Dot dot dash dot

 9/17- Rockland ME

   We got stuck in the Rockland fly trap again. We were going to take a day and then head out but the rain came and washed out one day. Then the next day was too windy as in way more than forecast. Then the next day there was no wind at all. Arrgh!!

   We finally a got a day with less than 15 knots of wind forecasted. A 15 knot wind is great in the middle of summer when it is 75 degrees out. It’s a whole nother monster when it’s 50 degrees. The air is denser thus more molecules hitting your sails causing more heeling.

   The weather did not look great for the rest of the week so we just headed to our old standby, Perry Creek. It was a nice sail over and we were the only ones in there for about another hour. I am always amazed at how quiet and still it is here. I could hear my clock ticking away all night. 

   We waited in the morning in the hopes of sailing as the wind was fairly light. Once we got going we drifted along the thoroughfare until we got kind of mixed up with a bunch of boats fishing for poagies. As they were laying nets we opted to call on Mr Perkins and just get around them. After passing them we tried sailing but now the wind came right on the nose so Mr P was woken up again. We motored out past the Sugarloafs and put up the sails again. We putzed along for a while until we just got bored and we motored up to the #26 buoy. Then we turned the corner and away we went. It was a nice broad reach all the way to just short of the breakwater. Then the wind deserted us. We were going backwards I think and I couldn’t steer any longer so we put on Mr Perkins again and motored the rest of the way to the mooring. 

   We had just enough wind to move us across the bay with virtually no wind on either side of the bay. The rain and fog has just commenced so I feel it was a pretty good call. This may have been our last sail for the season as the weather does not look great for the next couple of days. We’ll see though if maybe we can squeeze in a day sail sometime. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Swans

 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...
Read more

What a Ride

 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. 
Read more

Better weather

 7/24- Rockland ME   We hung around Rockland for a while as usual. There was more bad weather predicted so we just decided to hang and wait for it to pass. We did spend a day blueberry picking up on Beech Hill and then we walked out on the breakwater to see the inside of the lighthouse. They did open it but the woman who opens the door to the lighthouse never showed.      The big storm was pretty much a bust here though I guess other places had it rough. About the only real effect was a night of rolling and bouncing. There was no wind but the wind was strong out at sea and it drove an uncomfortable swell in to the harbor.     We finally dropped the mooring lines and headed down past Owls Head and Mussel Ridge. The wind was primarily out of the west and it shot us along even through the narrow passages. We hit over 8 knots at times and hovered around 7 knots a good part of the time. Once we cleared the last buoy and were on open ocean the wind pipe...
Read more