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Sorting, Frolicking & EastingSo much has happened in the past few days it's hard to know where to begin.We had a lovely night in beautiful though crowded Pulpit Harbor, where one boat dragged anchor (Delta) clear across and almost rammed a lovely schooner doing an overnight. Another boat had no battery power by morning so they drove from boat to boat until they found a power pack. The usual. We decided to head over to Deer Isle as the forecast was S 10-15 knots, perfect breeze. Two boats left ahead of us under full sail. We thought the breeze felt a bit fresh so we just put out jib and jigger and lay a course out to sea. Within a couple of minutes, the wind picked up to at least 25, and the boats with full sail were instantly in trouble. One ahead managed to reduce sail, the other had a problem with its furler and headed back into the harbor. Two boats behind us turned back and two stayed with us, one under power, the other under reefed main. It was a wild beat until we could turn the corner where we picked up the two masted topsail schooner American Eagle under full sail. We followed them through the Fox Islands Thoroughfare at 9.5 knots. We were going so fast we couldnt see the sights! And it was pretty too. Oh, there goes the village! Quick, look at that lighthouse! Too late. Those of you who know Aleria know that she "sings" with her mizzen boom. Well, each gust raised her song several octaves...ooohhh! We decided it was too exposed at Stonington so we headed up into Eggemoggin Reach. Here is where we were put to the test. The wind continued to build, and as we entered the Reach it hit a crescendo near the bridge. The gusts had to be approaching 50 knots. One slammed us sideways with a bang. Even boats coming downwind the other way were having difficulty. But Aleria did great. It was then that she spoke to me. I was at the helm and felt her trying to remember how to do this because she'd done it a lot but some time ago. Then I felt her tell me, "Okay, got it now. You relax and I'll take care of you from here on." And sure enough, the moment I relaxed and stopped struggling against her, the easier and smoother our dance with the wind became. Lovely. I recognized something I had once read about the competent sailor being smart enough to simply let his boat do what she does best. That day, we learned a lot about each other. She's a great boat. We anchored in the lee of Torrey Island, and the wind died down instantly. Listening to the weather forecast again, we thought we had imagined it all! Another little boat joined us in this secure spot and we enjoyed a lovely night. We awoke to dense fog, which we really hadn't seen much of up to now. The world had disappeared overnight. Our neighbor left early but we decided to hop in the dinghy with handheld gps and visit the Wooden Boat School and Wooden Boat Magazine. We were quite disoriented in the fog so thank goodness for gps, but when we finally saw them, it was spectacularly beautiful. Wow! The harbor is full of wooden boats of every description, from tiny nutshells to massive schooners. There were classes ongoing everywhere...at the dock, in the boathouse, in the shed, and at the picnic grounds. Very impressive. It was here we learned that they had clocked sustained winds of 30 and gusts close to 40 knots yesterday in the dockhouse at the harbor which is protected by two islands. We were not imagining things. It had been howling. Alex decided that the Maine forecast has a factor built in for Maine, just like ski areas do. A black diamond at Camelback in PA does not compare with a black diamond at Alta in UT. Similarly, 15 knots forecast doesn't mean the same in Maine as it did in Long Island Sound. It's all relative! An old manor house serves as the magazine's HQ. They have an amazing library, with sailing and boat building magazine collections dating back to the 1800s. Every book on sailing ever written is here. We donated one of our anchoring books to the cause! One of the editors is coming to Clew Bay next summer to do a story about the Achill regatta, so she'll be visiting. How cool! We bought a replica ship model in the store for our mantel in Ireland (just what we needed onboard). As we returned to Aleria, the fog lifted and we made our way to Southwest Harbor on Mt Desert Island. One more lobster dinner at Peale's gave us reason for a skip through the "boring" harbor (every yacht is a gorgeous Hinckley with a couple of Morris' strewn about). Next day, we did a picnic lunch tour of Somes Sound (Hudson is more dramatic) and anchored for the night in its mouth. A proper mega-yacht picked up its mooring next to us for a peaceful night with a view. We all worked on projects well into the evening before turning in. The morning was flat calm. A pod of small black dolphins frolicked all around us while seals warmed themselves on the rocks, eagles soared way up high, and an osprey made our masthead his scouting site from which to dive down on fish. The latter was a sign, and Alex went up the mast with his topclimber to install the wind vane and new anemometer. We now know precisely how much wind we have and the osprey poop machine won't have a comfortable roost. While I spotted for Alex, I sorted through the evidence of our lives in Bergen County, New Jersey. The collection of business cards told our story, all past tense. Doctors and dentists - keep. House painter, car dealer, hair dresser, limousine service, pizza delivery - purge. Financial advisor, banker, business manager, accountant - keep. And so on. No house, no car, no job, no need. We have been working our way slowly East the whole time. Today, we have started seriously heading East. The forecast for the next few days is beautiful - 10-15 knots, sunny, 75. The coastline here past Schoodic is very rugged and dramatic. We have a beautiful 10-foot ocean swell and we are heading for Eastern Harbor across Pleasant Bay. Nova Scotia here we come. It will take a couple of days and a couple of hops to get there and we hope to make it no later than Sunday to hook up with friends who are visiting from England. This is remote country so we'll be out of range for a while. Life is good. "Talk" to you soon. Daria, Alex, Onyx |
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