tracking URL

 

Here is the tracking map for the fall sail,  or copy and paste the link at the bottom of this post.  Hope to start the Chesapeake Bay sail as soon as this nor'easter moves on.  Hopefully Sunday, maybe Monday.  It reminds me of the nor'easter that had me seeking shelter off the Patuxent River during last year's Bay sail.  Anyway, at least I'm not out there for this one.

https://maps.findmespot.com/s/NN47#history/assets

day twenty-seven - a morning walk

Morning comes with a light overcast and mild wind.  Gusts roll through the anchorage now and then.  The forecast calls for strong winds and rain in the afternoon.  Looking at the charts, I am already in the perfect spot for the weather.  But I've got time for a visit to Stonington before the rain arrives.

An easy sail, wind on the beam, makes for a short commute.  4.3 into the harbor.  Tie up at the town dock, just a couple of boats there on a grey day.

Ice tea and catch up on email at 44 North.  Then a walk along the waterfront.  A quick sandwich, cast off before noon with an easy sail back to Round Island.

Heavy rain arrives early evening.

 6.34 NM

day twenty-six - a sail through the islands

Morning comes with a welcome north wind.  All quiet on LOON to the south.  Sail off anchor 6:35.

I immediately put Bruce's local knowledge to use, four tacks north and then slip through the cut in the bar just below Pond Island.  

After so many foggy mornings, I delight in the warm sunshine.  The north wind is perfect to sail across to Merchants Row.

Terns feed on a tide line outside the cut. 7:15 less wind.  8:15 better wind at Green Ledge and can feel the strong ebb tide running.

8:35 pass between the two rocky islets marked on the chart as the Lazygut Thrumcaps.  8:45 making 2.8 and feel less of the running cross tide coming into Merchants Row.

10:20 tied up at the town dock in Stonington.  Iced tea and wifi at 44 North Coffee, then a salad for lunch at Stonecutters Kitchen.  Pick up a few items at the convenience store, cast off 12:20.

I find the afternoon wind is out of the south, blue skies and perfect day to wander around the islands south of Deer Isleand.  Full sail on Merchants Row.

Leave Green Island to port, cut north of St. Helena and Bare Islands, tack at the rocky shallows on the east side of Coombs Island.  Four tacks carry us to just south of Ram Island and from there I can see the windjammer ANGELIQUE anchored in the cove on the north side of McGlathery Island.  I take a turn into the cove and watch as they raise sail.  

ANGELIQUE heads east, I turn southwest between McGlathery and Gooseberry Island.  Follow the shore around McGlathery Island, pass the cut and jibe to Round Island at 3:15.  Follow the shore of Round Island and make a series of tacks between Round and McGlathery Islands, anchor down 3:40.  Just a great day on the water.

 

18.54 NM

day twenty-five - the lobster boil

Foggy, quiet morning on the Benjamin River.  I have no specific plans for the day.  Might head to Merchant's Row, might head to the Opecechee anchorage just above Swan Isle. Sail off the morning 7:20 with a light north wind.  A couple of tacks through the mooring field to enjoy the boats, then motor sail down the channel as wind falls off.

7:45 on the north edge of Eggemoggin Reach.  Wind, what little there is, is now out of the south.  Cold and damp with fog, I put on the wool sweater.  I get a text from Bruce, who had me out for a sail on his Friendship Sloop LOON.  

It is an enticing offer, one that persuades me that Opechee - an anchorage surround by Pond Island, Sheep Island, Black Island and Opechee Island - is now my destination.  I tell Bruce I am headed that way.  I will check in with him at noon to confirm that I will be there, and we will also discuss then who is buying the lobsters off a lobster boat.

8:10 ghosting in light air, doing less than 1.0.  Motor sailing. 9:05 hear a diesel, can't see the boat.  White glare ahead, the morning sun shining through the fog. Blue haze to the stern, blue skies overhead.

9:25 Conory Ledge to starboard, sailing east at 1.4.  Fog beginning to clear.  10:00 tack.  Making 1.6, ebb tide helping us along.  10:30 tack at White Island.  10:55 tack at Hog Island.  11:20 tack at the east end of White Island.  Wind that had been out of the east now swings to the south and fills in, making 3.4.  Wind on the beam and improving, 3.9 and blue skies overhead.  I'm headed for the Casco Passage which runs west to east between the Opechee and the north side of Swan Island.

Bruce checks in earlier than expected, he's already got the lobsters on board.

I respond that I've got tins of mussels and trout filets on board, they could be nice appetizers for the lobster boil.

Bruce tells me they are also headed for the Casco Passage, coming up the west side of Swan Island.  I glance to the southeast and there is LOON sailing working her way north.

I've got wind on the beam and at 12:00 enter the Casco Passage with small Johns Island and the larger Opechee Island to port.  12:15 a green buoy shows I've got a helping tide, less wind above Swans Island but still making 3.4.

Turn north then northwest to round Black Island, and with a brisk wind slip into the anchorage.  Anchor down 1:20.

LOON rounds Black Island, sails into the anchorage and make some easy tacks before dropping anchor just southeast of SPARTINA.

Once settled, Bruce and Nancy row over in the dinghy BAX, come up alongside to say hello.  We visit for a while and Bruce points out that it is still early in the afternoon, we ought to go for a sail.  It is a fun sail and Bruce, who knows these islands well, shows me a cut through the bar between Pond and Opechee Islands that could have saved me a lot of time over the years.  I thank him for the local knowledge.

Bruce and Nancy head back to LOON, telling me they will pick me up in an hour or so, plenty of time to rig SPARTINA for the night.  

On shore at Sheep Island, Bruce and Nancy are busy building a fire.  My job is to collect seaweed, not the old stuff along shore, I need to wade out and get the fresh stuff off the rocks.  

Fresh lobster and corn, tinned trout filets for an appetizer and a beer chilled in the cool salt water.  All that and good company.  What more could I ask for?

A nice hug from Nancy, she's staying on shore to gathering the cooking gear, Bruce rows me back to SPARTINA.  I thank him for an enjoyable afternoon and evening.

 14.0 NM

day twenty-four - down and back on Eggemoggin Reach

Up at 5:30, calm and clear.  Quiet on the harbor, even the lobster boats heed the "no wake" buoys.  Fog slides down the hills, never quite reaching the water.  New set of clothes and a clean the boat.  

There is a tiny cove with a boat ramp and town dock on the northwest corner of the harbor.  Motor there to get rid of some trash.  I find that there are recycle bins there but no place for trash.  I've come across this a few times before in Maine.  Why should the little towns pay to get rid of cruisers trash?  

Motor over to Buck's Harbor Maine.  Not open yet, there is a small store and a fuel dock, plus a sign showing where I can drop off the trash.  How nice.  Get rid of the trash and, when the store opens, top of the fuel can.  The lady at the store tells me I am welcome to leave SPARTINA at the dock while I walk up to the coffee shop in the village.

Iced tea and a blueberry muffin in the in the old post office of the one-intersection town.  Beautiful murals on the walls and a great breakfast, plus an iced tea to go.

Back at the marina pick up some bottled drinks, cast off at 9:00 on the windless morning as life begins to stir on schooners in the harbor.

No wind on Eggemoggin Reach, under power headed east to the Wooden Boat School for a visit.

Under the bridge to Deer Island, then past the Torrey Islands, past Little Babson and Babson Islands.  Tie up to a mooring off the Wooden Boat School at noon.  There's a launch picking up sailors coming in from sails on beautiful Herreshoff 12 and 1/2 designs.  I wave to the boat, ask if I can catch a ride to the dock.  The captain of the boat, Rick, asks if my name is Steve, tells me he heard I might be coming by.

Rick gives me directions up to the school.  It is lunchtime up there, Rick finds a sandwich for me - a nice shrimp po' boy.  I get a tour of the school, mostly located in an old brick building.  Batches of students are building skiffs, river dories, ship's wheels and even casting bronze in the various shops.  It looks like it would be a fun place to spend a week, but then again I've retired from boat building.  I ask if Matt, the editor, is around, and I am told he is out sailing.

2:00 Rick runs me in the launch out to SPARTINA.  I thank him for the hospitality.  The afternoon winds are beginning to gust, I tuck both reefs into the main for the sail back up Eggemoggin Reach.  Four tacks into the wind between the Torry Islands and Little Babson Island at 5.5 to get to the Reach, then a run west to Joyce Point as fog hovers to the south.  Less wind along the way, round up to shake out the second reef, 3.3.

3:15 see the markers for the Benjamin River, make two downwind tacks into the channel.  3:45 in the mooring field on the Benjamin River, tacking back and forth in what could easily be a maritime museum of classic boats.  

4:15 tie up at a mooring behind the Cape Dory Robinhood IDA.  Setting up the boom tent, Randy, my host for the evening, rows out to say hello.  A friend of a friend, he and his wife Nancy had invited me to use their guest morning.  Randy also has a Sea Pearl, an open cockpit cat-ketch, that he has sailed in the Sea Islands in Georgia.  We have a nice conversation about our sailing down there in the beautiful marshes.  He invites me up for coffee tomorrow mid-morning, I thank him but tell him I will be off sailing by then.

 19.51 NM

day twenty-three - small world, again

Morning comes with fog.  7:00 sail off anchor, light north wind and less fog.  A half dozen tacks, gentle sailing, almost ghosting, out of the cove.  

Rounding the northern tip of Spruce Island, I find Mark out rowing a skiff with his dog.  He lives on Spruce Island four months of the year.  He points to his Contessa sloop moored nearby, and we talk about sailing the Maine coast.  We talk about my slow drift across the water, going fast versus going slow, the trade off between traditional cruising boats and high-tech designs.  I tell him I am very comfortable with a traditional design, don't mind being a little bit slower. "If you are not out there for the aesthetics," he says, "why are you even sailing?"  He invites me to stop by on next year's sail.  As I head off to the east, Mark says "Your patience will be rewarded."

9:00 Pendleton Point, turn to the northeast, skies clearing but the fog seems to cling to the islands spread out across East Penobscot Bay.  Wind fails, motorsailing.

9:45 Resolution Island off the port bow.  10:10 Resolution Island to port, Horsehead Island off starboard bow, Colthead and Beach Islands ahead.  

Sun breaking through the overcast.  All that water and not another boat in sight.

10:30 a touch of wind, making 1.6.  As I look around, surrounded by ten islands sprinkled across the Bay.  Lovely.  Thinking of heading to Orcutt Harbor.  11:15 better wind, 3.0.  11:40 Hog Island to port, 4.1.

12:40 falling off to round Thrumcap Ledge and Thrumcap Island.  This puts SPARTINA on course for Bucks Harbor just to the east of Orcutt Harbor.  I've wondered about Bucks Harbor in the past, an interesting looking harbor with an island in the middle.  Navioncis has notes about mooring fields and no room to anchor.  Decide to head that way and see what it is like.

The wind carries us to the east side of Harbor Island, mooring fields spread out of the water with some beautiful and classic boats here and there.  I slow tack through the mooring fields just to get a better look at the sailboats.  Glancing to the right I see a yacht club up on the hill.  At the dock below the yacht club there are three women and one is waving with both arms to get my attention.  I sail that way to see it is Sarah, the artist who painted SPARTINA in Oriental and whom I had just met a couple of days ago in Camden.  A small world, indeed.  

Sarah tells me she lives nearby and has been a long-time member at the yacht club.  Passing by other members as we walk up the hill, she seems to be related in some way or another to everyone there.  She tells me there is a store nearby and she'll walk up there with me.  She grabs a couple of items, I get a sandwich, salad and a cold drink.

Back at the yacht club, I talk with the harbor master, also related to Sarah, and she points me to a spot to anchor over on the west side of the harbor.  I thank her, say goodbye to Sarah and cast off

Anchor down Bucks Harbor 2:20..  

 17.74 NM