Sailing Vacations
A Maine Windjammer

Good morning everyone. We are anchored this morning in Cradle Cove and a cradle it has been all night. We are of course on our first trip of the year, a shakedown cruise if you will. I for one am delighted to be off the dock and out on the bay. The crew is ecstatic to see their hard work in action. We have received more than a few comments on how lovely the boat looks. We departed Saturday morning after breakfast. Mary’s cream cheese coffee cake along with eggs and sausage and a fresh fruit salad made it easy to raise the sails. We did not have much wind on Saturday but finally an afternoon breeze picked up and away we went at a leisurely 8 knots, Mary Day hardly tugging at her sheets. We enjoyed a lobster picnic on the beach. A sunset sail brought us to anchor in Buck’s Harbor. Rain fell Saturday night and a few sprinkles came early Sunday but in true Maine fashion the sun came out in the afternoon and we enjoy a good beat up the bay at 9+ knots. Seal pups are everywhere and e

Good morning everyone. Just so you don't think that all we do is work around here Jim Dugan caught the light just right to prove that the crew gets a few minutes off every couple of days. We launched our 1930s vintage Herreshoff livery tender yesterday and the crew took a wonderful sail on the dying afternoon breeze. The schooner sails in 10 days. But who's counting? Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone and Happy Mother's Day to all you out there. Well it has been a busy week in our windjammer world. We launched the schooner from the railway on Friday morning after five long days and evenings dodging the rain. Last year we turned the boat around in 23 hours and this year was just the opposite. The crew were absolutely inspirational in their energy and devotion to “gittin’ ‘er done.” I for one am very glad to be associated with such a fine group of individuals. Yesterday we sanded bulkwarks in the morning and rigged in the afternoon, running out the jibboom and raising a topmast. They have earned a well-deserved day off. As we were leaving the schooner a mother duck was sitting in the seaweed right next to our dock. Sawyer, not one to miss a great photographic opportunity, took several pictures up close and personal. It took me a few minutes but soon we realized that this was the same mother that had been swimming by with a raft of chicks in tow. (We have a

Good morning everyone. Once again I write this at night because I will be off to the ship yard early in the morning. We hauled out on the railway yesterday morning at 0730 and began the long process of cleaning the bottom of the hull. The bottom was remarkably clean but we pressure washed and scrubbed the bottom just the same. These windjammers get pampered like nothing the old timers would ever have dreamed of. Matt and Jason, a couple of friends from the fire department are helping and have scraped most of the entire bottom of the schooner. They are heroes to the crew. Today the Coast Guard came by to inspect the hull planking and the internal framing. A hull exam is a semi-annual process for wooden vessels in this area. Another periodic inspection involves pulling a random selection of the spikes fasteners that hold the planks to the frames. This process happens every six years here in northern New England and Mary Day was due this year. Mary Day passed with flying colors.

Good morning everyone. Well as you can see by the time stamp on this one it is actually Sunday evening. I am writing this now because I will be getting up in 8 hours to take Mary Day to the shipyard for her annual haul out and will not have time to do it in the morning. The crew has been absolutely amazing working through the weekend to get as much painting done as possible while the sun is shining. You just can’t imagine how much energy they are putting out to make this schooner shine. The cover came off this week and Mary Day felt her first rays of direct sunshine and, yes, a little bit of rain as well, in many months under the cover. We had a chance to do a little rigging on Tuesday. It felt good to get aloft where all good sailors are most at home. On Wednesday we got under way and dropped the centerboard out of the schooner at the local boatyard. She looks to be in great shape so will need just a coat of paint and some new sacrificial zinc anodes. The diagonal line visible i