Further Adventures Of SV Nutmeg

 9/1-Rockland ME   The wind did its best vanishing act today. It didn’t ever really blow hard enough to get worked up about. So we settled in this morning and did a couple of projects. One was removing an old stantion base that I had installed several years ago. This had been meant to hold a rail on which I mounted a solar panel. When I moved the solar panels to the Bimini frame it made this base obsolete. To remove it I had to climb down into the locker to hold the nuts. I basically have to practically undress and inhale deeply but I can get in there. Fortunately when I bedded this one down I used butyl tape and so it was fairly easy to get off. I will fill the holes later with epoxy to seal them up.     After lunch we went to shore and took a long walk down to the south end of the bay. It was a nice day and we needed the exercise.     It’s kind of interesting that there are lots of empty moorings around now. I assume the reason is that people ar...

 8/30- Rockland ME    Our friends Nate and Brooke came over from VT today to go sailing. After a visit to Atlantic Baking we ferried everyone out to the boat and headed out. It looked fairly promising wind wise but alas it was not to be. The wind was all over the place. We would get the sails full and be moving nicely and then the wind would die or shift direction. We would get all set in the new direction and it would flip back. Eventually we got tired of playing this game and turned the motor on. It was a very pleasant day out except we could see little bubbles of rain crossing in the distance. None ever came near us.     On the way by the lighthouse we could see that the building was open. We had always wanted to see the inside so we headed back a little early but as we went by on the way back it was closed. We drove out anyway and walked out onto the breakwater. About halfway out we looked up and saw another popcorn storm heading for us so we turned aro...

 8/29- Rockland ME    We spent the morning dodging raindrops as we some scattered showers rolling through. We did get into shore to run some errands and do laundry. We made it back out without getting too wet in the afternoon.     From my perch here in the cockpit of our boat I can observe many birds. There is of course the ubiquitous gull who is forever scavenging for food. Then there are the terns swooping and diving. I have no idea what they eat but it sure looks like they must pull some g forces with the maneuvers they do. The osprey are always around whistling and crashing into the water. They are the biggest pains as they love to sit on your windex’s and bend them. I watched an osprey the other day leave a fish at the top of someone’s mast. You know that will be a nice surprise when a week old fish lands on your deck from 50 feet up. We occasionally see eagles but Rockland is too busy for them. The herons are also around and you can always tell them b...

 8/28- Rockland ME     As is typical around here lately the wind was nonexistent when we got up. We hung around and I even tried some fishing. I did catch a nice clump of rock weed. We waited until after lunch and by then the wind was starting to fill in nicely.     We sailed close hauled all the up to Samosett until we had to tack. We then ran out across the bay again because well it was such a nice day and we were sailing nice so why not. This tack was not quite as comfortable as we were bashing into the waves. We managed to salt down our deck in good shape. We finally tacked and headed back into Rockland again.     I have to say I have been pretty impressed with the accuracy of the wind forecast lately. We use Predict Wind with the HRRR model. It only goes out 36 hours but that’s been good enough for me. They had today right on saying the wind wouldn’t start until 11:00 and that it would increase to 15-17 knots around 2:00 and that wa...

 8/27- Pulpit Harbor, North Haven ME    The wind went missing this morning so we dinghied over to the island to try and find it. We weren’t terribly successful but we did have a nice walk. It was low tide and we went looking for clams but didn’t find any.     After lunch we caught the wind peeking around the corner so we headed out. We were going through Bracketts Channel which is a very shallow channel that goes from Gilkey Harbor over to East Penobscot Bay. It was high tide by now though so we followed the chart plotter and had no trouble. As we were passing through we met a guy towing a small wooden sailboat. He got pretty excited we saw us and it turns out his boat was named Nutmeg also. That’s the first time I’ve seen the name on another boat. Once out of the channel we put up the sails and had a long tack all the way to North Haven Island.     The wind had increased steadily and it was in the 20 knot range when we tacked into the entran...

 8/26- Cradle Cove, 700 Acre Island, Isleboro ME   We were actually patient enough this morning to wait for the wind and it paid off. Once we rounded the breakwater we had a nice beam reach going in 5 knots of wind. We were moving though not terribly fast. After a fashion the wind vanished and we sat there with the sails slatting back and forth. I could see the wind coming but it was taking its time. Eventually the wind shifted directions and we ended up with a fine broad reach all the way up the bay. It was a 4 knot day for the most part but it was pleasant out and we weren’t in a hurry.     We anchored in Cradle Cove which I have always called Dark Harbor. Dark Harbor is actually the name of the shipyard that is on the island. This is an interesting place as it is on an island in the midst of another island. Keeping your boat here would be tough as you would need to take a boat to get to your dinghy to get out to your boat. I believe this shipyard made PT boat...

 8/25- Rockland ME   I tried to clear the fog out of my brain this morning but it turned out to be on the outside. It was kind of a rain-no rain situation. There was no rain showing on the radar but everything was getting wet. The fog lifted so I could see shore now so I headed out in the dinghy. Of course now it really rained.     I was headed in to buy a set of stainless steel dorade vents. I saw the ad last night and it turns out he hauls his boat at Knights also. It was a really good deal and now I can retire the old rubber ones.     I finished the deal for the mooring so it seems we are putting down roots in Rockland. We had to do a bunch of paperwork but now we own our own mooring.     I went back and forth several times today and it was this same rain-no rain all day. I got soaking wet even though it was not really raining. Anyway we just have a few loose ends to take care of and we can head out of here. The weather is suppos...

 8/24- Rockland ME    The wind tied us to our boat all day today. It started out mellow but soon was blowing hard and the harbor was quite choppy. We settled in and did some boat chores.     We have been making a list of all the projects we would like to do in the off season. Some of these are not possible to do when the boat is in the water. Others would need tools like table saw or drill press. But there were several that could be accomplished while we sat here.      I repaired the grated stool in the cockpit that Alayne continues to use as a trampoline. I knocked off a couple of other smaller projects in between naps.      The wind blew hard most of the day and the clouds scudded briskly along until they started to pile up over Camden. Eventually they leaked out to sea and the skies cleared. We were mostly protected from any wave action due to the southwesterly direction of the wind. It wasn’t a bad ride at all. 

 8/23- Rockland ME    It was really calm this morning as the sun came up. The only thing disturbing the mirror like surface were the ducks feeding. The wind was forecasted to slowly increase throughout the day.    We lazed around a bit and then when the wind got its dander up we decided to go sailing. This would be the first time we would reef our new mainsail. As per usual as we passed by Owls Head light the wind came hard and we were glad we had the reef in. Once out in the bay we noticed that the ocean rollers were building. It never got to be more than 4 foot waves but when the tide began to run out the chop made it sloppy. After a couple of tacks we headed back in to our hopefully new mooring.      The wind kept coming up all day and should continue to do so until around midnight. This is the remnants of hurricane Erin. I imagine with the higher surf it made for some exciting photo ops all along the coast.     We have scheduled...

 8/22- Rockland ME   The title today has nothing whatsoever to do with anything. As you may notice the first letter is capitalized in the listing and I don’t believe I have ever had a Z listed. So there you go Z your second in the spotlight.      We walked into town this morning dreading our bout with bureaucracy. We are looking into actually buying a mooring here in Rockland. The process seems a bit daunting and I hesitate to get too involved in the bureaucracy lest I not be able to get back out. We have found someone willing to sell their mooring at a reasonable rate. This will hopefully save us a little money in the long run.     So in order to do this we had to go talk with the harbor master. Turns out, at least at this stage, it is all pretty easy. We just need to present a bill of sale and then they start the process. We will have to pay for a mooring permit and then pay the excise tax on the boat and then pay for maintenance of the mooring ...

 8/21- Rockland ME    Again this morning there was very little wind and the forecast held no hope either. We sat for a while enjoying the peace and tranquility of Seal Bay until we just had to do something. So we set off with Mr Perkins pushing us along. We went all the way through the thoroughfare and when we popped out the other side lo and behold— wind. Not much wind mind you but enough to get me to put up our brand new sail.      We ran a close reach most of the way across until the wind died about a mile from the breakwater. We had been making about 3-4 knots until it completely stopped. Of course the minute we tied up the wind perked up blew from the east for a while.     We have been watching the effect of Erin in North Carolina and are closely studying the weather reports. It looks like we may seem some effects as early as Friday. This will mostly be waves and extra high tides. The wind comes later this weekend. Until then we will con...

 8/ 20- Seal Bay, Vinal Haven ME      Today was a very interesting day. We arose to a cloudy sky and no wind at all. In fact I think there must have been negative wind. The anemometer was spinning backwards. The bay was a mirror reflecting back the odd cloud arrangement.       We dinghied in to shore and took a hike on Huber Preserve. On our way back to the boat we saw a group on Hay Island shooting up flares. They had shot up a couple of parachute flares and as they landed near us we picked them up. The parachutes were actually made of cloth. These flares he told us later were almost 30 years old. I bet now the parachutes are made of dissolvable paper. Anyway we brought them over to the group which turned out to be a cruising club. They had called the Coast Guard and arranged to do this. I have still never actually fired a flare gun.       We returned to the boat for some lunch and some r and r. When the tide finished going ou...

 8/19- Seal Bay, Vinal Haven ME    The wind perked up a bit more than predicted this morning so we pushed off. We had a nice if somewhat slow trek across the bay until we came to Sugarloaf Island. The wind became rather inconsistent so on came the motor. We motored through the rest of the thorofare hoping to catch wind on the other side. This was exactly when the wind decided to change to south and came right on our nose.      We motored all the way in to Seal Bay only to find about 10 boats in here already. We carved out an anchoring spot and planted the anchor. This is an anchorage that has no shore lights. Of course with the addition of 4 or 5 more boats the whole place is pretty well lit by the anchor lights. It is as quiet an anchorage as we have been at in a long time.      The clouds were amazing the last couple of days. There were all these willowy high altitude clouds that I assume are precursors to the hurricane. They did make some ...

 8/18- Rockland ME   The wind blew quite hard last night and into this morning as the cold front pushed through. It was considerably cooler today as the area got a bit of rain last night. There is a drought going on here that has dried up all the blueberries and raspberries so a little rain was welcome.     It was a bright clear day that dawned and as I sat in the cockpit I was ruminating on the ocean. I have been living in the ocean for the past 4 months. The ocean can be serene or angry, quiet or even playful. The colors are amazing going from turquoise to emerald to steely gray. Every day seems to bring a new color.     Then there are the critters that live here. There are plenty under the surface that we don’t see except on occasion like dolphins or porpoises and whales. Seals we see almost every day chasing down the pogies for a meal.     Then there are the critters that live on the boundary of sea and air. Cormorants and loons...

 8/17- Rockland ME    We slept in this morning and we got going rather slowly. We did a bunch of chores and were just hanging around not doing much when we decided to head to shore.  We really didn’t have much of a plan other than taking a walk.      Once on dock we ran into an old friend Dave B. and spent some time catching up with him. We hung out in the shop and watched some of the game before taking a walk into town.       Turns out today was Sunday Stroll in Rockland. They close down the Main Street and there are craft booths and food and bands. It was a total surprise to us.      Later that evening a thunderstorm came through with some much needed rain for the area. We have noticed that there are very few berries anywhere and the blueberry crop was abysmal. The islands are especially hard hit as they are mostly thin soil over granite. The front is a strong one and the wind is now howling out of the north. The te...

 8/16- Rockland ME   We hung around on the boat this morning doing chores and housekeeping   I even got a haircut as I was getting a little shaggy. It was a very pretty day but the wind was AWOL.     We dinghied in later and met up with friends of Alayne’s from SMC. We met at Claws again and had a nice late lunch. These were people that Alayne had worked with for 36 years and had even had our daughter for a class but I had never met. They had just come from MDI and were touring through Maine.      After that we headed back out to Ms Nutmeg where we had a brand new sail all bent on and waiting to be unfurled. We ran the main out and it looked really good. It’s amazing with a new sail that all the sail controls actually do something and make a difference. We were only out for an hour but we did a figure 8 of sorts to see the sail from every point of sail.      The sail is so incredibly stiff that it was hard to flake onto the boo...

 8/15- Rockland ME    We were just hanging out on the boat this morning when we got the call. Our new mainsail was ready and they would deliver it. We hustled in and met up with Robin’s mom and got our new sail and our old one.      The other reason we were coming in today was a party at Knights. It was a celebration of Murf’s and Dale’s birthdays as well as a welcome back for Jerome. We had burgers and cake out on the patio at Murf’s shack.     We then borrowed a cart and wheeled our old sail up to the SeaBag store. It was funny pushing a cart filled with a sail through downtown Rockland. They will give you a new bag in exchange for your old sail. We opted to get a bag made with the Cape Dory logo cut from our sail.      Now we finally brought the new sail back out to the boat. Thankfully the wind was with us and decided to lay down while we bent on the sail. Unfortunately every motor boat in Maine decided to drive by us and w...

 8/14- Rockland ME   I headed in this morning thinking I was going to do some provisioning. Once I got to the dock lo and behold our favorite ocean sailor Jerome had arrived last night. Check out his podcast at Sailing to Oblivion to keep up with his sailing adventures.      Just as I was ready to depart in Dale’s truck I got a phone call from Robin of Bhondell sails. She is making us a new main sail and it is close to ready. She needed the old sail to complete the project. So back out to the boat I went and stripped the old main off and into the dinghy. Then Robin came and picked up the old one which means we will have a new main sail very very soon.      Dale was still kind enough to lend me his truck again to head to Walmart to gather up some groceries. I also had to replace a water filter that I had lost overboard last week. I was surprised at how fast the thing sank.      By the time I got back to the boat it was time for happy...

 8/13- Rockland ME    Today was an incredible day. We started with a walk on the island. There was a nice beach on Mullin Head and there were dirt track roads all over the place. All of them led to other beaches. We walked down to a couple of these stone beaches which were great especially since it was low tide. As we were walking back to the dinghy we saw a couple digging clams so we went to talk to them. They were pulling these huge clams called Hen Clams out just by reaching under the water. We badgered them with so many questions that they finally said take some. We picked up 2 clams which as it turns out was more than enough for dinner for the both of us.     By this time the wind was starting to wake up so we returned the anchor to its proper position on the bowsprit and raised some sails. We sailed downwind as we had to dodge a bunch of islands that kept popping up. Once we turned the corner the wind of course took a sabbatical. Eventually after abou...

 8/12- Mullin Head, North Haven ME   We tried to go sailing this morning but after getting all the sails up we were barely doing 1 knot. If fact because of the current in the thorofare we were actually going backwards. So we called on Mr Perkins once again.    Once we got out of the thorofare and the wind picked up I thought maybe we could sail but by that time we were only 1 1/2 miles from our destination.     Mullin Head is a park that was given to the town in lieu of back taxes by the farmer who lived here. There is not much here except for a bunch of dirt roads crisscrossing the peninsula. It does however have a nice stone beach and is well protected from any south winds. The nice thing here is tonight is the Perseid meteor showers and it is dark here. This is one of the few places where I can see minimal houses on shore. In fact of the seven lights I can see (I counted them) three are sailboats anchored in various coves and one was a couple campin...

  8/11- Perry Creek, Vinal Haven, ME      I headed in to town today to pick up a few things at the grocery store. The trouble is every time I go into a grocery store I spend $50. With the price of groceries it’s not hard but today I only needed a couple of vegis and some chips. I could barely carry what I came out with. In fact that was the limiting factor in how much I bought. We wouldn’t want to run out of food.       We decided to head out of town so we packed up and sailed away. Well mostly anyway as the wind had not yet woken up. After using the motor to bump us to the wind we had a very nice close reach and sailed all the way into North Haven.        Picking up a mooring here in Perry Creek has changed a bit since we were here two years ago. Our friend John who was the unofficial mayor of Perry Creek has been ill and not able to resume his duties so it’s a bit more of a free for all.        One of the ...

 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...