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...