up to 15-25 SW this afternoon and with the seawall under water at high tide it was pretty bouncy on the boat. We watched the fleet pour in and off load the days catch and by 5 everything had settled down nicely. The night was very calm until around 5 am when the lobster boats started heading back out again.

August 9^th- Even though we were up we waited until around 9 to leave as we wanted to let the ferry go through first. We would be heading out the  Reach which was another winding and very narrow passage which the ferry uses. It doesn’t slow down for boats and it throws a good sized wake. So we thought we would follow it through. The Reach is only about a mile long and on the other side we turned south and headed for Hurricane Island. This is the former home of Outward Bound. We took a mooring there and went onto the island. It is now run by the Hurricane Island Foundation which gives classes with a scientific bent. There is some research going on and also some leadership training. They were very friendly and open and let us walk all over their campus. There are some great hiking trails also. We hiked up this old quarry and had a magnificent view of the surrounding area. I think these trails had been made by the Outward Bound folks as the scaled big rocks and had ropes to assist you. It was great to be able to walk along the granite shore. This is the first island up here where the trails actually led to the ends of the island. We explored all over the island. It was and old quarry and a lot of the old machinery was still lying about. There were tons of ruins of old structures made mostly of granite blocks. Some of the granite had been finished and polished. It felt like walking through an old Roman ruin to see the tops of  fluted columns sticking out of the grass.

August 10^th- we hung around until 9 or so and then headed out. We had a very nice sail reaching across the bay. The wind piped up in the middle and we flew across. It was a pretty overcast day and just as we arrived in Rockland it started to rain. This was the  first rainy day we have had since getting here. This is also the end of the road for us. It has been a great trip but now its time to head back to Vermont. We will leave the boat here and hopefully make it back over for some more sailing before winter.

I want to thank everyone who followed along with us and hope I didn’t bore you too much. Tim O thanks for reading and the encouragement to keep writing. I hope everyone has a great rest of the summer as I know my summer has been unbelievable… so far

Russ

July 30^th- We left Rockland and headed south beating into a light chop. Once we rounded the point we headed down wind. We were sailing with a light wind and a favorable current. We ghosted through the upper part of Muscle Ridge Channel mostly riding the current. The wind did pick up and we shot out into the bay. We rode the wind all the way into Tenants Harbor. As we were motoring down Long Cove a guy sailed by and told us we were welcome to use his mooring. It was further out than we really wanted but we said what the heck and took it. Tomorrow is the start of the annual Cape Dory cruise and a couple showed up later in the afternoon.

July 31- We sat here on the boat watching Cape Dory after Cape Dory pull into the harbor. We sailed the dinghy again and then went over to High Island where we had a picnic/cookout. There are about 10 Cape Dories here for this, a couple of 36’s, a couple of 30’s and some 33’s and my 28. We will be the oldest and slowest boat here. It was a great group of people and we had a blast hanging out on this island. The party broke up quick when we remembered that we left the dinghies at low tide and now they were floating away. Some quick work by a few recued every one’s dinghy.

Aug 1^st- We left early to get a jump on everyone because we really are the slowest boat. There was no wind at all so we motored up the Muscle Ridge Channel through Fisherman’s passage where the wind picked up slightly. We managed to sail about ¾ of the way across before we started the motor. We motored through the Fox Island Thorofare and down into the anchorage at Winter Harbor.

   This is a spectacular place with high cliffs coming down to the water. It is a narrow channel through the rocks and has small beaches made of mussel shells. We tried to get out and walk on an island but it so muddy we just got stuck. We eventually found a rock to climb out on and everyone joined us for happy hour on this rock in the middle of the channel. Another cd 28 joined us here and he bought some lobsters off some kids in a lobster boat. The party broke up just as it started to rain. It continued to rain for most of the night which made for some very pleasant sleeping.

Aug 2^nd- We left early again but again there was no wind at all. It was interesting seeing the ocean as flat calm as this.We motored through Merchant’s Row which is a hodge podge of islands and then around Marshall Island and into Burnt Coat Harbor on Swan’s Island where we anchored. This is a very protected fishing harbor with a quaint shoreline but not much else. We met at a pair of rafted 36’s for happy hour. Meanwhile a brigantine loaded up with the performers from the show tonight sailed by regaling us with songs. After this we walked up the hill to a hall where we witnessed the Sweet Chariot Music Festival. This was the 25^th year and it brings together lots of folk and blue grass musicians for a night on an island off the Maine coast. It was a very good show that was attended by many people. We walked back to the boat afterwards in a long line of people heading to their boats. It was nice looking down on the harbor and seeing all the anchor lights blinking on the water.

Aug 3^rd- There was no wind again so rather than just sit here we motored over to Sand Cove on Marshall Island and anchored off the beach. This is a beautiful sand beach surrounded by huge boulders. The water is crystal clear. This was our first experience with surf and Alayne got wet when a wave breached the transom on the way in. The water is warm by Maine standards at 60 degrees. This island is all protected so it has some great hiking trails of which we took advantage. In the afternoon the wind came up a bit and we weighed anchor and went sailing. We just sort of ghosted along and headed back to Burnt Coat Harbor for the night. A couple of big schooners had come in and were anchored as they were here for the second night of the show.

Aug 4^th- We left early again and managed  to sail in the light winds. We ran close hauled through the big swells on the ocean until we rounded the buoy and then we headed north. The wind was too light and the swells too big and they were just bouncing us all over the place so we motored in. It was only about a mile to go until we entered Frenchboro Harbor on Long Island where we picked up a mooring. There was much discussion about this because there is no anchoring here and the moorings are all private. So we just picked up one and hoped nobody would come for it. Lobster boats came for all the ones around us but not ours!

   This island is mostly preserved and it has about 65 residents who mostly work on lobster boats. We talked with a couple to see what the life was like. We are learning a lot about lobsters. Speaking of which there is a restaurant here that has been here for many years and we all got together and ate—you guessed it lobster. She said it was fresh this morning and a complete ;lobster  dinner was $12.50 !!!!

Aug 5^th- We left around 7:30 to a nice SW wind and sailed out of the harbor into Blue Hill Bay where we turned north and shot down the east side if Swan’s island. Mt desert Island forms the other side of the bay. We surfed down some big Atlantic swells and ran with the wind and current sometimes getting close to 7 knots.Once we reached the north end of Swans we turned onto the Casco Passage. This is a narrow but well marked passage between several islands and shoals. Once we cleared the buoy we headed up the Eggmoggin Reach. The wind was blowing just forward of the beam and we had a great 15 mile run. About a third of the way in all the lobster pots stopped so it was great sailing not having to worry about that.We sailed into Buck’s Harbor and got a mooring for the night. We really needed to get rid of trash and take showers!! This is the last night of the CD cruise so we are headed out to dinner in town.

July 25^th- After 4 days in Camden we were ready to move not to mention the batteries needed to be charged. There was absolutely no wind so we ended up motoring the whole way to Crow Cove where we anchored. This is a very well protected cove and very pretty and quiet. We rowed over to Gil B’s house and had a nice afternoon chatting with them. Gil is someone I know from Charlotte.   They have a beautiful old house on a very picturesque piece of property.

   A thunderstorm rolled over us in the middle of the night. The sound of the thunder is really neat here. It sort of rolls and tumbles across the water instead of the heavy hammer and echo you get in the mountains.

July 26^th- A fog had enveloped us when we got up in the morning and I couldn’t even see shore which was less than 50 yards away. With the fog this thick sounds are really amplified and as this anchorage is pretty isolated the sounds where amazing. From the whistling of the osprey and eagles to the plaintive cry of the loons you could add the squawking of the gulls and the cawing of the crows. You could even hear the snorting of the deer on shore. Then the human sounds started to intrude. The rumble roar of the lobster boats and the wail of the fog horns were quickly overrun by the sound of cars and lawnmowers.

Slowly around noon the fog lifted and we departed motoring again as the wind was light. When we turned the tip of Isleboro the wind picked up and we motor sailed the last couple of miles. We motored through a small gut into a long narrow channel and anchored in the middle behind Holbrook Island in 14 feet of water.

   This is a state owned wildlife preserve. There is a dock but we just pulled the dinghy up on shore and went hiking. The trails here are fantastic. We walked through deep dense spruce forests with beautiful patches of several kinds of flowering mosses. Then you burst out into an old farm field turned meadow with huge elms lining the fields. Then you walk down to the long stone beach with the clear emerald water.

   It was very hot so when we got back to the boat we went swimming, yes even Alayne. This is the first time she’s been in the water the whole trip. After supper you could see and hear the harbor seals playing on the rocks a couple of 100 yards away. Their bark is a weird noise and I thought for a while that someone was yelling. The night was clear and windless.

July 27^th- We slept in again as the day was bright and windless. The whole ocean was like a mirror. It eventually got so hot we thought that the breeze from moving would be nice so we left. We motored around Cape Rosier which is where the Neerings wrote their book on sustainable living.There the wind picked up a bit and we had a nice close hauled reach for several miles ducking between these little popcorn islands. The wind died as we neared a narrow passage between two islands so we started the motor. Once we got through the passage the wind picked up nicely although it was blowing straight in from the ocean and we were fighting the tide. We were now in East Penobscot Bay and were beating through tons of lobster buoys. We tested today whether we would catch one. We ran over quite a few and the toggles too. Little dinghy smacked more than her share. We finally turned the corner into the Fox Island Thorofare and the wind really picked up. Of course it was right in the direction we wanted to go. Wind is wind though and we found our way into Carver Cove and anchored in 24 feet of water at high tide. We were next door to a schooner “ Mistress” out of Camden. This is a pretty anchorage with some rock ledges and then sloping grass meadows with only a few houses. It is all private property though so we stayed on the boat. It was a very quiet night.

July 28^th- More lazing around this morning as we could see fog out on the channel. We hung around and waited for it to lift which it started to do around 10:00. We motored out onto the thorofare which is narrow with lots of lobster buoys. When we turned the corner to North Haven we could see that the fog ahdn’t lifted out on the ocean. So we slowed down to a crawl in the hopes it might blow by soon. No such luck, by the time we reached the entrance we could see maybe a mile out so we decided to go for it. About a mile out we ran right into a fog bank so we put up the main and continued to motor. We crawled down the inlet with visibility only being 100 yards or so. Thanks to the GPS we knew right where we were. As soon as we rounded the buoy and it was a clear reach we shut down the motor and sailed. It was a nice sail broad reaching in about 10 knots of wind with the exception that we could only see 100 yards or so.We were straining our eyes and ears to find other boats and there seemed to be a lot of them out there. We a schooner ghost past us a little ways off and had several lobster boats buzz by us. We kind of saw several other sailboats also. It was an interesting experience, one I guess that goes along with sailing in Maine. When we were a couple of miles from Rockland it finally cleared and we had a nice sail into the harbor. The fog stayed all day and it was interesting watching boats pop in and out of the fog bank.

July 29^th When we woke this morning I could see the boat next to me let alone the shore. The ferries were blasting their fog horns and there were people coming in trying to find their way. We had wanted to row into town but it was too dangerous to be more than 50 yards from the boat. Eventually after a couple of hours I could see a 100 yards and we rowed in. I rowed from boat to boat hiding out along side them until we could determine if it was clear. At the channel we let several boats go by and then I rowed like crazy to get across. About half way the ferry let loose with its fog horn and scared me into rowing even faster. We made it in and tied up. You could barely see the top of the dock from the bottom. We did a laundry and I went grocery shopping. We also went back to Knights Marine and got a mooring for the rest of the season. This is where we will have the boat hauled out for the winter.

We dawdled around in the morning because we didn’t have far to go leaving around 10:00. The wind was WNW around 10-12 knots which made for a perfect broad reach the whole way across the bay. We dropped sails right at the mouth of Pulpit Harbor and after veering around Pulpit rock we anchored in about 25 feet of water ( high tide).

    This is a very pretty and well protected anchorage. The sides of the harbor are lined with rocks and spruce trees. There are only a few houses visible from the water. There are 3 narrow inlets all meeting ina broader inlet so there is plenty of places to pick from. There are plenty of empty mooring balls also.

    We walked up to a very nice grocery store and had lunch and bought stuff for dinner. It was a beautiful sunset looking out over the Camden Hills.

July 21- We had another great sail today. We were close hauled for a while until we zipped between Mark and Goose Islands and then we had a nice broad reach. We were right along side a schooner for a good part of the trip. We got to Warren Island State Park around noon and went ashore and hiked around the island. It is a pretty interesting place but very buggy. There were big winds and t-storms predicted for tomorrow so we decided to head for Camden tonight.

   The winds picked up to the 15-20 knot range and we put a reef in and beat into the whole way. We were sailing alongside the same schooner as this morning   It turns out that this is our 32^nd anniversary which I apparently forgot. Considering I barely know which month it is I think I can be forgiven. Anyway we were going into town to have dinner at a restaurant that the girls had given us a gift certificate for and the restaurant was closed and had been sold. As a footnote I emailed the folks who bought the place and would be glad to honor the gift card except they are not open yet. I guess we’ll have to come back in the fall!!

    Camden is a very busy harbor but not with any fishing boats. There are a ton of schooners here and also some very beautiful boats. We have a mooring in the harbor and can watch these great boats sail by all day.

July 22^nd- None of the storms materialized and it was a hot, sunny , and windless day. We did laundry and wandered through town.It was hot enough that I actually went swimming for the second time..There was big storm that rolled trhough around 3:30 in the morning with much wind and lightning but not much rain.

July 23^rd- The kids came today and  we waited for them and then went to lunch. After lunch we went for a schooner ride on the Appledore dodging thunderstorms along the way. We had fun hanging with the crew. Again it was very hot but after these storms it cooled off some. After dinner the kids went back to their campsite and we had a nice pleasant evening on the boat.

July 24^th- We hiked up Mt. Battie this morning. The view from here is very impressive. You can see the entire Penobscot Bay all the way over to Mt Desert and down past Rockland. The view of the harbor is nothing short of spectacular. After lunch the kids came out to the boat and at least Kalyn went swimming. They headed home around 2 after taking us grocery shopping. It was a very nice weekend now all we have to decide is where to head next!

July 15^th We left around 9:00 to catch the ebbing tide. It was a warm and sunny day with very light winds. We had a local sailor travel with us to show us the way out. Not that we needed him but he was traveling in that direction and it didn’t hurt. There were a couple of tricky spots with the current and all. 

   Everything was great until we turned the corner onto the Sheepscot River. The temperature immediately dropped 20 degrees and the wind picked up to 10-15 South of course. And then the fog rolled in!! Any wiser person would have just turned right around and called it a good lesson but no we had to keep going. And the going just got worse. This was one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done. The fog cleared slightly so we thought we could keep going. Ha! Visibility was about 200-300 yards and then the waves built. We were heading over 8 to 10 waves as the wind blowing against the tide made the waves steep and close together. We couldn’t see shore at all and were sailing by GPS alone. The AIS didn’t show any boats around us but that didn’t mean much when the lobster boat roared by us. We crashed around like this clawing are way to the mouth of the river until about noon. There was a buoy here we were supposed to round but the GPS said it was 400 feet away but we never saw it. 

   The fog finally cleared and the wind relaxed and the waves sort of settled down into a less mountainous state. So we put up the sails and went sailing!! We sailed downwind around and between a bunch of rocky islands before sailing up into a little inlet called Christmas Cove. This is a nice place, tiny and filled with boats on moorings but it has its own character. We got a mooring jtust outside of the restaurant and went for a walk into town. The town of South Bristol was less than scintillating but it got us off the boat and we burned up a little of our nervous energy from the morning. There are a ton of really beautiful boats here, little ones and big ones.

July 16^th- We left a little before the tide change today and that seemed to work much better. Once we turned the corner on the peninsula we took off broad reaching across John’s Bay until we got to Monhegan Island where we turned and ran downwind. This is the type of sailing I came to Maine for. We saw seals and had a pod of dolphins swimming around  the boat for a while. We entered Tenant’s Harbor and turned into Long Cove where we anchored. We rode over to High Island where we ran into Les who is heading the Cape Dory cruise next week. He is  intragal in getting High Island preserved for public use. It is a beautiful typically Maine island. It is covered in spruce trees with the moss just dripping from the branches. And the shore is rocky as they come. At low tide there is a nice lagoon with a sandy bottom that makes a great swimming hole. The water is actually ( relatively) warm.

July 17^th It was pouring when we got up so we just stayed in bed and listened to the rain on the cabin roof. I have always loved that sound. As it was kind of foggy we decided to stay another day. We rowed over to the island again and explored it a little more fully. This time there was a falling tide so I didn’t worry so much about the dinghy floating away. There are some very interesting rock formations and the colors of the stone is just amazing. We met up with a bunch of kayakers there who all turned out to be graduates of Sterling College in Vermont. One couple lives in Enosburg and used to hang out at CSC . The fog rolled in big time and by sunset I couldn’t see 100 yards. The only way I could see the boats around me was because of their anchor lights.

July 18^th The fog was just as thick this morning and not even the lobster boats were moving. It was incredible how sound travels in the fog and just how small your world gets. Visibility was less than 50 yards so we decided, you guessed it, to stay here another night. 

    The fog finally cleared out by around 12:30 and Tom G in his Bristol Channel Cutter stopped by and offered us a ride into town. Town was the dock a general store and a couple of other houses so it didn’t take long to check it all out. We did meet Les again on the dock and had a nice conversation with him.

   Thunderstorms blew in in the evening and the wind picked up quite a bit. After a series of storms blew through and not much rain the night calmed right down.

July 19^th We departed long Cove finally and had a very nice reach to the mouth of the Muscle Ridge Channel on NW 5-10 winds. Then we beat up the channel until we were near Dix Island and the wind petered out. From here we did it all, motored , sailed, and motor sailed until we entered Rockland Harbor. Then of course the wind picks up from the NW. Anyway we finally got tied to a mooring at the Journey’s End Marina. Another boater stopped and offered to tow me in and showed me where everything was. 

   This is another quaint touristy town. The main street is filled with shops and galleries selling the same old stuff except this time it says Rockland or Maine on it. Still it has a nice feel to it and there     are more gorgeous boats than you can imagine. We are interviewing marinas for hauling the boat and this place seems like it has what we are looking for so we may spend the winter here. Well the  boat might anyway.

          

  

July 11th We left around 10:00 to catch the ebbing tide. It was a gorgeous day with 5- 10 out of the NW. We had a very nice sail, sailing up to the Goslings to have a look. We then sailed down the passage through a sea of lobster buoys. At least it adds a bit of color as every one has a different color scheme. We sailed down past Little Birch Island and around into Potts Harbor where we tied up to a mooring at the Dolphins. There is not much to see and do off the boat here but it is a beautiful spot. We went to the Dolphin Restaurant which is famous for its fish chowder and blueberry muffins. Of course we didn't have the chowder ( next time).
    It was a very quiet night until around 5:00 or so when every fishing boat in Maine went by right along side our boat. It was quite rocking and rolling until around 7 when they had all left and it was quiet again.

July 12th- It was flat calm seas this morning as we motored out past some very rugged coast line and a couple of beautiful islands. Once we got out past most of the rocks and hazards we put up the sails and broad reached to the mouth of the New Meadow River. Now the wind just pushed us up the river until it became too narrow and hazard filled. We motored to a narrow cut in the shore and down a river like passage for about a 1/4 mile. This inlet was filled with lobster buoys and had a good current fortunately it was favorable for us and after a bunch of twists and turns shot us out into this large pool. It is about the size of Converse Bay and just lined with rocks and trees. We anchored in about 15 feet of water at mid tide.  A CD 36 came in right after us and went over and talked to them.
    It was a very quiet night and it was a beautiful morning as the water was like a mirror.

July13th- We left about 7:30 in order to catch the tide not only here but to have the right tide at our destination. There was very little wind and we just ended up motoring the 25 miles. I tried sailing around Sequin Island but to no avail. We motored up the Sheepscot River which is very pretty in a typical Maine way. Everything is a little more interesting looking at low tide as there are more rocks exposed. I was going to take one of the smaller channels but with the low tide it looked barely wide enough to fit the boat.
    We pulled into Riggs Cove and Robinhood Marine. This is the adopted home of Cape Dory. There are quite a few here of every size. There's not much to do here as the marina is isolated but there are plenty of CD's around to admire.

We left Portland with a bit of trouble. With the tide and the wind we had a hard time backing out of the slip. We eventually backed all the way out and were on our way. The wind was NE 5-10 right where we wanted to go. Anyway we put up the sails and beat into it. It was a nice sail except for having to dodge all the hazards. Once it got too narrow we put the motor on and motored into South Freeport where we picked up a mooring in the river. The marina was having a band on the deck with food so we availed ourselves and enjoyed the music.
    It was really quiet here at night. With no wind banging halyards and waves slapping at the hull and for the first time in a while no sirens it was quiet.


Saturday July 9th The forecast calls for rain all day so we decided to stay here. We walked into Freeport and went to LL Bean. It is impressive to see the place but it's not really us so we had a nice lunch and walked back. I heard from a guy who was supposed to have a CD rally this weekend but canceled it because of the weather. He thought we should still try and get together. So we hopped the ferry over to Bustin Island where he lives and met up with him and his family. He graciously showed us around his home and then we walked around the island. We caught the last ferry back and retired.

July 10th It rained most of the night and was raining when we got up so we decided to stay another day. We did manage to get off the boat for a walk between showers. The refrig was acting up so we emptied it and defrosted it. It seems to be OK now.

July 2nd As per tradition we have decided to sit today so we motored around the corner and anchored in Sandy Bay. This is a fairly large anchorage with good holding. It must be good holding because we saw some awful anchoring techniques and they held fine. There were 15 -20 boats in here now. The tide is 10 feet which can make for some challenging anchoring. We rowed over and walked to a farmers market and then just sort of hung out and walked around this bustling little town. It was very quaint and iconic.

July 3rd- W walked a bit further into town and did a much needed laundry. Again we just hung out all day and watched the anchoring wars and people watched in town. It was a pretty lazy day. It appears that owning a mega yacht on the ocean does not guarantee that you know how to anchor.

July 4th- Due to the fact that there will be a huge bonfire on the beach tonight and we have been told to expect a couple hundred boats in the bay we decided to leave. We had a nice reach until noon or so and then the wind petered out. We just kept mosieing along as we didn't want to get there too early. By the time we pulled into the Isle of Shoals there were still plenty of people but a mooring opened up and we tied on. Moorings are free and the anchor holding is poor so...
    This place is nothing but a rock that sticks a few feet above the ocean. There are only a couple of trees on the island. There is however a large old hotel and conference center. They hold semi-religious retreats for families and such. There are over 300 people here now. We took the launch in and the driver told us where we could go and where we shouldn't. It was still a very pleasant hike around the island with great vistas. We were allowed to walk through the lobby of the hotel which was impressive.
   I have been impressed by the clarity of the water. I could see my anchor yesterday in 30 feet of water. Later that night we could see fireworks from a half dozen shore communities.

July 5th- The day dawns cloudy and cool as we motored out of the bay. There wasn't much wind but it was behind us so  we rolled out the jenny and motor sailed. The sun would come out and then the fog would roll in. Visibility was sometimes only a couple of hundred yards but with the GPS   it was fine. We eventually sailed a bit but about 5 miles out we rolled everything up and motored. We didn't see land all day until we were within a 1/2 mile of shore. The anchorage was through a narrow cut in the rocks with waves breaking on one side but once through it was a fairly wide open pond. This is Stage Island. It was very pretty here but it was not particularly protected. The holding was good and the water was clear enough I could watch the anchor dig in. It was low tide so we rowed in to walk on the mud flats. It was a very impressive how large these became as the tide lowered. After a while we looked up and we could see the boat through the fog. It eventually got so foggy it more or less rained. It eventually cleared later in the evening and there were tons of stars out. There were also all these phosphorescent creatures blinking on and off in the water.
    It got a little rolly when the tide went over the breakwater but the wind was still light. In the morning we saw a seal sunning itself on the rocks and the water was so clear I could watch the lobster swimming into the trap underneath us.

July 6th We left early to catch the tide and there was zero wind. The ocean was as flat as a mill pond. We motored into Portland and took a slip at the South Portland Marina. Here we met up with Richard and Debbie who were cruising buddies of Bob and Liz who we had met earlier. Its this kind of comraderie that I was hoping to have more of. We went out to dinner with them in Portland and had a great time trading stories. We will sit here for another day to wait out some crappy weather and then on into Casco Bay.

We sat in Onset all day. It was another beautiful day and windless day. We walked into town and did some grocery shopping. I took the dinghy out for a nice sail. It was a nice quiet and relaxing day.

June 26th Sunday  We left Onset at 8:00 to catch the tide in the canal. We shot through the canal like a watermelon seed between your fingers. We exited around 9:45 and headed for Province town. It was pretty flat and no wind so we ended up just motoring across the bay. We tried to sail for a little while but there was not enough wind. We did have the jenny out which helped and added a couple of knots to our speed. The harbor was very busy as we wound our way through to a mooring.
   The town was pandemonium, there were people of all sorts just streaming around with bike walking and mopeds and cars!! There are tons of eclectic shops and restaurants. It was a pretty bumpy night as the anchorage is kind of exposed to the south and the wind had picked up considerably.
   
June 27th Monday We rented  and rode up to the Cape Cod National Seashore. This is a really beautiful place. The bike path is the best way to see it as it winds through the pine covered dunes down to these wide sandy beaches. We saw a seal swimming there and there are warnings out for Great white Sharks who feed on seals.
   Town was almost as busy as yesterday which is fun. The wind is still up so I'm expecting another bouncy night.

Friday, July 1, 2016

June 28th We left P-town about 8:30 and after tacking a few times. After leaving  bay we took off on a broad reach all the way across to Plymouth. This is whale country as this is  a sanctuary for them. I'm not sure whether I want to see an animal that is bigger than my boat. It was a nice broad reach all the way until the entrance to Plymouth harbor. The entrance is long and winding and there are many buoys. There is a cachopy of bells,gongs ,and whistles from all the buoys. we finally got tied up at the end of the breakwater and took a water taxi a long way  into the pier. We walked down to the Mayflower and the less than inspiring Plymouth Rock. This is the smallest state park in Ma. but the most visited.

June29th We wound our way back out to the ocean only to find a cloudy windless day. We did some more motor sailing and ended up in Scituate harbor. There was some confusion as the mooring the launch kid told me to pick up turned out to be a lobster pot. After more senior people arrived we were moved to the correct mooring. There we walked into a farmers market and bought some groceries.

June 30 We sailed for a couple of hours this morning into a NW 5-10 knot breeze until it died completely and we motored until the entrance to Boston harbor. This proved to be a maze of channels and islands that was very confusing. there was a bridge shown on the charts that did not exist anymore. We got to Spectacle Island marina and took a free mooring. This island was a garbage dump for Boston until the 90's when they decided to clean up the harbor. They capped it with fill from the Big Dig and made a park of it. The views are spectaclular of the city and surrounding islands. This is a seaglass collectors paradise. The beach is filled with bits of glass and pottery from the dump days. Its pretty cool to find a piece of pottery that someone used a 100 years ago.

   Other than that it was a very bumpy night. The main ferry route and not to mention every boat  in Boston seemed to go by and the wakes were exhausting. It finally calmed down only to have the jets from Logan change their course right over the top of us.

July 1 We left to a windless day but as we came around the corner of the island there was a large tanker coming out of Boston. Coasties with machine guns chased us away from it until it was passed. Following that was a Navy Cruiser coming into port for the 4th.

   Then it was a 30 mile broad reach until we turned the corner of Mass. at Cape Ann. It was a great sail past all the coast of Northern Ma. until we arrived in Rockport. We got into the harbor at low tide and it felt like being at the bottom of a bowl. The tide is 11 feet here and there were all kinds of people lining the walls looking down on you. This is a very quaint little town and we are enjoying it. We have met several other sailboats in here. I asked the harbor master about buying some diesel and he told me to go down and see Billy Lee in this derelict fishing boat. Sure enough he pumped some diesel out of his tanks. Big thunderstorms are due tonight!!

In case any one was wondering the last place we stayed was in Newport RI. This has to be the sailing capital of the US. There were tons of beautiful sailboats everywhere. We watched 12 meter yachts racing and just some gorgeous yachts at anchor.
   We fueled up (6gal)and took on water for the tanks and then departed around 9:15. There was very little wind if any, so we resigned ourselves to motoring. About 10 mile out we were passed by a Nonsuch with his sails up and so I rolled out the jenny. What a difference!! We were going along at 4 knots and being bounced all around by the swells and then boom away we went at 5.5 knots. With  the sails full it really made the boat behave better. We arrived in Cutty Hunk at 3:30.
    This is the last of the Elizabethan Island chain and is a real gem. There are cars but there is only like 2 miles of road on the island. everyone drives around in golf carts or ATV's. We met a guy from Randolf VT who's family has a house on the island.
    We got out and walked around and hiked up to a look out with a beautiful 360 view. We had been there before with the kids. This is an old gun emplacement left over from WW 2 to keep a lookout f

or German U boats.
   When we got back to the boat I saw that Jim H. in his boat Xena had arrived. He is bringing his boat to Maine also and he is from Vermont.

Friday June 24th  We left around 8:30 and entered Buzzard's Bay. the wind was NE 10-15 which was right where we wanted to go. We ended up beating all day into the wind. It really reminded us of lake Champlain. Beating into the short steep waves because of the tide reminded us of heading to Valcour. It was a beautiful day though and the wind was perfect. Once the tide changed the waves got much smaller. Its really incredible the color of the water. Its this intense emerald green.
   We tried tacking for a mile on either side of the rhumb line and that kept us moving pretty good. On some tacks in the morning we got a good boost from the tide but on the other tack not so much. anyway we did 27.3 nm in 6.5 hours to go 14 nm. Finally at Cleveland Ledge ( the control point for the Cape Cod Canal) we took down the sails and started motoring. Of course this was directly against the full ebb tide so we crawled to a mere 2 kts over the ground. anyway we finally got into Onset marine and picked up a mooring. Jim H pulled in right behind us. We are going to spend an extra day here.

We left Westerly around 8:00 to a bright calm day. We motored out by Stonington and there was still not much wind so we motored out through the reefs and then put up the sails. We lugged around for a few minutes until the wind filled in. We sheeted in the sails and ran close hauled all the way to the Block Island entrance. We picked up a town mooring and right in front of us was a CD 31. Turns out they live in Vt in the winters.
    We walked around and had a beer at the Oar. A big t-storm rolled through at 6am but after that it cleared out and was a very nice day. We rented bikes and rode around the whole island. Mohegan Bluffs was my favorite part. Towering cliffs right down to a small beach. There was a stairway so we could go down and check out the ocean.
    On Wednesday (6/22) we headed out at 10:00am to very light winds. We sailed for about 5 miles before the wind died. There were 5 foot swells and no wind so it was like a washing machine. We rolled all around until we took down the sails and motored. Around Point Judith the wind picked up so we rolled out the Jenny. We made it into Conanicut marina where we picked up a mooring.
    We had spent a couple of days here 17 years ago. It is amazing how much we remember. There was a pizza place that we ate at that still looks the same. It's kind of like deja vu all over again.

We had a great weekend in the Westerly Yacht club. Everyone here has been very friendly and accommodating. The weather was just gorgeous. Sue and John and their kids came down on Friday night and we grilled out and then drove into Watch Hill to walk around.  On Saturday they had sailing school so I rigged up the dinghy and went sailing. Not much wind but it was the first time sailing the dinghy in salt water. In the afternoon we raised the mast and launched John's Highlander 20 sailboat. And that night we went to a concert in the park at Westerly. The Boston pops orchestra along with the Westerly Chorus gave a great show. There must have been 10,000 people in the park. There was canon fire, church bells and fireworks all under a beautiful full moon. Alas no T Swift.
    Sunday we drove up to Tolland to meet with my parents and our kids for  Father's Day. We did laundry and recharged all the electronics. We had a great grilled tuna lunch. Emily drove us back and we stopped and went grocery shopping.
    It appears the refrigeration unit will require us to run the motor at least every 3 days. On the third day the battery indicator showed no lights so we ran the motor for about a 1/2 hour on Sunday morning and hopefully that will be enough.

In with the big boys

The wind howled all night long. Later we heard people saying they saw gusts to 50 knots on their wind meters. That's why I don't have one, it would just scare me to know that. I like pretending the wind was lighter. When we got up the wind was nw 15 with gusts to 25 (NOAA). We left the mooring around 7:15 and rolled out a little Jenny. It was fine until we turned the corner of City Island where it was slightly ahead of us. It lightened up around Execution Rock ( love that name for a hazard) so we put a reef in the main and away we went.
   The motor had a strange odor to it this morning and so when I checked it out it turned out the alternator belt had burned up. Fortunately I had a spare which I threw right on.
    We cruised along with the wind on our beam and being pushed by the tide. About 3 miles outside Port Jefferson the wind lightened up and the waves were odd. The sails were flogging away so we dropped them and motored into Port Jeff. It must have been some sort of tidal rip. We turned left (west) just inside the entrance channel and anchored in about 25 feet of water. 37.5nm in 7:30.
    Met a couple of boats here. One from Milwaukee doing the great loop and another from Montreal. They keep their boat on Lake Champlain. It was pretty windy to start the night but it calmed down later. A good test for the new anchor which performed admirably.

June 14th.  It dawned a bright sunny day and the winds were still NW so we headed off across the sound around 7:30. Broad reach sailing!!! We had 10-15 knots of nw wind for about 20 miles before it dropped off. We bounced around for a while until it picked back up and we raced down the CT shore. It shifted SW so we gibed and broad reached again. 40 miles in 9 hours now that's sailing. We motored into the mouth of the CT River around a point into North Cove. We picked up a free mooring. This is a federally designated harbor of refuge so you can tie up to any mooring for free. However if the person renting that mooring comes back you are expected to move. The lines on the one I picked up were so shabby that I was positive no one had been on it in years.
    We dinghied in to the town dock and walked into Old Saybrook. This is a nice neat little town.
    One thing about ocean travel is the salt. It gets everywhere. The boat is covered in a layer of salt. The lines, dodger windows, even us are just encrusted with salt.

June 15th. It was a very quiet and still night. We left at 8:00 in order to catch the tide. And catch it we did. It swept us right down the sound. Of course the 10-15 SW wind right behind us helped. Around New London after gibbing a couple of times we rolled up the genny and went with the main alone. We hardly even slowed down and now we could go directly down wind.  We pulled into Stonington/ Westerly around 1:00 and anchored behind Napatree in about 5 feet of water. We walked on the beach and into Westerly where they have plenty of shops selling the same overpriced crap as everywhere else. We watched a fleet of Herrshoff 15s race. Had to move the boat into deeper water as we would have hit at low tide but holding is good everywhere in here. Finally switched water tanks to the bilge tank.
    One thing that I'm still having trouble getting used to is the pace of this life. You really have to slow down. If something is a mile away it takes 20 minutes to get there. 20 miles away is 5 hours. We've only been out two weeks so hopefully the adjustment is near.

June 16th.  After a very calm night we got up and walked down the beach again. Around 10:00 we hauled anchor and motored up the river to the Westerly Yacht Club. My brother-in-law John had arranged a slip for us for the weekend. The slips here are pilings and while everyone else is stern to we put in bow to. Mostly because this boat doesn't back up and we have never done this kind of dock before. We got plenty of advise from all the kibbutzers about how to tie her up. Anyway she's spider webbed in here.
    There was a big vote at the yacht club last night about whether to allow women members. It was all the talk on the docks. It was defeated!!?? It was a very calm day and we walked a ways down the road. My niece Emily stopped to visit with us before her sailing lesson.

We stayed at the Harlem Yacht Club last night. There were big thunderstorms in the area but none really affected us. We got off the boat( they have a launch service) and walked through City Island. We went out to eat at a place called Artie's. I had sautéed crab which I had never had before. It was a calm night but we got up in the morning to 25-30 knot winds so we decided to stay here another night.
   In the morning we walked the entire length of City Island, all of 2 miles. The Main Street is lined with restaurants. We reprovisioned at the local IGA. Emptied the head out today also.

Well I have found that in order to do this blog I need to have a wifi connection and while marinas all say they have good wifi coverage the reality is not. Most of the time you have to hang out in the laundry room or sit on a curb outside the  office. Anyway it is hard to keep up on a daily basis so here is a synopsis of whats happened so far.
   On the trip down from Fort Ti it rained almost the whole way. We stopped at the Fort Edward yacht basin and the Purdy's came over and brought us home for dinner.
   We left Monday morning at 7:30 and made good time. The current was strong from all the rain and it boosted us along. We made Troy around 5:00 and tied up to the town dock. We walked around Troy and memory lane as this is where we met many years ago.
   Some canal notes. I have found that the auto pilot is not precise enough to steer the narrow channels and so we ended up hand steering for the most part. There was very little traffic to start but we ended up  having to wait for the last 3 locks.  Took on 8.6 gallons of diesel at Troy.
   We left Troy at 8:30 and rode a favorable current all the way until Athens/Hudson where we slowed considerably. There were storms threatening but we arrived at Catskill Creek at 3:30 and tied up under the mast crane. Here we met Skip Taylor and another 2 couples who were on their trawlers for a year voyage. They had done the Great Loop and were headed to Lake Champlain to finish up. This is a very nice place and they were very competent in getting the mast back up. We spent an extra day here turning her back into a sailboat. It also rained all day so it was a good lay day.
  We left Catskill at 7:15 with a favorable tide. We were doing close to 6 knots over the ground. The wind piped up NW so I rolled out some jenny and we really took off. We hit 8 knots at times. We were going so well when we hit Pookipsie that we kept going and we flew right past Newburgh also. The wind was now in the 20-25 knot range. Once we turned the corner into Storm King Mountain I expected the seas to calm. Unfortunately the wind was straight down the reach and the waves were 4 feet or more. We finally rounded the corner at West point and the seas calmed. We tied up to the wall at Garrison yacht club. It was a little exposed but we managed all right. There are no services here other than a bathroom. We did 53 nm in 10 hours!!! For a small out of the way place it was incredibly busy all night. Between the tugs and barges and the ubiquitous trains  it never really calmed down.
   We left at 6:30 again with a favorable tide and we ran great. Again I ran out some jenny and we took off. We made the GW bridge by 1:00 and then the tide turned. It wasn't so bad as the flood current is small this time of month. The Hudson in this section of NY is a caldron of wakes and water taxis. I left the sail up because it helped to settle the boat. We got to Liberty Landing Marina around 3:30. We had a bit of trouble getting into the slip  but everybody was patient with us and we finally got settled down. This is an amazingly posh ( read expensive) place but this weekend the Whitbread 60's from the Clipper around the world race were arriving. There were 10 or 12 of the massive boats with all their crew. They had everything strung out to dry. Heading out to the sound tomorrow so here's hoping I have Hells Gate figured out. 43 nm in 8 hours.

Well while I wasn't planning to leave until Sunday or Monday the weather window opened on Saturday and it wouldn't be open for long so we decided to take off. We got off around 10:00 after  swinging by Roger and Marie's boat where he gave us a bottle of wine to celebrate. Thanks Roger!
   The winds were light south and it was very warm. We motored along at speed getting to know the boat and get back in the swing of things. It will take a while to find everything and to get back into the rhythm of the boat. As we neared the Ticonderoga paper mill I noticed a CD in the distance and it turned out to be Doug Jessman. He is the president, treasurer, secretary etc of the Lake Champlain chapter of the CD owners Assoc. and he sails a CD36 which is a very pretty boat. We sailed with him and his friend Roger into the anchorage at Fort Ti. We went over to his boat and had cocktails.
   They left for the night and we had the whole place to ourselves. It was the least buggy I have ever seen this place. In a dumb move I was trying to get the portable anchor light to work and when nothing else worked a swung it in an arc on its leash which quickly parted and I watched as it sailed over the side and into the deep. Oh well it wouldn't work anyway!?? It was a very quiet night. 30.1 nm in 6:30.

She was finally launched and the mast taken down. preparations are now well under way. Provisioning and stores are being brought onboard.
   I added a few amenities for this trip. I added an Isotherm refrigeration unit as well as insulating the icebox. A new VHF radio which has GPS and AIS included was added as well as a new Garmin GPS chartplotter. Also I switched anchors from the old CQR to a new Rochna anchor. I can only hope all of these things work as thereis really no way to test them until we are underway. We are just waiting now for the weather to be nicer before leaving.

The trip is in the planning stages now. All the gear is installed and I'm starting to put food aboard. We are still on schedule to depart in early June. Charisma will be launched on Friday and if the motor works and she putts along I'll have the mast stepped next week.