Dang it

 9/7- Rockland ME

  We got the stay sail furler working again and the wind had calmed down some. We waited a while this morning before heading out from Tenant’s Harbor. It was nice sailing in 15 knots of wind so we decided rather than beat our way up the  Muscle Ridge we would go around by Two Bush. We lolligagged along and as the wind petered out we ran out the yankee. We weren’t really getting anywhere as the tide kept pushing us out in the ocean. We tried tacking but that didn’t get us much further. We looked up and saw another rain storm headed our way and didn’t think much about it. 

   Big mistake as it was quite the squall when it hit. The ocean frothed right up and the boat was once more put on her beam ends. As we were coming up to shore we were in need of a tack but that would have been impossible with the Yankee flying. I finally managed to get the line on a winch and dragged most of it in. Of course this is right when the dinghy decides to become a submarine. Once the yankee was in we were able to tack and the wind was slowly ( too slowly) waning. I had Alayne try to hold her into the wind while I tried to drag the upside down dinghy up to the boat. Finally after numerous attempts we caught a break and the dinghy came over a wave and I managed to get it next to the back of the boat. After several attempts to break the suction it finally broke loose and I flipped it over. Amazingly both oars were still with it but the present the gulls left the other night was gone. 

   I was exhausted so we put on the motor and headed for home. One of the reasons I was hesitant to motor is that we were low on fuel. There was enough fuel to make it all the way back but in rough conditions which we now faced you run the risk of the motor sucking up air and stopping. Fortunately that did not happen but was a good lesson in preparedness. I never should have let it get that low where it became a safety issue. 

    As we came around Owls Head smack in the middle of the harbor was a giant cruise ship. 1000 feet long and full of people anxious to find out what Rockland has in store for them. We did get treated to a gorgeous sunset and then fireworks over at Samoset to finish off a long weekend. 

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