July 4th in Camden Maine

We spent time in Camden from July 3^rd to the 5^th. Winds were low on the 4^th so rather than sail we went for a walk over to Rockport a neighboring coastal town. We have heard of a restaurant there called “Shepherds Pie” that gets good ratings. Coming from England I am a lover of a good Shepherd’s Pie. However, they were closed. Even if they were open I would only have eaten the lamb part since the potato crust doesn’t go with the low carb diet.

Camden is a beautiful town and allowed Yolande to do some of the compulsory shopping. But this included a book for me about Shackleton. On the afternoon of July 3^rd part of the street was blocked off by the Post Office with a Bomb Squad truck. There was a suspicious package in the Post Office that they were handling. We then heard a “Fire in the hole” hole call and a sharp bang as they detonated the package. Crazy times that we live in.

You couldn’t pay me enough to do this bomb squad work, but I sure am glad that somebody does it.

I have a dream of getting a second boat for blue water sailing. We are pinning our hopes on our company making good and using the proceeds to realize our dreams. Yolande spotted a candidate. First we saw a Discovery 67 made in Southampton UK. Too big as I want to be able to single hand it as well.  

Then she mentioned here is the second boat if the company doesn’t do as well as we wish for.

After watching the England women beat Germany 1-0 in the 3^rd/4^th spot match of the World Cup we made our way over to a new restaurant, The Pig and Poet then back to Prairie Gold to watch the compulsory fireworks.

Note that the vertical black lines in the fireworks are the mast of other sailboats.

Rockland to Camden - lots of Windjammers

Friday was a short sailing day. We first had brunch in downtown Rockland, then departed from the Journey’s End Marina at 11am.  We were only heading about 7nm up the coast to Camden so took a casual sail. We initially headed out with the spinnaker and had the opportunity to fine tune the system to find best sail angles, tackline length with different wind angles. Well, just generally futz around.

As we dowsed the spinnaker and started to head upwind past Mark Island to cross Penobscot Bay towards Camden we were able to enjoy several Windjammers that were sailing away from Camden.

 Mark Island in the background

 Mark Island to the left with the hills behind Camden in the background

We finally arrived at Wayfairer’s marina that is a really nice place. Its at the head of the harbor next to downtown, well equipped and great staff.

Today Yolande was happy. No nausea, warm and sunny. For the first time on the trip she played music. Spirits are picking up.

Boothbay to Rockland Maine

Yesterday was the best of all combinations for a sailing day. The sun was up, the wind was 10-20kts and we were able to sail on a beam to broad reach for many hours with the asymm spinnaker and were able to attain over 8kts – which for a 31ft length over water boat is a good speed.

Finally Yolande’s nausea abated and she was able to enjoy the day.

We departed Boothbay at 9am and arrived in Rockland at 4:20pm. With all but two hours sailing under spinnaker.

 Departing Boothbay Harbor 

 There really is a boat

 The lighthouse at the end of the breakwater, Rockland Maine

 Prairie Gold with the flags at Rockland

 The view fem the stern while drinking morning coffee

The journey

Portland to Boothbay Marina

Wednesday’s forecast was for rain but we decided to head on north east regardless. We could get wet waiting around town or wet sailing. Easy decision really. Winds were forecast to come up during the day – we will see. We motored until 10am (2hrs) and then the wind came up. Initially about 10 kts and then rose to 20 kts. Several hours of close reach then close hauled sailing.

Days like these are the ones that remind you that you love sailing. Fog – 500 foot visibility. At times torrential rain but with the wind it was a heck of a lot of fun. Well for me at least. Yolande needed to go below and rest after her ocean abdominal work out.  Maine is known for its beautiful scenery. However, we saw none of it due to the fog. Thank goodness for radar. About an hour out we called Judy at Boothbay Harbor Marina. She drove down to meet us – it has been a slow day so she had stayed at home. She recognized us from our many trips here and gave us a very warm welcome. As we docked another sailboat arrived ~50 foot with four Dutch sailors. Judy was happy as she went from zero activity to two boats in 5 minutes.

Today we learned why we need to close our stern hatch that opens to the cockpit. As we were sailing in 20kts of breeze on a close haul we had a good heel angle and water was pooling in the cockpit. I lookd down and noticed the hatch was open. Unfortunately, our mattress beneath the hatch is now wet and we are trying to dry it out. Perhaps after a few beers and we won’t notice the problem.

Tonight is England vs Japan in the next semi-final. Fingers crossed.

Isles of Shoals to Portland

Tuesday, woke early ready to head up to Portland. Sun was just coming up and dropped the mooring at 6am. Other than 1.5hrs on asymm spinnaker we motored the whole way. There was 6-8kts true wind on our tail which made for very slow sailing. Arrived at DiMillos for the night and went to watch the USA Germany women’s semi final match. Good match USA 2 Germany 0.

Leaving the Isles of Shoals