SUMMER SAILING

Dinghy dock in Cohasset Harbor at start of Maine trip, Ken & John


View of Damariscotta from our mooring, storm brewing


RISING TIDE squeezed into Damariscove; eventually there were 4 boats here for the night

RISING TIDE and crew went on a few cruises this summer, after getting a well-deserved bottom cleaning, bottom painting, and refinished teak trim on the cabin, cockpit and toerail.

We sailed to Marblehead and spent a few days there, visiting family and friends. We watched fireworks over Marblehead harbor, walked through Old Town, and unfolded the bike to travel to the West Shore to our old neighborhood.

The next trip was an invitation to join a group from the Hull Yacht Club (thanks Tom and Jean!) to sail to Provincetown for a BIG lobster feed on the beach. The lobsters were brought from Hull--76 total I believe--and there were about 10-15 boats. We anchored off of a quiet beach near the lighthouse within sight of the town, and had some other fun activities including a Sunday morning pancake breakfast on one of the powerboats. The weather was perfect with good wind and lots of sun. Hopefully there will be a repeat of this next summer.

Shortly after P-Town, RISING TIDE sailed for Maine with Ken and John Campbell on board. They did day trips up the coast to Boothbay Harbor. Along the way there was one planned rendezvous with Dick McLeod on his Egg Harbor SUNDANCE, and another with friends we met in North Carolina, Mark & Julie on the Tayana 37 RACHEL.

John left for home on the end of the first week and I joined the crew. We had a hurricane bearing down on Maine, most unusual, so decided to sail up one of the long rivers in the area. We headed for Damariscotta and it was a perfect place to be in a storm. It’s less than a day’s sail from Boothbay and has a small supply of free moorings for visitors provided by a boatyard there. There are lots of small shops, restaurants, pubs, and you can get to two grocery stores after a 10 minute walk.

We spent 3 days in Damariscotta, largely out of the storm as we had hoped, and were able to meet up with both the Cassidys (sailing friends from our Catboat days and on, who now live in Maine) and the Olneys (friends from Cohasset who moved to Maine) while there.

For the middle of our second week in Maine, we had planned to take aboard Susan & Barry Perkins, new friends from Massachusetts who we met in Florida last winter. They wisely waited until the hurricane had moved on and we picked them up in Southport. Just before Susan & Barry arrived we ran into another couple from our winter trip, Susan & Tom Maddigan, who were also just arriving by car to spend some time sailing with some of their friends. Small world!

With our extra crew we sailed for Damariscove, an island not far from Southport. It is an uninhabited island most of the time, with just one former coast guard building used intermittently by two families. The harbor in Damariscove is narrow and deep and provides good protection. The island was settled long ago, before the Pilgrims settled Plymouth, as a fishing and trading post. Even though Ken did not like the sides of the harbor being 10 ft. from our anchorage, we spent the night and the next day went on an interesting hike through the south end of the island on well marked trails.

The weather cooperated throughout the Perkins’ visit and we were able to sail, anchor several times in pristine coves, dig mussels, buy bargain-priced lobster, see seals, transit Townsend Gut, and get them safely back to their car.

At the end of our loosely planned two weeks in Maine we were expecting another storm, this one a tropical storm that never got strong-enough winds to be a hurricane, but nonetheless needed watching. We headed back southeast, and ducked into Princes Point just north of Portland where friends--the MacLeods--were able to get us a secure mooring for a few days. Barb & Dick also fed us, let us sleep in their guest room, and helped us to get to a car rental place to get a vehicle and attend a wedding in New Hampshire that we had double-booked for this last weekend in Maine. Even though we tested their hospitality, they held up, and we enjoyed spending some quality and quantity time with them!

We eventually sailed back into Cohasset on Tuesday evening of the third week, arriving when the tide was out (an especially low moon tide) and probably had only inches under our keel as we entered the harbor. But we made it without any problems. New England is definitely a great place to sail in.

Our cruising for 2008-2009 has been everything I thought it would be. Ken and I have great memories and pictures from all these travels and we have accomplished what we set out to do, after day-dreaming about it for a long time. Now that RISING TIDE is back in her harbor, we have talked with a broker about selling her and maybe taking a new tack next year with a motorboat (gasp! a stinkpot!). At any rate, the broker, John Proctor, can be reached at lawsonyachts@aol.com,
if you know of anyone looking for a seaworthy 37’ sailboat.

We’d love to hear from any of you who are taking cruises this fall and winter and we hope you keep us “in the loop” with your plans and travels. We’ll be staying close by the fire and working on some new day-dreams.