Saturday, August 26, 2023

day fifteen - Islesboro


Calm but very chilly night, wish I had worn my thermal socks.  Cold, clear morning, dew covered boat.  Low tide, rocks exposed all along the shoreline.  6:00 under power.  A man on a 50' ketch waves me down, asks about the trip and wishes me well.  Tells me he and a friends had sailed off on a little open boats when they were teenagers.  Approaching the Castine town dock 6:20.  A voice calls out across the water, "Good morning, Steve."  I smile, it's nice to be known on the waterfront.  I tie up and run to the variety store for a sausage egg biscuits and a couple bottles of iced tea.


Cast off 6:50.  Leaving the harbor at Dice Head a light breeze fills in.   Raising sail I look after to see the arctic schooner BOWDOIN coming up from behind.  Waves from the crew as they motor by, SPARTINA making just a knot in the light air.


Beautiful morning.  Not going anywhere fast, just enjoying the breeze.  Islesboro straight ahead.  7:35 harbor porpoises, small and dark colored, swim all around the boat. 


8:40 making 1.9, more wind at 8:55 and doing 3.5.  Less wind at 9:45, making just a knot.


Motorsailing just after 10:00.  10:30 rounding Turtle Head at the north end of Islesboro, wind and sailing again.  


Navionics shows submerged rocks nearby.  Using the app much more than I had expected, keep it charged with the solar panel.


12:10 afternoon southwesterlies filling in north of Ram Island.  1:15 I look to the south and can see the car ferry heading from Lincolnville on the mainland to the ferry docks at Grindel Point on Islesboro.  Making 4.4.  1:25 Seal Island to the north, Flat Island to the south, tack back out onto West Penobscot Bay.


2:30 surprised to see the opening between Grindel Point and Warren Island.  I had thought there was one more point to round.  Sail up to Grindel Point, another tack tack and slip in between the islands at 2:45.

Excellent sailing south between Islesboro and Seven Hundred Acre Island in the afternoon winds.  Busy water with lobster boats and sailboats.  Anchor down Cradle Cove at 3:25.

22.59 NM




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