Further Adventures Of SV Nutmeg

 8/21- Kent Cove, North Haven ME    We could see when we got up and everything on the boat was soaked. We literally spent the night inside a cloud. But now the sun was shining and the wind was on vacation. Looking across at the windmills not turning we knew there would be no air conditioning in Vinal Haven today.     As there was no wind scheduled for the rest of the day we motored up to the Fox Islands and into the thorofare. We pulled up to a mooring at the Turner Farms and went ashore. We have always wondered about this place. I have thought about eating here briefly. It costs $160 a plate so you can imagine how briefly I thought about it. Anyway it was a nice walk around their property and gardens.     They were expecting a bunch of boats for their event tonight so we picked up and motored a little ways east into Kent Cove where we anchored. Our friends G and A joined us and we had happy hour in the cockpit. There was lots of pelagic acti...

 8/19- Dix Island ME    We got caught in the Rockland fly trap again. We thought we would just provision and do a laundry and then head right back out. Alas the forecast called for rain and big wind on Monday so we thought we would just hang out. We walked over to the Sail, Steam and Power Museum for their Sunday afternoon jam which was nice.      Monday was not as bad weatherwise as predicted and our friend Jerome Rand had sailed into town. We did some boat chores and got some errands taken care of.     Tuesday turned out to be windless. The bay was so calm it was said that you could roll a marble all the way to Vinalhaven. It was not so bad as Murf got us some lobsters and we had a lobster cookout with the gang. We had us a bunch of lobsters and a pile of crab legs from some rock crabs that Murf caught in their traps.      So finally we managed to get out of town and we headed out on the bay. It was a nice 10-12 knot breeze a...

 8/14- Rockland ME    The day dawned bright and early this morning. With the sun shining and the wind up we shoved off. The wind was northwest so we struggled a bit at first as it was directly behind us. It was gusty enough to get us around the corner without having to jibe. Once around the corner though the wind turned west and piped right up. We put a reef in around Lincolnville which settled the ride down a bit. We were now averaging 7 to 7.5 knots just flying down the bay. In the end over the 25 mile stretch we averaged 6.5 knots hitting 8.5 once. Wow , what a ride!!     We went to Camden to have a final dinner with all the participants of the cruise. It was a good time and we all got together to brag about our exploits on the trip down. It was another good cruise. 

 8/13- Belfast ME    The weather played a big role in today’s plans. There was no wind scheduled to blow until later in the afternoon. There were thunderstorms predicted to hit Belfast later in the afternoon. This combination of events led us to quickly scamper out of Brooksville and motor across the bay. It was truly flat calm and we had the tide with us so we made Belfast by 1:00pm.     This is an odd harbor as there is a great deal of current in the river and when the wind opposes the tide weird things happen. As the wind picked up a bit this afternoon the waves built quickly. The boat must have circled the  mooring ball 3 or 4 times twisting and turning as the current battled the wind.     We all got together for a nice meal in town before heading to the park for some music. The thunderstorm missed us but went on to ravage several towns further south. When the skies cleared and the retreating clouds were lit by the sun it was surreal...

 8/12- Bucks Harbor Marina, Brooksville ME    The spectacular weather continued this morning as we woke to crystal blue skies but alas no wind. We finally just said what the heck and departed. We motored out of the harbor and around the first nun before we ran up the yankee. It took a couple of tacks but we finally made the buoy when the wind decided to take a rest. We drifted across most of Jericho Bay at around 2 knots. Once we neared the Eggemoggin the wind picked up but it was right on the nose. We tacked a bunch of times in some rather flaky winds. Once we cleared Brooklin Boat yard we got on a long tack. Several times I told Alayne to get ready to tack as we neared a buoy but we got lifted just enough to get by. I never thought we would clear the buoy at the Benjamin River but once by the ATON the wind shifted south and we flew under the bridge on a broad reach right into Bucks Harbor.     We met up with the rest of the crews who all had similar exper...

 8/11- Swans Island ME   The wind was up early this morning but it didn’t get too far up. We waited around until 9:30 or so and thought we detected a wisp of a breeze. It was of course directly behind us which is a poor point of sail for us. After dodging a few bunkers we finally got to run the head sail out and ran wing on wing for a bit. Once we turned the corner we ran down Jericho Bay quite nicely. By the time we got near the harbor entrance the wind was steadily decreasing but we managed to sail right into the harbor.     It’s been quite a while since we have been in here so we picked up a mooring with a soda bottle for paying. We then hustled over and walked up to an old quarry where we went for a swim. The water was warm and fresh and it felt good to just lay in the water.     After a nice nap we dinghied back over to the other side for a group lobster dinner. It was a kind of unusual place. It was called lobster in the rough. The guy cooke...