Up at 5:30. Straighten up the boat, a bit of a mess from the late evening on LOON. Motor to the dock to drop off trash. Cast off 6:25. Motor through the mooring field, out of Seal Cove at 6:35 and not a breath of wind. Broken overcast.
7:00 sun breaks through the clouds. Tinker Island to starboard, 7:10 cutting across the shallow, rocky south end of the island. 7:55 Pond Island with tiny Lamp Island to port. A helping ebb tide but still no sign of wind. 8:15 passing the east end of Eggemoggin Reach with a school of porpoise to starboard.
8:25 a tiny puff of wind and then nothing. 9:50 in Deer Isle Thorofare, a hint of wind now and then but nothing consistent. 10:25 docked at the Stonington Public Dock, walk up to 44 North Coffee for some iced tea, a muffin and some high speed internet to catch up with friends. 11:30 cast off from the dock and motor to the fuel dock just a bit west down the thorofare. As I top off the fuel can, the man in the shack reminds me that his place is the ONLY place to get fuel on Deer Isle.
11:50 cast off from fuel dock. Raise sails 12:15 west end of the thorofare with a teasing south breeze. Guy passing by on the large parked hulled sloop DEFIANT tells me he is hoping for wind for me, but the forecast does not look promising. I aim the bow towards the wind turbines on Vinalhaven.
There is a light south wind, motorsailing west with towering clouds in the distance. Soon overcast and a slight chill.
1:00 motorsailing with engine at idle speed, 3.0 at red marker "3" and headed towards Fox Island Thorofare.
1:35 an eagle perched on Channel Rock with Stimpson Island to starboard and Calderwood Neck to port. I'm frustrated with the lack of wind and the motorsailing. Looking to the stern, with Isle au Haut in the distance, I see a dozen, maybe 15 sailboats - all kinds of sailboats, small and large - headed west towards me, everyone of them under power.
1:45 no wins at all, under power with the sails up. Into Fox Island Thorofare I find it is very crowded with windjammers, huge yachts and power boats. Suddenly chilly, then warm again. Dark clouds overhead but not threatening. 1:55 friendly waves from the spectacular Herreshoff ketch TICONDEROGA. Chilly again and then a warm breeze fills in as the dark clouds move on. Sailing!
Make several tacks working west down the thorofare. Lots of traffic and sometimes lose ground as we fall off for traffic. Fun and enjoyable sailing. Sailboats, powerboats and windjammers all around. Making 3.2 in a nice breeze.
West end of the Thorofare...fog. A wall of fog sliding up from the south. My hopes of crossing Penobscot Bay to the Dix Harbor anchorage disappear in the fog.
The Fox Ears, two tiny islands just south red marker "22" are shrouded in fog. The same with sailboats coming up the channel to North Haven.
A loud blast gets me attention as a car ferry from Rockland emerges from the whiteness. Another horn, this time a ferry coming up from the south. I check the gps to confirm I'm safely out of the channel.
4:20 tacking just off the shore. 4:35 thicker fog, navigating with GPS and Navionics past rocks unseen. Find the cut that leads us around Crockett Point. A dark shape to the west, Dogfish Island. Follow the shore into Crockett Cove, fog clearing along the way. Anchor down 5:00.
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