He’s still got it!

Skipper, at 75, climbed the mast several times today, Monday 24 June 2019. Seen climbing aloft here,

replacing worn out spreader boots. It’s amazing what the sun and the sea can do to plastic.

New one on left; cracked and decaying one on right 

Whilst I was controlling the safety rope from down below, I had time to admire our surroundings, and this magnificent sailing vessel hove into view.

Thank goodness there are still people who prefer the beauty of sail...and can put up with the hard work that goes with it. All worthwhile when one can travel on or see a vessel such as this one.

Leaving Potts Harbour yesterday evening after a marvellous 3 days and 3 nights staying with our dear friend Midge (see previous post), Follyfin pointed SW to the tranquillity of Jewell Island. From here there is only one house in sight and the eye is treated to the occasional glorious sight of a classic,yacht passing by under full sail - see above.

Just three other boats were here at anchor overnight, it is a wonderful example of the peaceful uncrowned anchorages that can be found in Casco Bay so near to the big city of Portland. This type of place is definitely our preference over crowded and noisy marinas (though it should be pointed out that not all marinas are tarred with this brush). Indeed, as I complete this post, we are berthed alongside a long pontoon in Maine Yacht Center, poised to be hauled out of the water tomorrow morning, 27 June, as we head home to UK for 7 weeks for various family celebrations.

Great Friends - in every sense

With friends, we have been so lucky: new ones, known for less than a year, who treated us as family whilst living in their house for so much longer than expected, and old ones, known for 40 years, who welcome us whenever we are in a position to visit. The former, of course, were Lee and Deborah in Fairfield to whom previous recent posts refer. The latter is Midge, the Maine Midge, whom we first met on a Himalayan trek with her late husband Vic 40 years ago and have visited back and forth over the years since that first meeting in Heathrow Airport on our way to Nepal.  Our ages too are widely disparate, being 15 years older than the former, and 15 years younger than the latter. So it is clear that neither age nor duration of friendship is of consequence when values, attitudes, likes and dislikes are shared. The trick is to have the luck to meet such people in the first place, and then to form a mutual bond...

Visiting Midge in Maine again this year has been great. Arriving last Thursday afternoon (20 June), we stayed 3 days with her having left Follyfin on a mooring buoy at the Dolphin Marina in Potts Harbout, Harpswell. Her home is filled with photographs - Vic was a talented photographer - and mementos of past travels, notably the Himalayan trip. So it was delightful to be able to reminisce over our shared experience.

I particularly liked seeing again the two large photograph albums which Vic and Midge diligently put together with diary notes and captions after the trek - something we have yet (if ever?) to do.

Apart from long chats and lots of laughs, we enjoyed excellent beer and pizza in Bath, an outdoor concert from the Bath Municipal Band (Midge’s daughter Linda plays the flute),

a rainy day picnic at Head Beach, delicious steamers (clams) at Cameron’s restaurant and the best lobster rolls at Erica’s lobster shack near where Follyfin was waiting for us on Sunday afternoon. What a lovely and memorable visit it was, albeit sad to leave Midge again - until the next time.

Best of friends

Garden Heaven

It is a little known fact that you can visit the beautiful Coastal Maine Botanic Gardens (CMBG) by boat. And we did, just a few days ago.

This is the front entrance by which most people enter. We, however, came up through the woods from the river. This is the value of being ‘in the know’ via a couple of nautical fora (well, I did study Latin at school you know...) and the internet. Walking up from the dock through the hillside garden,

one did not know quite what to expect. Gradually, the wonder of this place revealed itself. There was the Meditation Garden with granite benches strategically placed,

the wonderful Rhododendron Garden in full bloom,

occasional waterfalls,

animal sculptures constructed out of weathered steel blending perfectly with the plants around them,

and the gorgeous Garden of the Five Senses. After 3 hours walking around, with a short break for lunch in between, another granite bench was much appreciated.

We were also lucky enough to arrive during the first week that the butterfly house was open. A moth (whose name escapes me) obligingly landed on the Skipper’s jumper to have its portrait taken:

I hope, dear reader, that you will agree with me that the CMBG is a ‘must’ for anyone visiting Maine!

 

Lobsters, lobsters - great and small

Just across the Sheepscot river from Five Islands is Ebenecook Harbour, off which there are three small Coves: Maddock, Pierce and Love. Avid readers of this blog will of course remember that Follyfin visited Love Cove in July 2018. Her crew found it so beautiful and tranquil, with swimming, mussels (though red tide prevented human consumption last year and this), lobsters and wildlife, that we determined to revisit the place. So on Tuesday 18 June, we motored the 2.5nm north east, bent first on replenishing our water supply. Hodgdon Yacht Services in Maddock Cove is perfectly situated for both water, fuel if needed (we didn’t) and pump out (we did). Then, in Love Cove again, we found the guest mooring - kindly provided by Eliot Winslow -available where we were not so lucky last year. Follyfin was happily tethered to the mooring ball and we duly left our note of thanks in the pickle jar provided. A half mile walk ashore to the Southport General Store in search of fresh provisions yielded delicious made-to-order sandwiches but little in the way of food (it does have an excellent selection of wines though). The substantial sandwiches meant that a cheese and onion omelette and (the inevitable) baked beans sufficed for supper. Corned beef avoided again thank goodness. Although the Skipper does like it but without potatoes, of which we have none, the galley slave declined to ‘cook’ it. So there!

Back to lobsters... having had no luck flagging down a passing lobster boat so far, we decided to try our luck with our own portable, collapsible creel, which has been used successfully to catch lobsters, crabs and shrimps in the past. Baited with fish offcuts saved from our previous catches - by now very smelly - and positioned well away from Follyfin (or so we thought), we went to bed dreaming of lobster dinner on the morrow. Early next morning, the white float marking the creel’s position was nowhere to be seen... because the line attaching it to the creel had somehow managed to get itself wrapped around the port rudder! Freeing it eventually, we did have a catch: a baby lobster and 4 crabs, one of whom declined to be photographed.

All were returned to the sea and our dreams of lobster dinner dashed... until last night, Wednesday 19 June.

Having already decided to leave our beloved Love Cove and explore 3nm further north up the Sheepscot River, we motored off at 10a.m. just as the fog (par for the course in Maine) was lifting. The plan was to visit the Coastal Maine Botanic Garden on the mainland to the east of Hodgdon Island, which we did, utilising the single big boat mooring provided by the Garden for visitors. That visit deserves a blog post in its own right ... so magnificent was it. But suffice to say, we did get lobsters for our evening meal after all. On our way back from the Garden in the dinghy, we just called in for milk to the Trevett General Store close to our mooring but to our delight we found that fresh lobsters were for sale there at a very reasonable price. What a find! These two bruisers were 1.5lb each.

Before and after cooking on board

Staging up to Maine

Whilst sitting out the heavy rain and high winds in Hadley Harbour where we very comfortably tucked up inside Follyfin along with a few other boats,

it became clear that the weather was not going to improve in the next day or two. What’s more, the timing of the favourable tide for our passage through the Cape Cod Canal was approximately one hour later every day we delayed. So a plan developed: with the help of Toby, the OCC Port Officer for Buzzards Bay (who saw our Flying Fish burgee whilst in Hadley Harbour - a happy chance), we knew that we could ‘stage’ much nearer to the entrance to the Canal. By braving the wind and waves in the Bay outside and heading NE whilst hugging the eastern shore, a mere 10nm or so sailing would allow us to enter Wings Neck (aka Pokasset Harbour) and pick up a free mooring for the night. Here we would be poised for a not-too-early start (05:30 instead of 03:30) to catch the end of the flood tide through the Canal.

And so it was early on Friday morning the mooring was slipped and we were on our way into the Cape Cod Canal, our speed over the ground accelerated by 3-4kn, the maximum experienced was 9.8kn! Emerging at the north end of the Canal just over an hour later, the sun was shining with a light south-westerly wind for our passage northwards up the Massachusetts coast. Perfect conditions for our passage up to Rockport, on the tip of Cape Ann. This passage was made even more rewarding a large mackerel obligingly accepting the lure onto our hook. Fresh fish for supper again!

After a quiet night at anchor off the beach, Saturday morning saw a more civilised 8a.m. start. Again headed north, the wind was livelier but still behind us, allowing most of the passage to be made under full sail. However by 2p.m. the gusts were over 20kn and subsequently went up to 30kn (Force 7 near gale) so sail was quickly reduced by two reefs. And by the time we anchored in Wood Island Harbour, near Biddeford, the weather had changed completely: high wind, grey overcast sky with rain in the air. But at last we had reached the state of Maine, our intended cruising ground for this season. 

Just as an aside, it is remarkable how many ports and towns along this coast have been named after an English counterpart: Plymouth, Portsmouth, Weymouth, York, Portland, Yarmouth, Bath, Gloucester, Essex, Falmouth, Newport, the list goes on. Evidence perhaps of how much the early settlers missed their home towns.

Yesterday, Sunday 16 June, we pressed on north east, across the Biggelow Bight, across Casco Bay and then in towards the Midcoast of Maine, and into the mouth of the Sheepscot River, sailing downwind all the while in the rain and then the fog ... and by Jove was it cold and wet! Still, we duly arrived at the very sheltered and quaintly named working harbour of Five Islands (because of course, logically, it is surrounded by five small wooded islands and the mainland) and it was all worthwhile because Follyfin spent the night on a free mooring kindly provided by the Five Islands Yacht Club.

Awaking to a clear sky and bright sunshine, today is a very different kettle of fish weather-wise. Five Islands is a lovely spot.

So, it was time to stretch our legs and get in some more tasty morsels for the crew. Walking up the hill to the only food store within walking distance, we saw the sign:

Thoughts immediately turned to a delicious evening meal of fresh asparagus, some new potatoes, a plate of New England oysters, perhaps a lobster from one of the many lobster boats that live in this harbour, some tasty cheese to finish, all washed down with a nice glass or two of Californian white. Imagine our disappointment when turning the corner we saw that the lovely little shop is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays! Guess it will be corned beef tonight instead....

Consoling ourselves with a walk along the road parallel to the shore, we found a nice little beach with a good view of the harbour; Follyfin looked rather unusual, centre stage amongst the other local vessels.

It’s been a good restful day though, a nice change from passage-making. Tomorrow we definitely need to go in search of water (none available to visitors in Five Islands) and provisions - corned beef two nights running is not an option! 

Not just the sailing capital of the world, and...

A fish! Yes, we finally caught one yesterday, Wednesday 12 June, on passage from Newport, Rhode Island to Hadley Harbour where we are now sitting out yet another band of rain and high winds. It was a beautiful Bluefish (aka Snapper) weighing in at about 3.5lb:

and it made tasty eating with plenty for another meal too...Skipper didn’t find it as flavourful as First Mate though.

Newport, Rhode Island (RI) claims to be the sailing capital of the world. It is indeed home to some of the most beautiful classic yachts we have ever seen. We were last here just over a year ago to witness the start of Leg 9 of the Volvo Ocean Race (see blog post ‘Racing Boats of the Giant Variety’ published 23 May, 2018) but IMHO, those modern boats are built only for speed, not beauty and elegance. But as I was saying, whilst ashore exploring Newport, we came across another claim for Newport being an even more (?) sacred place, i.e. where the US Open Tennis tournament all began a long time ago, before it became so big and had to move to Forest Hills. As tennis is second only to sailing in my list of active sports, this blogger just had to have a photo...of the famous court too. Reminiscent of Wimbledon Centre Court about 60 years ago?

There was also time for us to complete a large portion of the famous Cliff Walk, along the SE corner of RI. From here glimpses can be caught of the many large mansions which were built by wealthy Americans during the boom years of the early-mid 1800s. One could be forgiven for thinking oneself in the Loire valley in France when viewing some of them. Over the succeeding couple of centuries many fell into disrepair, were renovated or remodelled and sold on several times, some into public ownership and a few to form the Salve Regina University. Some of course are still in private ownership, though the mind boggles at the cost of upkeep - modern mogul millionaires required!

Well, having popped out from Newport yesterday morning in full sunshine and light winds, we motor-sailed north-east into Buzzards Bay on the way to the Cape Cod Canal. The weather forecast for the next two days (today Thursday and Friday) was not encouraging so we opted to stop in this wonderful sheltered little harbour on the east side of the bay in the Elizabeth Islands. The entrance is a little tricky but once inside there are several free moorings, so no worries about anchor dragging in the forecast high winds. The Bosun also had a time-consuming job to perform on the rig and First Mate wanted a swim - the first of the season - so this was the ideal place. And now we are hunkered down, waiting for the gale to pass. Hoping to go through the Canal tomorrow, Friday, weather permitting. The only downside to this place is that the mobile signal is very weak and the Community WiFi (kindly provided by local home owners) is also too weak for me to publish this post at the moment. So will just have to wait until we find a stronger WiFi somewhere else. 

On passage headed East

Follyfin has at last had wind in her sails. We said au revoir to Lee and Deborah on Friday - sad to part but happy to be sailing again. There’s a lovely high pressure weather system over here at the moment meaning sunshine, gentle breezes and calm seas. Ideal for our first passage of 37nm to Duck Island anchorage. A pretty passenger helped to crew for us...

Sundowners on arrival were accompanied appropriately by a magnificent sunset

Yesterday (Saturday) a dawn start was required since the huge body of water that is Long Island Sound sets up strong currents and races on the ebb. Follyfin obviously prefers to go with the current rather than against, especially as an extra couple of knots over the ground eats up the distance faster. Whilst sailing on a broad reach - a very comfortable point of sail for Follyfin - the cry went up from the Skipper: “is it a fish?” First Mate was doubtful...

Indeed, the ‘catch’ proved a disappointment...

Never mind! We arrived at beautiful Fishers Island in excellent time for breakfast - not fresh fish alas but wholesome porridge instead. After a nap, the dinghy was commissioned and we went ashore to explore. A very quiet island is Fishers, the site of many multi-million dollar summer homes, most of which looked unoccupied at this time of year. It is definitely a holiday Island. You can just spot Follyfin in the photo below, happily moored to a free mooring buoy, the blue-hulled sailing yacht second from the left.

Today, Sunday, another dawn start was in order to cross out of Long Island Sound and into Block Island Sound, which is where we are now anchored in Great Salt Pond - a huge body of water enclosed on three sides by land. This island is a small speck of land, a U-shaped island midway between the E end of Long Island and Martha’s Vineyard. Many more facilities for holidaymakers here, unlike Fishers, as well as free WiFi outside the Library from where I will upload this post. But again, a definite holiday feel to this place. Nice - our proper holiday has begun!

Launched - at last!

In the water...finally. We’ll be away before the weekend 😀