Further Adventures Of SV Nutmeg

 8/10- Rockland ME   This morning Rockland vanished into the fog. The cloud just seemed to roll right over us and at one point I could not see shore. It did clear before too long and became a really nice day.      We dinghied into to shore so we could walk down to the boat and home show. We waited until afternoon so that we wouldn’t have to pay the $15 entry fee. As it turns out I was handed a pair of tickets from a friend so we headed right over. As per usual there was nothing at the show that was particularly interesting but we did pick up some swag. We did check out the 60 foot power boat mostly because after having enough of these go by me I wanted to see what they looked like inside. The most interesting part was the bridge deck. It had 4 30” TV screens with the chart plotter on one and videos from all over the boat on another. No wonder these people can never see me the screens are bigger than the windows.     We also got to get on board the...

 8/9-Rockland ME   Today was the day we recovered from the cruise. We had a bunch of chores to do such as laundry and grocery shopping. That took up most of the morning and a bit of the afternoon. Yesterday when trying to roll up the jib in 25 knot winds I had to put it on the winch in order to get in. That rolled it up so tight I used all the line on the drum. Also in a lesson in chaos theory the line had tied itself a knot in the middle of the sheet. It was so tight I had to use pliers to get it out.      The other thing that happened yesterday was as I was furling the mainsail on the boom I ripped a big chunk of the edge tape. I guess that was a sign that I need a new mainsail. Good thing I have one ordered. I had to patch this as it was on the leech and would have lengthened in the wind. When I went to buy sail repair tape they only had it in red, black(?), and blue. At least I’ll be able to find the patch easily enough.      I have been makin...

 8/8- Rockland ME    It seems we have finally gotten into the swing of this Maine cruising. We are the kind of people who get up and want to go. That unfortunately means we often get to our destination just as the wind starts to pipe up. Experienced Maine sailors have told me you never leave before 11:00. Well today we got close as we left around 10:30.      As we pulled out into the thorofare I looked back and it looked like the Spanish Armada was coming. There was a long line of boats both sail and power steaming intently into the thorofare. There were AIS targets filling the screen of the chart plotter. Eventually, which turned out to be right at North Haven, the armada caught up to us. Talk about being in a washing machine. There were boats coming and going in a fairly narrow stretch of water.      Once we got around the corner we peeled off and ran up our sails. Now everybody could go by us which they promptly did. After a couple of tack...

 8/7- Carver Cove, Vinal Haven ME   It was a slow start to the day as again the water was flat calm. We enjoyed the company of friends while we waited for the predicted wind to make its appearance.     The slowness continued as we set sail and poked along at 2 knots or so. Every once in a while a gust would come along and push us to the extremes of 3 knots. As we approached the west side of East Penobscot Bay we found the gusts more pronounced sometimes even getting us up to 4 knots.      Once we got near the thorofare though the wind picked up nicely and we were flying on a great close reach. We sailed right up to Carver Cove where we dropped our anchor.     It turns out we had 2 other CD 36’s pull in and fill up the anchorage with style. We visited with everybody and congratulated them on their great choice in boats. This is the next to the last night of the CDSOA cruise and we had some spectacular weather this past week. We met a...

 8/6- Laundry Cove, Isle Au Haut ME    The day started with the wind like some people think the earth is - flat. It was another in a string of beautiful mornings. We just sort of hung around waiting for the wind to fall off the edge. Around 10am the breeze roared to life and away we went. It was coming of course from directly where we wanted to go so we got the sails up and commenced with our tacking drills. None of the tacks was very long as the reach was narrow here and we had to get around the green can. After 5 or 6 tacks we got around the can and settled into a nice close reach.     As we passed Greens Ledge we turned more westerly and the wind proceeded to disappear. As we were drifting onto the ledge and in the middle of a field of lobster pots we put on the motor. Within minutes the wind picked up again so out comes the Yankee. That lasted 20 minutes or so before the wind went missing so we put the motor on. Of course 10 minutes later the wind re-em...

 8/5- Wooden Boat School, Brooklin ME  What the hell is an Eggemoggin anyway? Inquiring minds need to know. Well I can tell you I’ve never had much success sailing through here and today was no exception. It starts out fine as usual with a nice reach on light wind. Then as we get near the Deer Island bridge it all goes to hell. The wind starts heading us and then suddenly switches back and forth so trying to keep the sails full is like riding  merry go round. You can tell I was a little frustrated with the wind today but it seems to be typical of my experiences going down this reach.      So once my patience wore out we turned on the motor and just motored the rest of the way. We anchored just in front of the Wooden Boat school. Having plenty of time we hopped in the dinghy and went over to Babson Island. There was a nice beach, especially at low tide, and we had a sweet hike around the perimeter of the island. It was interesting that there were large clear...

 8/4- Buck’s Harbor marine, Brookfield ME    Our destination today was basically around the corner. We could almost walk there. We dinghied in and had a nice walk to the reversing falls. The tide was near high so there wasn’t much of a waterfall as the water was still rushing in. When the tide drops the water pours out of the lake over some rocks.      The wind had been forecasted to be light to nonexistent but when we looked out I saw sailboats heeled over. So we saddled up and had a nice close reach heading down the bay. Interestingly as soon as we got south of Cape Rosier the wind evaporated. The wind was only blowing in the upper part of East Penobscot bay and nowhere else. Weird!?     We got a mooring at Bucks Harbor being glad they are open again after being closed the last two years. We got together with the CD folks and had a nice catered dinner on the patio of the marina.      This is the third harbor in a row that we have ...

 8/3- Tom Codd Cove, Holbrook Preserve ME   We split out of Camden this morning and headed east. We ran with just the jib out all the way across the bay until we passed Lasalle Island and then we took a left. The forecast had promised the wind to be building all day. As the wind was now behind us we just left the jib out and went down wind. We spent the day doing 3 knots but hey, we were not in a hurry. The wind did pipe up quite a bit after we got tied up.      Holbrook is a nature preserve that encompasses Holbrook Island and a large section of the peninsula. There is a fairly large lake near here with a reversing falls depending on the tide.      We picked up a mooring in Tom Codd Cove that belonged to a friend. The rest of the group showed up shortly and got moorings also. We had a happy hour on our boat before everyone dispersed to their respective ships in time for dinner.     There was plenty of smoke in the air today from wi...

 8/2-Camden ME    We hung around this morning cleaning up the mess I left after scalping the dinghy yesterday. There was no real hurry as there was no wind. Of course the wind picked up nicely just as we got to Camden.      We got a mooring at Lyman-Morse. They had a fire here a couple of years ago I think but they have rebuilt the place nicely. There are always a number of incredible yachts tied up here. This goes along with the numerous schooners that sail from here. It’s always nice to see multiple schooners sailing by you all day. It didn’t hurt that the Wooden Boat regatta was happening just up on the Eggmoggin this afternoon. Beautiful wooden boats were everywhere.     As we hopped out on the dock I looked up and saw a CD 36 laying alongside. I went over to talk to them and found out it was our friends boat but they weren’t there. They had chartered their boat and the people were just leaving to head back to Belfast.     ...

 8/1- Rockland ME    Welcome to August folks. This is usually a premier sailing month in Maine. Let’s hope the weather stays nice.     We walked into town this morning thinking we would head over to the Lobster fest and catch a ride out to the Navy ship. They were giving tours of this large Naval vessels parked in the harbor. But when we got there they were delayed and we didn’t feel like waiting around. We had been on a similar vessel a couple of years ago.     We turned around and walked back over to the Hannafords to pick up a few quick items for the cruise. Then it was back to the boat. I pulled the dinghy up on deck as I wanted to add a couple of d ring patches to replace the ones that got torn off down in Maryland. However it proved to be a struggle getting the boat onboard because the bottom was covered in a menagerie of seafaring critters. I’ll bet the boat weighed 10 lbs more with all the growth on it. No wonder we were going so slow...