Day 11 – Kennebunkport to Kittery

Day 11 was a wet one. We awoke to rain, we sailed and motored in rain, docked in rain and got thoroughly soaked. It was raining so hard we ended up laughing about it.

We left Kennebunkport at about 10am, headed out of the river and started to sail. The going was slow and we called ahead for reserving a slip. We decided to try a new place in the Portsmouth area. We got a reservation at Badgers Island Marina on the eastern side of the river in Kittery Maine. Darren the enthusiastic person on the phone asked us to be there by 2:30pm so that there was little current. We agreed and started to motor. The current in this river can be viscous and it flows through the marina.

30 minutes before arrival we called the marina to get instructions and started preparing Prairie Gold for the docks. I managed to drop one of the fenders overboard which gave Yolande good boat maneuvering practice including reversing in a cross current. Of course it started raining the hardest of the day when I was out on deck getting everything ready. The next hour was a real downpour.

We arrived and were shown around by Darren – the three of us were soaked.

Yolande and Phil went back to Prairie Gold, changed clothes took a nap and dried out. We walked into Kittery and found a restaurant “Black Birch”. There was a queue inside at 6pm, we put our names down for a table, and rather than stand and wait, went across the road for a little refreshment and came back 30 minutes later. Quickly we were seated at two bar seats and the evening began. Black Birch is owned by three locals who used to work together in a restaurant down the street. They decided to set up their own thing, and great restaurant this is. We had a great evening of small plates and at a wonderful price.

As we left it was really foggy

We had originally hoped to walk across the bridge that is next to the marina into Portsmouth. However, it is under renovation and closed. Apparently it was due to be completed for reopening on July 17th 2013. However, the project is not yet completed. Consequently they are working around the clock which meant the evening/night on the boat was not one of the most peaceful.

Day 10 – Portland to Kennebunkport

Breakfast in Portland was in a café called "Mornings in Paris" where we had pastries and coffee. Walking back to the boat we saw a little of Berlin, a city that we had visited only weeks before,

After a relaxing start to the day we headed out of port towards Kennebunkport. Looking back on the city we couldn’t help to notice how big the ocean liners are.

We also watched as tugs were bringing an oil tanker into port

We exited the main channel

And on the way south saw more boats that chase tuna

As we were arriving close to Kennebunkport we had to stay clear of a Presidential restricted zone – here is one of the buoys marking the territory – because of the summer residence of the Bush family.

As we came between the breakwaters we noticed that the red and green channel markers were very close together – you can see them just off our bow and there was some significant current

We docked at “Chicks Marina” (not certain why it is called that name) which was very hospitable. As we walked into town we could see the impact of low tide.

If you ever go to Kennebunkport we would advise you to steer a little clear of the main downtown and look for some of the slightly off the track restaurants. We went to a wine bar aptly named “Old Vine”. Great selection of wine and small plates and wonderful staff. Janet, was very good a mixing with the diners and suggesting different wines. Definitely a place to go back to.

Here are some shots in the evening and final Prairie Gold oat the face dock.

She's off for tuna

Day 9 - Boothbay to Portland

Today’s sail from Boothbay to Portland was the third day in a row where we could sail. Winds were not high, but thankfully we were able to use our trusty spinnaker to make use of the 6-7 knots of true wind and allowed us to make 4-6 knots of sailing speed. Without “Jack” the spinnaker, we would have had to motor all day.

Since the distance involved today was less than the last two days , we took it at a relaxed pace and had breakfast at an appropriately named restaurant “Ebb Tide”. They note next to the tables the people who have dined there – John and Yoko, David Soul, three former governors of Maine, and you (us).

And we looked at shops and found a variety of sailing T shirts

After we returned to the Boothbay Harbor Marina and we paid the docking fee at the red hut we noticed a boat in a bottle – I still don’t know how they get them in there.

We departed the marina and headed for the west and passed a favorite lighthouse.

With Yolande at the helm plotting course and taking care of everything on deck, I was able to spend a relaxed day.

Of course we saw boats

And Islands

And then approached into Portland, went shopping, had dinner and returned to Prairie Gold at DiMillo’s for a nightcap.

Helmsman Yolande taking us out of Boothbay in her new top that apparently has handkerchief point top

Day 8 – Camden to Boothbay

This sailing day was the second with great winds. The low pressure system had come through the day before and we still had the tail end of the winds. We headed out of Camden towards the east – winds were SSE – and tacked with the goal of heading south out of Penobscot bay and then west to a destination unknown. Sailing was great with lots of spray because we had 6 foot swells from the preceding day’s storm. The winds started to slowly move westward that allowed is to have a long tack south that was slowly changing to SW. We used the winds to our advantage as much as possible but they eventually turned to the west, our destination path.

We had decided to get to Boothbay harbor where we knew oysters would be waiting. We estimated that to sail there with all the tacking would take until at least midnight. So eventually we turned on the engine. For about 2 hours we took a pounding heading straight into the wind and the waves, spray everywhere and our bodies feeling bruised.

On my radar app I was following some storms with great interest. There was one to the south in which a waterspout was observed. We calculated that we were heading away from its path, then a thunderstom storm popped up just north, but is was heading NE. Today we were lucky as we managed to find a path between the cells.

We had called ahead to Judy at Boothbay harbor marina, and she told us which slip to use as we would be arriving after she left. At 7:30pm, 10 hours after our departure we arrived and had completed about 57nm of a great journey.

At times we were getting internet connections on our phones and read of the high temperatures on the mainland. In contrast we were sailing with 59 degrees Fahrenheit and we were wearing layers to keep warm. It was still 59 F as we were entering the channel leading to Boothbay harbor, about 1nm from our destination. By the time we docked we were unlayering as the temps rose to over 80F.

Day 7 – Belfast back to Camden, via a different route, and with wind

We woke to fog in Belfast and based on the forecast of a small craft advisory with winds gusting to 30 knots, we decided to change the headsail to our 90% headsail. We did this is record time – for the two of us at least – of 15 minutes. We dropped the 135 genoa, folded (well…..) and then raised the 90%. Fortunately in the public docks that we used overnight we woke to be facing the wind that allowed this to be a simple task. Later, we were really pleased to have made this decision, as Day 7 turned out to be windy and really good sailing.

Before departing Belfast we watched the launch of a boat from French and Webb, a local boat builder/restorer that specializes in woodwork.

We headed out of Belfast with radar running – Yolande at the helm and disembarking Prairie Gold – and headed east. We soon got the sails out and began sailing in about 10 kts of wind. After an hour the wind dropped and we had to turn on the iron sails to get around the northern tip of Isleboro. After coming out of the lee of the island the winds picked up again and we tacked south and along the eastern side of Isleboro. In dense fog the temperature dropped to 60 degrees F and we added layers of clothing to keep warm. We had planned to have salad for lunch but were so cold that we decided to heat up a package of prepared food.

We continued to tack and apparent winds were gusting to 30 kts. At one point we had the main reefed quite dramatically to reduce weather helm, although we had a full 90% headsail for the entire day. If we had left the 135% genoa on as our headsail we would have had to reef it as well and then have to work with the resulting poor sail shape and reduction in sailing performance.

As we were taking our last tack across the eastern Penobscot we were able to head through a passage between Saddle and Mark Islands. We noticed a dramatic temperature change as we entered the western Penobscot. The temperature rose from 63 degrees to 73 degrees almost instantly, the fog lifted and we were able to continue on into Camden on a close reach. After getting into the public docks we noted the temperature there was 83 degrees F.

This was the best sailing of the vacation with the sails in use for all but an hour of our journey that commenced at 9:20am and finished at 5pm.