Sailing Vacations
A Maine Windjammer

Good morning everyone. We celebrated All Hallows Eve, or Halloween, last night in fine fashion. We have never been big on the trick or treating thing but have for the last few years celebrated with our school community at an evening walk through the woods. Most of the students at school carve a jack o' lantern the day before and these are sprinkled through out the woods to light the walking path. Fairies, gnomes, elves, dragons, and all manner of wood folk are seen as passersby stroll the path under the tall pines. So this is more of a pagan event than some may be used to but the kids love it and the lack of candy does not seem to dissuade them. Saywer, dressed as Robinhood, handed out glass beads (his idea) to his friends. Nadie, a water fairy, was content to run with her friends, drink cider and nibble pumpkin cookies. In the pagan world this holiday marks not only a thinning of the veil between worlds but also marks the end of summer and the beginning of winter. For the k

Good morning everyone. I am some glad to be home. As I stepped out of the car the smell of crisp autumn leaves upon the ground and the kiss of temperatures in the low 40s was quite welcome. We wandered down to the field last nite to watch the comet 17P/Holmes just below Cassiopea in the NE sky. It took a while but with Jen's laser pointer the kids were able to see the comet through binoculars. In the distance we could hear coyotes and owls and Martha, the donkey that lives down the street. As beautiful as Texas is I sure did miss Jen and the kids and autumn in Maine. I can't wait to get down to the schooner in Camden today and see all the activity. Mary, Jen, and Elisa have been very busy. Since the docks are coming out soon there is a ton of stuff to do. I am only home for five days before I return to Texas to help bring Elissa back to Galveston. So give me a couple of days to get back up to speed with our whirlwind windjammer world. Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good Morning! It's finally starting to feel like fall here. Temps are in the 30's as we start our workday on the boat. Jack Frost has been seen playing in the fields. The leaves have finished showing off their brilliant colors and are now playing "capture me!" with all the children as they float downward from their branches. This change can bring sadness to some, but for us it means a time for rest and peace. We'll be done soon with working on the boat and the docks come out in a few weeks. It's almost time to walk away and let her rest as well. And as we drive home every day we have been graced with the most beautiful road home...worthy of a poem. "My leaves are turning crimson," the giant oak tree said, "It's almost time these children should seek their winter's bed, But how they still cling to me and gleam with crimson hue, They truly are more lovely than cirrus clouds of blue. "And now throughout the forest - list! hear their vo

Dear Tooth Fairy, Thank you for the kind letter and $5! We must share with you (who ever you may be in Austin, Texas!) that special moment upon arrival…. Nadie ripes open the letter and hands the card to Mom to read and upon hearing that it was from the tooth fairy starts to jump up and down exclaiming, “Oh my gosh! Oh my GOSH! How did she know? I can’t believe this! Mom, Mom, look at this!” Mom’s reaction after reading the oh so cute letter, “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! How did she know? I can’t believe this! (who sent this….)” Sawyer upon overhearing all this, “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I can’t believe this! THAT”S NOT FAIR! I’m the one who lost the last tooth!" (nothing is ever fair to Sawyer and Nadie). And the chase was on throughout the house…with Mom left in the dust still pondering it all… Final outcome: they have decided to split the bill and have planned a trip to the Village Shop’s candy counter when next in town! Thanks to the Tooth Fairy of Austin, Texas

Good morning everyone. We enjoyed a terrific overnight passage last night. The full moon was brilliant as it stood overhead during my 0000-0400 watch. The shadows of the rig and sails were as clear as if it were daytime. We were thankful for the helping hand from Mr. Moon as we threaded our way through numerous oil and natural gas platforms, mostly lit with a dozen or so exceptions. Dark in the shadows of the waves one could occasionally glimpse out of the corner of ones eye the faint image of an unlit platform. My advice to my watch mates... look with the sides of your pupils as well as the centers. I call this the intuitive eye. You swear you saw something but when you look straight at it, there it is, gone. For those of you who really want to read into that one, life lesson #237, trust that what it may, take energy to see what really is there. It takes work and your life may depend on it! The other great thing we have seen off shore in the Gulf of Mexico are m

Hey Y'all! Writing to you from the Gulf of Mexico where the sun is shining and the wind is up. A perfect day for windjamming in the Gulf. The term windjammer was actually was used in a derogatory manner by the early steam sailors to describe square riggers. Of course we use windjammer as a term of endearment today and to see Elissa sailing would make any heart beat a little faster. As you know I am down here on the tallship Elissa where we are sailing along with a fleet of 260 small sailing vessels racing in the annual Harvest Moon Regatta. It was an incredible sight here this afternoon as all 260 vessels converged on the starting line (and Elissa too, at times). The wind is from the NW about 15 knots and we are off to Port Aransas, 150 miles distant. A cold front blew through the Texas coast on Monday when we arrived just like it does in Maine. The wind went from southerly to northerly in a matter of minutes and kept us pinned to the dock on Monday. We fina

Good Morning. Our summer days have vanished, and in exchange wind and rain. It had to happen sometime. Mary and I are taking today as “office days” resting our backs from a day spent with the ole Makita’s. It’s official, the dust storm of 2007-2008 has begun. The hum of the Makita sanders and vacuums filled the day. Mary and I were actually excited to sand the cabin houses. We’ve spent all summer looking at the scratches and patches of paint waiting for this moment of destruction. It felt good to be rid of all those marks. At one point both Mary and I stopped for fresh air and remarked, “this is fun!” It takes a rare breed to enjoy endless hours of backbreaking sanding and Mary and I must be from that breed. We’ll be back at it for the rest of the week with hopes of ending Friday with all cabin houses sanded and primed. It’s a huge goal, one we’re willing to put our backs into. Speaking of rare breeds, Sawyer and Nadie spent the afternoon at the barn. What a pleasant moment for a par

Good Morning. I hate to say it in fear of jinxing us, but we had another wonderful “summer” day here yesterday. Temps were well in the 70’s. Just too bloody hot! Lately I’m feeling like a bear preparing for the great winter hibernation. My food source (Mary’s cooking!) has vanished. Each day is spent wondering what’s for dinner. Working under the cover, sheltered from the Camden “fishbowl” is like the cave or a hollowed out tree where a bear may cuddle up in, safe from the dangers of winter. I too hope this cover provides us safety and doesn’t end up in Canada! In order for bears to survive, they build up their body weight by accumulating fat. That’s definitely happening here! In months before a bear hibernates they can gain up to forty pounds of fat PER WEEK. As Barry would say, “not so much”. I hope that won’t happen! Bears can also lose from fifteen to forty percent of its body weight just by sleeping! Now that would be a dream! I’m trying to catch up on all the sleep I missed

Good Evening! A quick note from Barry. Upon arrival to the Elissa, the welcoming committee consisted of 20+ cormorants standing at attention on the footropes of the Elissa and one lone Canadian goose swimming in the water next to the boat. Meer coincidence? Could this be one of the geese Barry saluted as they flew over the Mary Day in late September with a "see ya in Texas!" I'd say he's found his goose in Galveston. (Kinda sounds like a hit line in country western song. Take it from here Al & Ed!) Have a good night. (Post Note: Ed did take it from here, be sure to check out the comment!)

Good Morning. A quiet Sunday was had by all here. Barry left in the early dawn light and the kids and I found ourselves digging thru the many piles of schooner gear here in the house. After a few more chores and a few more, “Ahh, Mom, do we have too?” the day warmed up to a high 60 degrees! It’s amazing to think that it’s late October! If Autumn is a second spring and every leaf is a flower , then we are in full bloom here in Maine! The leaves are coming down faster than we can rake. Sawyer and Nadie gave it they’re all yesterday. A little nudge from the chocolate fairy who hid chocolate pumpkins in the pile gave a surprise ending to a day’s work. (Now all the leaves are scattered on the lawn again….oh well, we don’t want Daddy to miss all the fun of raking!). And as Rachel Carson once said, “If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we li

Good morning everyone. I sat in the door yard yesterday and watched the last of the geese heading south. The crew have departed and life is beginning to settle in to a winter routine (if you will call it that). This morning I leave for a very busy 10 days windjamming in Texas aboard the barque Elissa. The ship will be sailing to Corpus Christi with a stop in Port Aransas. To feel the roll of the ship under my feet will be pleasing, no doubt. But it is bittersweet. I will miss the two little cherubs upstairs asleep in their beds. And I will miss Jen. So be patient with the blog for next 10 days. I will do my best to send along the news. I will not have a camera so Jen will have to fill in the blanks and she will keep you informed of schooner doings here in Maine. It feels like we have scarcely had time to slow down since we stopped sailing and to be leaving this morning seems crazy. Such is the hectic pace of our lives but I wouldn't trade it for anything. While I am in

Good morning everyone. We had a very busy and productive day yesterday. The spars received a coat of varnish and they look awesome. Only 2 more coats to go. The crew finished sanding the bulwarks and the some final adjustments were made to the winter mooring lines. I dove on (or should I say under) the schooner to change the sacrificial zincs that protect all the underwater metal work. I also inspected the chains that the mooring lines are attached to. It all looks good. Just as I got out of the water the trailer supply store called to tell me the springs were in, so once again, we sped home, changed the springs like an Indy pit crew, and sped back to the harbor to pull Arno on the top of the tide. We left the boat in Camden so we could get a chance to winterize and pressure wash the bottom. Today is the final day for Sara and Hannah. This is always a sad day for me. These are good people and I am lucky to know them and work with them. They have given so much to the boat, wa

Good morning everyone. Well with a little patience and perserverance at least one yawl boat trailer has been put back to rights. I pulled out "Chadwick's" trailer yesterday to discover yet another set of sprung springs. Thankfully the trailer parts store had those in stock. So after changing mooring lines in the morning on the bottom of the tide, with the help of the harbor master, I ran off to get the new springs. I remembered all the parts I would need and drove home quick as a wink. How hard can this be I thought. I was about to find out. My cutting torch made quick work of the old rusty nuts and bolts. The new springs slid right into place. I quickly began bolting... oh boo! The new heavier springs were just a half inch thicker than the old ones which meant the u-bolts which hold the entire assembly to the trailer were a half inch too short. The joke is "but only on one end." I managed to attach the trailer to the axle well enough to get back to

"Mom, driving a boat is alot easier than this!" Good morning everyone. OK, just so you don't get the impression that every plan works, we had one of those days. I was supposed to be down at the harbor at 0800 to switch out our summer mooring lines for our winter mooring lines. I was also planning to winterize and haul yawl boat "ARNO". I pulled ARNO's trailer out and began greasing bearings and checking tire pressure only to discover that the leaf springs on one side were "pooched". That means "not so much", which also means it ain't gonna happen with out a big push. I loaded my truck with all the necessary implements of destruction and headed for the local trailer supply store (we actually have one of those here). So went my plans to be at the harbor at 0800 and after a good half hour of "I love people like you at the trailer supply store it was 0930 before I reached the harbor. It is true that time and tide don&

Good Fall Morning to all! It’s great to be back home, back by the sea and yet it was great to be in Maine’s North Woods away from it all! Annie & I have just finished our 4 day camping trip with 19 middle school students to Baxter State Park. One of the many amazing moments of the trip was making the connection of land and sea… My first day of the trip was filled with canoeing on Ambajejus Lake to learn about Maine’s logging industry of the past. The Boom House Museum , set out on an island on the lake used to house 11 fellows who’s job was to gather the cut logs as they came down the river to the lake into a large circle, or rather a “boom” that was held together by chained logs. It’s very similar to how fisherman work a seine’s fishing net to gather herring. Once the boom was filled, a towboat would then hitch up to it and tow it down the river system of northern Maine to Millinocket or Bangor to the sawmills. In Bangor sawn boards were then loaded on schooners and taken to se

Good morning everyone. Just 31 degrees here at 0530 this morning. We had fun playing this weekend and getting a few projects done. The garden has given up its last fruits of the season. We still have some warm days in front of us but the last of the peppers are in and I am thinking we should till soon. As a young adult I spent time with my grandfather working in his garden. I will never forget driving the tractor around, planting peas, cutting out potato eyes,and finally sitting on the edge of Swayze's field across the street and watching the turkeys (they were just making a come back in NH then) come out at dusk. I suppose that is where I get my love for the woods and all things rural. When I grow up I want to be a farmer. Now this might seem to be a long ways from our windjammer sailing family life but the two are quite connected. Both farmers and sailors live and die by the weather and that closeness to the elements is something that makes me feel so alive. As I watch

Good morning everyone. After a rainy week we are enjoying a weekend at home with the kids. As you may recall Jen was gone all week camping, canoeing, and hiking with a school group up at Baxter State Park, home of Mt Katahdin, Maine's highest peak. I'll let Jen tell you about that trip herself. Mr Mom survived the week in fine style with only a few transgressions (OK, I admit it, we watched a movie on a school night!). The kids sure were happy to see Mrs. Mom. What is wrong with my cooking I ask. "I thought you guys loved baked beans." We also had some great bike rides with the most colorful foliage coming on strong. The kids love to stop to feed our neighbor's goats. At any rate, back at the schooner, the crew worked all through the rains that poured down from the heavens on Friday. It was toad soaker worth a couple of inches. Mary finished putting the galley to bed while Hannah, Sara, and Elisa started sanding covering boards and bulwarks. One of the thi

Good morning everyone. I will have to make this one quick. The weather is apparently going towards the wet side of things and strong NE winds are forecast for the next couple of days as a strong low passes through the Gulf of Maine. This will be the day we get our winter lines aboard. The winter lines are doubled up and chains are run to the beach alongside the bow lines. The chains will have to wait until next week to get mid-day low tides. The new moon drives the high tides towards noon. Yesterday the crew primed the varnish and paint on the spars in the morning and began sanding the bulwarks in the afternoon. At lunch time we had a birthday cake for Elisa in the park and the sugar buzz got us through the afternoon. Mary has finished packing up the galley and was busy winterizing the woodstoves. Putting a windjammer to bed takes as much energy as getting her ready. Already we are making lists (that mess mate sink drain has a leak I have been avoiding for a couple of weeks).

Good morning everyone. The crew spent yesterday sanding spars under the cover. We try to get a few coats of varnish on each fall so that when the cover comes off in the spring the spars are ready to send up (the topmasts) or hang (the gaffs). Even the jibboom comes in for the winter to get a few coats of varnish. The topmasts get scraped up quite a bit from all the raising and lowering while sailing to get under the Deer Isle Bridge. The spars get a big hand rub with 120 grit and a random orbital sander hooked up to a vacuum makes quick work of fairing in the scraped varnish. That all gets primed with thinned varnish, and then get 2 coats of our favorite Epifanes. I spent the first part of yesterday helping get Jen and Annie out the door on their way to the North woods. Jen called from Millinocket to say that all was well and that Katahdin was just beautiful in the peaking foliage. Pictures to follow. The National Weather Service forecast a chance of snow flurries up North on Sa

Good morning everyone. And so it begins, fall fit-out. After a good weekend at home we are ready to get back to work getting ready for next year. It is hard to believe but already we are feeling the crunch to get everything painted in time for sailing next Memorial Day Weekend. I drove in to Camden yesterday to grab a few things off the boat and noticed that the fall colors are finally coming around, a good week late, but coming around beautifully just the same. Jen is off on her camping trip with the 6th and 7th graders from the small school our children attend. We had a hectic time pulling all our camping stuff together. So much for the relaxing weekend we had planned. It has been years since we unrolled the tent (it smelled like it too!). First aid kits needed revamping, boots needed oiling, food needed to be organized. Annie and Jen are leading this trip together so there were frequent phone calls to discuss last minute details. And then we were up late last night taking

Good morning everyone. We spent yesterday at home, the first day since who knows when that we have not left the farm. It did feel good. I love the boat and the bay but our home in the woods is just as inspiring. I spent the day stacking schooner firewood that has been sitting on the ground, blocking the driveway, since last May when it was delivered. The leaves are slowly beginning to turn but it was another very warm day. It poured buckets last night so I already have warm fuzzy feelings about having the schooner covered. Fall is on the way this next week by the looks of the forecast. Jen spent the day nursing a terrible cold and getting ready for a canoe/hiking trip that she and Annie are leading together this next week. We spent last night beginning to pick away at the numerous piles of stuff that came home from the schooner. Every room of the house has a pile in it. We can now actually walk through the office and to the kitchen without doing a pirouette. Just amazing. Have

Good morning everyone. The crew did an amazing job once again. The folded shrink wrap was already in place ready to be dropped over the sides. After a few more minutes of finishing touches we unfurled the plastic and began fastening it down along the bottom. The hardest part of this whole process is fastening the plastic around the shrouds and masts. Shrink wrap is weldable and the tape made for this plastic is wicked sticky! So at days end we had welded and taped and shrunk. The weather was perfect although a little too hot for this time of year. We had several folks stop by to comment about how premature a winter cover seemed. But I can tell you that the first cool rainy day that comes along will make this cover seem all worth it. Mary remembers how many times we have been fighting wind and rain this time of year of year to get the cover on. So we will count our lucky stars and be thankful for a good strong cover..and a few days off. We had a wonderful crew dinner together l

Good morning everyone. Yesterday was a wicked busy day. You can't imagine how hard the crew is working. We finished the cover frame yesterday along with all its little touches of padding. Sorry, I did not take a picture at days end. It was incredibly warm here yesterday and that helped. We were ready to spread plastic and actually set the 3 pieces in place ready to roll out and batten down first thing today. So keep your fingers crossed. If the wind is flat calm this morning we will begin the shrink wrap process. We cover the boat with 5440 square feet of plastic which is about the same amount of sail area we carry. This shrink wrap is pretty amazing stuff and has certainly revolutionized the way we cover the schooner. The days of wooden rafters, reinforced plastic, and nailed battens were good. The covers were always tight and infinitely repairable with a hammer, more battens and more nails. The beauty of shrink wrap is that, done well, the cover always comes out pinging t

Good morning everyone. We are going great guns here. The main topmast came down yesterday. Annie and Sara did it pretty much on their own while the rest of us were busy getting spar stands in place. They also sent down all of the blocks and halyards from aloft on both masts. The mast heads are bare waiting for their winter coat of paint. Mary and Elisa spent a few hours in the park assembling the 40'long bows that are the rafters. You can see some of them sprung over the main boom in the background of one of the pictures. After school Sawyer was happy to go for a ride on the paint float (never leave home without an anchor, even on a paint float!). He is a natural born director. Today we finish the cover frame and if all goes well we roll the plastic tomorrow. I had scarcely finished telling the crew how artsy the crossed anchor motif was when a visitor came down and took a picture of our efforts. Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone. The down rigging process has begun and with it the emotional change of seasons. Yesterday we all had a big emotional let down. We were all tired (we deserve it) and the thought of not heading out on the bay again for a year was clearly not too exciting. We live for this windjamming thing and I for one will miss the bay. Forgive me if I keep pining away for he summer sailing. I am not too good at transitions. Shipwright and dear friend Brad Ellsworth came down to help drop the centerboard out of the boat. We did something I have never done before and dragged the board up along the topsides (with a couple of 2X6s for fenders so that we could take measurements for a new one to be built some time this winter. Today we will put the board back in to displace the water in the centerboard trunk. This minimizes the ice build up when things freeze up this winter. Remember that water expands when it freezes so the less the water the less expansion inside the trunk.

Good morning everyone. Yesterday was a long and very beautiful day. After a quiet night at anchor we pushed our way down the east Islesboro shore in a very light Nly wind. We turned the corner at Laselle I and made one last tack into Camden. The foliage in the Camden Hills is turning but clearly muted this year by the lack of rainfall. Just the same it was gorgeous site to my eyes. I was savoring it all the way. Yesterday was one final sweet kiss before we had to start the work of getting the schooner ready for winter. Our arrival at the dock was our non-standard "bow-in" winter approach to the beach. What all summer were the bow lines were passed back to the stern and hauled up tight to brake our momentum. What all summer were the stern lines were passed up to bows and hauled up tight. It went as smoothly as one could ask for. Sometimes I get the sense that after 15 years I am finally figuring out how to drive this thing. I was sad to see the guests depart. The whol