day two - Squid Cove

Morning comes calm and crystal clear.  Sounds of diesels on lobster boats rumble in the distance.  Motor over to the dock to get rid of trash from last night.  7:15 cast off, motor through the mooring field, sails up 7:25 in a nice little breeze.  Making 1.1 against the flood tide.  See splashes from seals as they feeding on schools of small fish. Tack and make 2.0.  Cool, almost chilly.  

Make another tack, 2.6.  8:05 Flye Island to port, Green Island with the small lighthouse ahead.  Less wind and doing under a knot off Green Island.  Small dark shapes on the water, some are lobster pot floats, others are seals watching the little yawl pass by.  

Enjoying the morning sail.  See a lobster boat, the MISS ELIZABETH, working pots nearby.  Turn off course to stay clear, then back on track.  Round Green Island, sailing at 2.1 with help from the flood tide.  9:05 Green Island to port, Tinker Island ahead.  9:35 passing Tinker Island, 1.0 and a lot of that is from the tide.  9:45 jibe to the northwest.

Sailing with wind on the stern.  10:10 jibe, 1.9.  10:40 jibe near the north end of Tinker Island, making 2.2 and then 3.1 as wind fills in over the port quarter.  Look back south and see the fog bank hanging offshore.  

11:00 more wind at Harriman Point, 3.7.  Jibe in confused water at the point. 11:35 an eagle flies overhead, sailing at 2.8 with Long Island to starboard, wind over the starboard quarter.  

12:00 4.4 downwind, Long Island to the east. 12:35 4.4 off Blue Hill Harbor.  Beneath a bridge to the west can see one of the waterfalls that comes and goes with the tide.  Boats out on moorings in the harbor.  12:55 jibe east, 4.4 with wind now on the beam.  Pass Woods Point and tiny Darling Island, then turn to cross Mount Desert Narrows.  

1:40 tack off the north end of Long Island.  1:50 tack again, 4.8.  Heading south into the wind between Long Island to the west and Newbury Neck to the east.  Blue skies, wind, waves and islands, what more could I ask for?  

2:05 tack.  2:15 tack.  2:30 sailing east to the north end of Barlett Island.  2:35 less wind, calmer water.  3:00 just off North Point on Barlett Island, with the tiny, rocky islet called The Hub just inshore.

3:20 come within sight of Galley Cove, a favorite anchorage on Barlett Island.  Two boats already there, a third boat heading that way.  Fall off to the east and pick out Squid Island.  Slip inside the island, easy tacking south on calm water of Squid Cove.  3:55 anchor down.

 24.86 NM

day one - a late start

A grating noise at 4 a.m.  Leaving a hotel parking lot near Boston, I get out of the truck to see a flat trailer tire.  I wonder how many hours, how many miles I drove with the large screw in the tire, the heat from the highway driving keeping air pressure high enough to seal the leak.  Overnight, with temperatures in the low 50, my luck ran out.

I call BoatUS, their trailer assist service having proven invaluable over the years.  But they can't find a tow company to help out, at least not at 4:30 a.m.  They ask me to call back at 7.  I do.  Tow truck there at 7:20, trailer jacked up and spare in place, back on the road after 8:00, just in time for rush hour.  

 

Finally reach Atlantic Boat Company in Brooklin at 3 pm.  Take my time rigging, it is low tide and need to wait for the tide to roll back in.  5:30 just enough water to launch.  Park the truck and trailer.  Back to the floating dock.  Cast off.

Too late to go anywhere, I tie up to a mooring.  Glad to be off the road, glad to be on the water.

 

the track

 More of a walkabout than a cruise, here is my track from the just-completed 29 day sail in Maine.  Apparently the people who control the weather did not get my message with plans to sail to Portland and back.  The weather did not cooperate.  So instead I went on a little walkabout and explored places I had bypassed the last few years.  Sailing Penobscot Bay and around Acadia, no complaints about that.  It was a good trip.

done

 The sail is done. On the road home now.  Twenty-nine days went by too quickly. 

waiting out the fog

The forecast rain for today slid by offshore.  The fog, however, is thick and persistent.  Waiting for the tide to change so I can begin working my east and north back towards the ramp. 

 

sailing away on a paper boat

Check out Matto’s nice video (link below)about the Pathfinder raft up at Vinalhaven.  Well done, Matto, thanks for the effort!  A lot of great memories there. 

 https://youtu.be/LO_AHwxCWgs

a Welsford Pathfinder raft-up

Had the great joy of a Welsford Pathfinder raft-up yesterday at Perry Creek on Vinalhaven.   Spartina had the good company of Bobby’s Lagniappe and Matto’s Trim.  Just a wonderful time with good friends.   Credit to Matto for the nice photo of the line-up below.

 

change in plans

Arrived in Belfast this afternoon.   Will sta here two nights. Time for resupply, laundry, etc. Good trip with some good weather and interesting sailing   Also some storms and fog that have cost me some time.   Delayed enough that I can’t sail to Portland and explore the rivers on the way back.  Instead I will explore Penobscot Bay and Merchants Row.   That sounds pretty good to me.  I hear there are a couple other Pathfinders around, hope to cross paths with them   

 

fog, friends and waiting out the weather

 

In Stonington for an iced tea (and WiFi)    Wind filling in and heading west.