OCC Rally - encore une fois

Slipped the lines from Maine Yacht Center at 07:00, a little later than planned but pretty good considering the jet lag and physical effort required to recommission Follyfin for sailing. Twelve hours of motor-sailing later, with fog descending towards the end of the passage, we dropped the ‘hook’ in calm, peaceful and sheltered Long Cove next to Tenants Harbour. Having anchored here twice last season we knew there would be good holding in mud, so we slept easy on Friday night. And boy - did we need it! Despite a leisurely start the following morning, Saturday 17 August, the fog (an unavoidable occurrence on the Maine coast at this time of year) had not lifted as we ghosted up the Muscle Ridge Channel, motor-sailing and keeping a sharp lookout for the red and green channel markers in this beautiful stretch of water winding between many small islands, especially important in the restricted visibility. Luckily the fog lifted towards the end of the short passage to Camden.

Follyfin needed to have her diesel tank filled, and last year the cheapest fuel we found was in Camden, our destination for this year’s OCC Rally. So, on arrival at Camden, a beeline was made immediately to the fuel dock. And lo! Wonder of wonders: the price per gallon is now actually lower by 30 cents than it was last year. Rarely does price reduction happen for anything, let alone fuel. You can imagine we were two happy sailors later that afternoon when we picked up the mooring which has been kindly lent to us by a Camden Yacht Club member who is away at the moment, and arranged through a fellow OCC member.

Saturday night saw us meeting up with our old friends Lee and Deborah, and the Ancient Mariners Ruth and Herb, referred to in a previous post, and Moira and Dick, the organisers of the Rally. We were all entertained to a fantastic lobster dinner at the home of Pat and Bob who live here in Camden. What a treat that was - two lobsters per head!

Today, Sunday, was spent at the Yacht Club in the company of 133 other OCC members, chatting with people we have met previously and making new acquaintances. There was a talk by a fellow member recounting some of his adventures as a ship’s doctor followed by (too much) good food whilst exchanging salty dog stories with like-minded people. Returning to our boat this evening, the scene was classic Maine: beautiful boats on glassy water in a sheltered bay protect d by pone-clad islands. Lovely!

Tomorrow we plan to join a few other OCC boats for a couple of days, sailing to beauty spots in Penobscot Bay and meeting up in the evenings. Then our plan is to sail further east, further than we managed last season, weather permitting.