Log of September 12, 2008

Friday Sept 12, 2008

George was woken early by the Burnt Coat fishing Coop members heading out to work. So he started our charcoal fire so that it was nice & cozy by the time we got up around 7. We remembered the fantastic anchoring techniqwue of Schooner Heritage which came in last night just before sunset.

9:15 We dropped our mooring around[?] & headed East through the exhilarating channel heading to Somes Sound. Then we raised the main & unfurled the jib to head North going W of the Sisters Islands. The tide was ebbing so the current was against us. We sailed between Beach Is. & Placentia where, interestingly, there was little current.
Then we turned East between Little Gott & Black & there was a strong fair current even though the tide was still ebbing. We saw a porpoise or two here in the swirling currents.
Then we bore off for the Western Way, the wind was S, it was building, we went fast! By the dime we got to S. unker lLedge we were doing 7 knots with main & a bit of jib.
We did reef when we were closer in to SW Harbor. We toured around in SW Harbor & saw Kay Evans' families' summer house w/ the real estate sign in the yard. Then we headed on into Somes Sound--arriving at Valley Cove around 2:30. The cliff was impressive but with rain threatening it seemed bleak so we determined to continue on to Somes Harbor [Somesville]. We did note the plaque on the cliff wall at Valley Cove dedicated to the donors of the land to the public in the 19th Century.
We passed the Williams boatyard with a remarkable 8 meter and a nice red Rosinante. The wind continued to be very strong from the SW. We arrived in Somes Harbor ~3:30 and anchored on the SW end getting some shelter fron the trees. Just then the rain started so we had tea inside. While having tea we spied a charming pair of loons who were friendly to each other near us.
George & Betsy zodiaced to the dinghy dock and walked for provisions (right) & to the bookstore (left).

This was a great day. All new territory for North Wind and lots of interesting sights along the way. It was high water as we came out the little tickle North of Harbor Island, so that wasn't as dramatic as at low water, but the passage around Black Island was spectacular. Then in the building Southerly, we had a rousing sail up the Western Way and, after our fly-by of SWH, it continued on up Somes Sound. Somesville was a lovely snug destination and we managed to find a good protected spot to anchor under the lee of Mason Point and just clear of the mooring field. Beautiful place to be sheltered on a windy, foggy, rainy afternoon. Made our warm dry cabin a very cozy place to be.

Log of September 11, 2008

Thursday, Sept. 11--

Beautiful morning. Sailed off mooring at 7:35 in the light NE breeze. Sailed about 40 min & then motored due to light headwind. Our goal is points E entered by Deer Isle Thoroughfare.

Our plan for the next couple of days is to sail East to Somes Sound so we can get Betsy to a plane out of the Trenton airport around noon on Saturday. We hope to make our way to Burnt Coat Harbor on the south side of Swan's Island tonight.

After rounding Webster Head & Oak Hill, we bore away and gave a try to the spinnaker with Lisa on the sheet. This was ~9:45 or so. Lovely time without the motor but progress was minimal. The current is S but we didn't get very far E.

11:00 Snack & give up on spinnaker.

11:20 Started motor and headed straight toward buoy off Deer Isle Thor.

11:35 Passing red nun, entering Stonington.

12:25 Sailing (!) as West breeze has filled in. Taking new route (for us) through islands (Little Camp, Potato, etc).
Stonington was lousy with schooners. Victory Chimes, Am. Eagle, Nathaniel Bowditch & 3 others in sight/anchored nearby. Lobster boats enjoying speeding past near us so we can feel big wake.
Nice watching Heritage coming to anchor at McGlathery as we headed past toward Colby Ledge before heading East to Toothacher Bay & Burnt Coat Harbor.

This was a really fun spur of the moment detour. We were sailing past Stonington in a light westerly and as we came past Scott I. the half-tide rock to the west of it was clearly visible, making it easy to reach past and head south there. I put up the helm and we threaded our way down through the islands. Much more enjoyable than running slowly through the rest of the Thoroughfare.

1545 In the harbor touring around having sailed in and lowered sail.
Picked up a green rental mooring (#4) belonging to "The Boat House". Then ashore to the Coop to leave $20 for the owner and take a short walk.

There seems to be a good anchorage just east of the mooring field. Heritage came in at sunset and did a lovely job of a flying anchor over there. The chart doesn't show much water, so it bears careful investigation.

1645 Back aboard for tea. Boat names in this harbor: Atonement, Emanuel, Prince of Peace, , Fifth Day, Fortunate Son, Bread of Life, Sparrow, Daily Bread, Trial by Fire, not to mention, Monkeys Uncle, Busy Bee (with yellow & black trim) & Rughless, Daddy's Helpers & Belinda B.
Note--while in the Fisherman's Coop we found the jar for donation to rebuild the burned Swan's Island Library (which Lisa was seeking) and she made a donation.

Log of September 10, 2008

Sept 10

6:30 Beginning to stir. Wind came NW in the night as expected. Clear, COOL.

7:15 Drop mooring. Heading by motor to Castine YC for showers, then to Cast. Variety for provisions. Pancakes will be 1st thought.

10:30 Casting off town dock after shower + provisioning. Heading around Turtle Head. Suiting up w/full foul weather gear due to surf spray & white caps.

12:30 Rounded Turtle Head having motor/beaten with bouncing strong NW wind 15-20 knots. Finally able to bear off a bit & turn off motor.

1:00 Heading for mainland shore where we will bear off further & head for Gilkey. Hopefully, this more sheltered course will allow for lunch.

1:30 Under west shore, south of Belfast, running out the West Bay--Soup & sandwiches and views of a very attractive bold shore.

2:00 Entering Gilkey Harbor - running fast through and out the south end - no seals hauled out on the ledges today. Cut across to the East Bay between Lasell I to the north and Saddle to the south and a fast broad reach across to Pulpit.

3:30 in Pulpit, dropping sail.

4:00 On a purloined mooring further in than usual. Then short walk ashore, cocktails, etc.
Walk included harvesting a few apples and a wild flower centerpiece. Chicken Fusion then bed.

Today and yesterday we experienced the passage of a very powerful front and its aftermath. It has been really interesting weather--an extreme example of what we see all the time as warm humid weather is replaced with cooler, drier air by the passage of a cold front. In this case, the tropical air following Hanna has been exceptionally warm and unstable with a really strong cold front bringing up the rear and returning us to seasonable temperatures. Happily, we have been in sheltered water with flat seas and good anchorages, so it was really an exciting show and not much to worry about.

Log of September 9, 2008

Sept 9 - Tuesday

8:00 Enjoying muffins in the cockpit admiring the loon diving for his breakfast nearby. Nice SW breeze. Lovely sunshine.

9:30 Weighing anchor heading N. perhaps to Holbrook. Expecting a storm later. Single reef. Headed East out the Fox I. Thorofare then NW past Scrag & north between Horse Head & Colt Head. Tucked in second reef.

1240 SW of Cape Rosier - thunder squall - thunder, lightning, strong WSW wind, torrential rain - struck mizzen & rolled up 1/2 jib. Headed 015M @ 5 1/2-7 1/2 for passage S of Holbrook I and a HIS mooring in Tom Cod Cove.

1345 Tom Cod Cove. Squall is past, leaving light rain & a moist S'westerly.

1500 A Cape Dory 36 picked up the other HIS mooring close aboard. Shortened up on the mooring pennant & made a bridle from two looped dock lines. Riding better

1650 Still misty-moisty. Wind is up and down from SW.

2000 D&Ss, wonderful pasta feed & Valmissine Pinot Noir. We can see the clear sky to the west as the back end of the front approaches us. Short shower.

This was one of the wildest weather days we have had. In many respects more dramatic than Hanna. Taken together, it has been a really dramatic few days. But between the big events, it has been quite nice. The boat has taken good care of us throughout.

Log of September 8, 2008

Monday Sept 8

7:00 Glassy calm morning. Beautiful cool clear weather.
Set out promptly, motoring to BBY to p/u Lisa & Doc.

8:15 Breakfast on the dock in Center Harbor.

8:45 Set out for North Haven

9:40 Set out again for N. Haven having returned for forgotten luggage.
Motor sailed most of the way to be sure to get the 3:30 ferry (which Ryck & Jenn needed to catch).
Had hoped that the SW breeze would turn southerly but it didn't. Route we took was down Jerrico Bay & thin Stonington for a scenic flyby. Tied up in N Haven around 3 at the Casino YC. Were able to buy ice but little else except some muffins for tomorrow morning and a chart placemat for general amusement.

4:30ish (16:30) headed for Perry Creek with crew of Lisa, Doc, Betsy & George. Anchored further in than usual having taken advantage of the high tide to explore safe locations.

5:30 Enjoying wine and snacks in beautiful setting. Blue yawl, blue ketch & trimaran for company. No mosquitoes.

6:30 Getting chilly, still no mosquitoes.

During wine + snacks we was a wonderful aerial engagement between a bald eagle and an osprey. When we first saw them, the eagle was in hot pursuit of the smaller bird, both of them twisting, diving and jigging. Doc got the binoculars on them in time to see that the osprey had a fish in his claws. The eagle bore down and snatched the fish away and soared away. The osprey in hot pursuit.

This was a bit of a rushed day, between doubling back in the morning and the wind not cooperating. But despite all, it worked out well, with a lot of good scenery, a look around North Haven village, excellent company and finally ending up in Perry Creek. For the record, my memory is that the fish dropped into the woods and neither bird ended up with it.

Log of September 7, 2008

Sunday Sept 7
0800 Wind backing more North after blowing from the East in the night. Rain has stopped & the clouds are getting higher with patches of blue, but none yet big enough for Dutchman's Britches. We are hoping to run down into the Reach later today, perhaps to Benjamin River.

10-10:30 Hoisted anchors after extensive work the full twists out of the 2 anchors. George retrieved anchors in reverse order of setting.

10:30 Departing Smith Cove noting other vessels struggling with tangled anchor rodes or, in the case of one large wedding cake yacht, attempting to untangle chains with thrusters, twin screws and cursing (he finally appeared in the Castine channel two hours later.)

11 - Tied up at Castine town dock. Drained 6" of water from the dinghy, refloated it & put outboard back on. Also, bought NYT and provisions. The rain of the prior night did a fabulous job of power washing North Wind's cabin top and side decks (although by nightfall they were all muddy again.) Lunch at the dock.

1:00 [aka 1300] Sailed single reefed from Castine in a strong NW breeze. Made good time past Cape Rosier in sparkling conditions. Turned East for Egg. Reach and did a scenic fly-by of Bucks Harbor.
Emerged from Bucks, famished at 3:30 and had 3:40esis aka 20 of 4'sis or 1540esis. Sort of like tea but with no tea.

5:15 In Benjamin River after a leisurely sail in the Reach, the wind having gone light. With Betsy at the helm we missed the awesome ledge by a safe margin aided by the peak of the tide.

* Anchored at the far N edge of the mooring field.
Enough breeze that we could have Dark n' Stormys in the cockpit while keeping mosquitoes at bay.

We managed to have the aftermath without ever really getting the storm. Best of both worlds, really. The rainfall was dramatic.

Castine, Smith Cove, the water around Cape Rosier and into Eggemoggin Reach are my childhood sailing grounds. Beautiful waters with great sailing and a ton of great destinations. Despite this, I have only been into Benjamin River on rare occasions. It was poorly marked when I was a kid, but it is an easy place to get into now with a crowded mooring field. Nice spot, but not a secluded one, by any means.

Log of September 6, 2008

Saturday - 6 Foggy morning, slow morning.

1110 Underway with 1/4 mi visibility for Castine. All plain sail. Light Sotherly - scaled up off Seal Cove - lots of good misty views of the Camden Hills. Rounded Turtle head & into thick o' fog in East Bay. Scaled up near the Castine Bell.

3:05 Tied up at Castine YC. Ran into old friend/shanghaied by David Bix to go see Peter Tenney at Peter's niece's big roast wedding (Ryck + George).
Betsy & Jenn toured the town on foot.
Early lobster at Dennett's Wharf.

6:30-7:40 - Anchoring at Smith Cove in rain. Set claw first to windward. Then the regular anchor. Spot was far SE corner behind Sheep Is.

7:55 Break out eh booze, chashews, raisins & music.
-awaiting Hurricane Hanna remnants

8:15 Hanna!! Tropical rain has arrived big time.

9:55 Listening to Hard Hearted Hannah on iPod.
Overnight--heavy rain and gusty wind, but nothing extreme. We lay under the hill to the east in quiet water. We ended up lying to the claw without incident.

This is about the best spot I know for a hurricane hole. but then again, it is my childhood stomping ground, so I'm sure there are lots of other good spots around. We were in there with a wedding cake power yacht, another cruising boat and what looked like a good size Alden ketch. We were closest under the bluff and had a very quiet night. If it had come on to blow hard from the west I would have preferred to be a bit further off the bricks.

Log of September 5, 2008

Friday, 5 Sept 08 - Light easterly & early clouds dissipate. Variable & Sunny.

0845 Underway, motoring to Rockland for provisioning & crew change.

1045 Alongside Knights Marine. Water & 22 gal Diesel (for ~37 hours motoring at

1700rpm) Marked stick & suspect it is a 25 gal, not 30 gal, tank.

1145 Along side town dock to change crew--Betsy arrived, Ryck & Jenn near.

14:10 Leaving dock in Rockland, heading to Warren Island/Gilkey.

1540 Fog rolled in--headed for Gilkey hbr 065M/3.75nm 4.5kts.
Fog has lifted--New slogan for the Pine Tree State, "Maine--Lousy with schooners."

16:30 Sailing past the Ensign Islands, a sweet passage up to Gilkey.

1800 (aka 6) Pick up Warren Island mooring under sail to the amazement of the sober(?) people on the shore.

This was the start of a fun short cruise with Ryck and Jenn which had a little bit of everything in the way of weather. The fog was in and out during this afternoon and we were listening to reports of the approaching tropical storm Hanna on the radio. We have been to the anchorage behind Warren Island a couple of times. Perhaps we will get ashore on the state park one of these days. It certainly seems like a nice spot.

Log of September 3 & 4, 2008

Pleasant night @ anchor in P-town
Good sky, tasty provisions, etc.

0530 Anchors aweigh, bound out & north.

0830 42° 07.0 N/70° 25.2 W GW taking over from Doc. Making good ~225/5kts.

1255 47° 17.98 N/70° 20.54 W tacked to Stbd.

By dawn the breeze was moderating and we set out with hopes of making better progress than yesterday. As we got out and clear of Race Point, the waves were still impressive, but not quite as short as the day before. But with two big wave trains crossing, some were very big and steep. Every now and then we would fall off a big one. And I think it was one of these which broke the mizzen mast step, a problem which showed up over the next few days, but was only properly diagnosed by the yard crew at Brooklin Boat Yard after the boat was hauled.

Later we learned that Steve White had been in the same area that day in Vortex, his Swede 55, and had broken the main bulkhead falling off one of these same transient cliffs.

As we came back inshore toward Cape Ann on the starboard tack, the seas calmed down and it became clear that we were going to be able to make good progress if we kept going overnight without exhausting ourselves. The wind was moderating as well.

1527 42° 28.7 N/70° 31.6 W Set Mizzen & unrolled jib--Left 1 reef in main. Wind veering so we are able to make good ~355M.

1555 Stopped engine--Making 4.5 kts+ under full sail.

1700 Back under power. Londoner on the Port Bow. Making good about 030M/5kts.

1955 42° 47.5 N/70° 22.7 W ~058/4.6kts.
GW 5:30-8:30; Tom 7:30-10:30; Doc 9:30-12:30
GW 11:30-2:30; Tom 1:30-4:30; Doc 3:30-6:30
GW 5:30-8:30; Tom 8:30-11:30; Doc 11:30-2:30
Motorsailing in a light easterly. About to heat Chili for dinner-clear sky sliver of a moon.

There are two variables I tinker with when setting up watch schedules on these deliveries. One is watch length and the other is overlap. In this case, I set three hour watches and had us stand one hour alone with an hour overlap before and after during darkness, with a full three hours alone during the day so we could catch up on our sleep. Sometimes I stretch the day watches to four hours, but that seemed as if it would be tedious this time.

2030 Breeze died - dropped sail & increased rpm to 1700 to maintain ~4.8 kts.

2314 42° 59.3 N/70° 08.4 W; 055M/5kts. motoring, sails down.

0024 Thursday Sept 04, '08. 43° 03.4 N/70° 02.5W; 055M 5.5kts.

0134 43° 07.7 N/69° 57.1 W 055/5.0kts Tom just cam on & reported a possible pee bucket emergency, which turned out, happily, to be a false alarm.

The pee bucket reference will be obvious to anyone familiar with North Wind. She is equipped with a composting head. It works well, but does require the pee bucket be emptied quite often.

0326 43° 14.4 N/069° 48.4W 050/5kts.

0430 43° 19.12 N 69° 43.68 W 050/5kts
light S wind fill in?

0526 43° 22.4 N/ 69° 40.6 W

1040 Monhegan ~4mi on the Stbd bow.
Sunny, hazy, warm morning. Light westerly, but not enough to sail.

1050 New course 055M for Whitehead I.

1145 Set sail jus W of Monhegan's N end.

With the afternoon ahead of us and a nice sea breeze filling in, we turned into day sailors and looked for a pretty route through the islands rather than just following the shipping lane up the bay. The added advantage was that it got the light breeze onto our quarter and the boat came alive.

1500 After setting sail we headed between Burnt I and Allen I, turned west to go south of Davis I and then back E. through Davis Straight. We then "followed the cable area" [Curtis & Rindlaub] into the mouth of Port Clyde & then continued out past Mosquito I. before turning n. toward the mouth of Tennants. Now we have gybe & are carrying a perfect 10 kt breeze down onto Whitehead I and the Muscle Ridges on a stbd tack. We are considering holding on for Pulpit if the wind holds.

1628 Exiting Fisherman I Passage bound for Pulpit. 060M ~5.8kts.

1900 Anchor down in Pulpit--the usual spot--Nice run over at about 4-5kts against the ebb. Impressive clouds, but no rain or big wind shifts. All is well. Dark & Stormys all around, salad & chili to follow.

23oo To bed, having solved the problems of the world.

A nice ending to a somewhat boisterous delivery with a lovely afternoon sailing through the islands and ending up in a favorite destination. The "usual spot" is straight in to about 16 feet of water a little beyond where the schooners anchor.

Log of September 2, 2008

9/2 Weighed anchor @ 0550, departed Parker's B.Y. @ 0645 with Tom G., Doc & GW. North wind, clear, tide fair in the canal. Bound for Rockland, ME.

0755--Entering Hog I. Channel.

0915--Boats ahead at East Entrance turning back & warning of rough seas & "20-30 kt winds." We set double reefed main & turned to buck the current while we battened down. Then...

0940 Snuck out the red side of the East Ent. Not too bad considering. Wind ~North 15-20 kts. Worked our way to Mizzen, double reefed main & 1/2 jib. Seas ~4 ft. out of the canal current.

1030 Set watch schedule: 9-12 Tom; 12-3 GW; 3-6 Doc; 6-9 Tom; 8-11 GW; 10-1 Doc; 12-3 Tom; 2-5 GW; 4-7 Doc. We will decide later if we will go overnight or shelter for a few hours.

1049 41° 49.5 N/70° 23.5 W. Making good ~080M 6kts.

1152 41° 52.0 N/70° 16.3 W.

1405--Setting course for P'town.

1445--Wood End abeam.

1535--Anchor down at the east end of the P'Town breakwater.
ESCAPE BEARING 160M

This was a rugged day. There had been a gale sitting offshore for days which was sending big lumpy seas in from the East and fairly strong headwinds. So we butted our heads against these "square" seas for the twenty-some-odd miles across Cape Cod Bay and were happy to pack it in with plenty of time to have dinner and a good night sleep before trying again the following day. With her shoal draft and buoyant ends, North Wind doesn't like short seas and strong headwinds. Her very middle aged crew has a limited tolerance for futile discomfort.