Sailing Vacations
A Maine Windjammer

Good morning everyone. Well as you can see Sunday was not a day of rest here. We launched the yawl boat Chadwick in the rain. She fired right off with out a hitch. The bilge pump was running for the first few hours but by late afternoon her planks had tightened up considerably. What a pleasure to be underway in the harbor once again. Today the cover comes off! Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone. Pitter pat, pitter pat… a rainy morning here in Appleton. A great morning to sleep in, to rise slowly from our slumber and have a cup of coffee, just stare out the window. The view in to the woods is one I cherish. The woods surround us like a cocoon and make us feel secure here. I have been thinking about boundaries over the last few days, personal, communal, national…. The old saying about good fences making good neighbors has a grain of truth to it. I have been wondering about the balance of boundaries. I think about sailing on the schooner and what makes that so unique in this day and age. Many times I have seen our boundaries break down quickly when we sail together, eat together, swim together, laugh together, sing together. The ocean itself has no boundaries. It is always trying to get aboard. It is limitless and surrounds us all the time. Ecologically speaking we are just discovering how unlimited this lack of boundaries is. So I wonder when w...

Good morning everyone. The rain here yesterday did not slow things down at all. The crew worked diligently in the barn and in the shop to put some finishing touches on the small boats and the varnish work. Mary and Jen, the varnish divas, sanded and put a fresh coat of varnish on the wheel and multiple other items in the loft of the barn. Sara and Becki puttied the seams and painted the yawl boat bottom. It all looks beautiful and puts us one day closer to sailing, not that we are counting the days or anything like that. Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone. We were able to get another coat of oil on the deck yesterday morning and it had kicked off nicely by afternoon. Meanwhile back on the farm, Becki, Sara, and Jen were able to sand, prime, putty, paint (topsides and bottom) and varnish the exterior of our harbor “tug” Chadwick. That was very long day for the three of them. We hope to get her launched on Sunday morning. Chadwick is named for our dear departed friend Major Floyd S. Chadwick (USAF Ret), the Camden harbor monitor, and friend to all water related folks on the shoreline. His daily blessing was featured in this blog back in March. It is only fitting that we should name an influential boat after such an influential person. Why a second yawl boat, you ask? There are times when a schooner without an engine needs an extra little push getting in on really windy days. A gusty northwest wind is the most challenging in Camden when coming to the dock. There have been times when we have had to enter Camden...

Good morning everyone. OK…so we have to talk. Both readers have written in to ask if we are “holystoning” the decks. We are delighted that you care so much about your schooner and how we are caretaking her. For any other readers out there that happen to stumble across this blog a) I apologize and hope you have had your first cup of coffee and 2) I will explain what a holystone is. Holystones were fairly soft flat rocks that were used once upon a time to scour, and thus whiten, the wooden decks of ships. The US Navy used them right up until the early 1930s until they were banned. They were called holystones because they were traditionally used on Sundays and on ones hands and knees, like good prayer ought to be. Now Jen was smart enough to use a pair of knee pads these last few days. I on the other hand am way to masculine to fall prey to these creature comforts. Being a good New England puritan I toughed it out without too much whining just to have the bragging rights later o...

Good morning everyone. The last 24 hours have been fast and furious. We gave the crew a day off yesterday so Jen and I could take the opportunity to scrape and sand the decks. We are half way there and will finish today, we hope. It is just beautiful. The cover comes off Monday, we guess. We were up late last nite putting a new plank in the yawl which will be launched on Sunday, we pray. Jen spent last nite varnishing and painting Rosey, one of our row boats. She is good.... but most of you know that already. Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone. OK…so I am a year older as of yesterday. Birthdays do have a way of making one think about time. Everybody gets excited about time, sooner or later, but yesterday actually got me thinking more about distance. Now distance, there is something to ponder. Distance traveled is very important when one is sailing. Of course distance traveled is a function of speed and, yes, time. But because of known and unknown forces at work in the sailing universe distance traveled is not just a straight-line linear process. (Hope you see th elife parrallel here.) Distance makes all the difference when approaching a rocky shore. Sometime rocks and other ships “loom” up visibly on the horizon at one distance and then disappear for a short time as you approach only to appear again when you get closer. I was reminded as I was talking with Karla, one of our passengers, on the phone that I have this new found need to hold things just a little further away than I used to read them...

Good morning everyone. The crew did a great job this weekend painting the cabin houses, the covering boards, and tarring the rig. They put in some long days and everything looks beautiful. The weather appears to be cooperating as well giving us a few days to let the paint “kick” and harden. Today we celebrate the feast of St George, the fearless knight that battled the fire breathing dragon when all others had failed and prevailed to save the city. The story is a favorite of our kids. Who doesn’t love a good old fashioned knight who looks danger in the eye and goes headlong in to battle despite their fears? The story could well be as much about perseverance as well as it is about courage. I think this crew has found some of the spirit of St George as they have worked through the challenges of the last month and the shining paintwork is there to prove it. Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone. The paint is flowing fast and furious here. Becki and Sara enjoyed the opportunity to get out from under the cover and get aloft in the rig on the main mast to do some tarring. Jen and Mary, as you can see, lovingly applied the beige with roller and brush. Today we paint the white cabin houses. Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone. “Oh what a beautiful morning….” The sun is rising through the trees. The robin red breast will have a sore throat if it keeps up its present vocal pace. The hairy woodpecker has got to have a headache by now. Nature is going crazy out there. And so are we! I pulled in the maple taps for the season yesterday and am boiling down the last of the sap as I write. The finale of the sap run makes dark cooking grade syrup but no less delicious than the early amber syrup. I am sad at the thought of seeing this annual ritual end. It is as sweet to my soul as it is to my taste buds. We spent yesterday painting, as advertised, and the crew did a tremendous job. Today we paint the beige tops of the cabin houses and start tarring the rig. The smell of tar is another one of those annual rites that stirs my soul. Just the smell of pine tar somehow triggers the innate nautical creature in all of us here. Just think of the sailors that for hundreds of years have been pre...

Good morning everyone. We are on tap for a beautiful day with loads of sunshine and temperatures in the low 60s. And this trend is supposed to continue for the next few days. What most of the country considers spring is finally here at last. So today we paint, paint, paint. And tomorrow we do more of the same. The crew has done a great job of preparing the cabin houses and that, as they say, is 90% of the secret to a good paint finish. The other part of a good finish is patience and that is why Jen will lead the charge today. So my sermon for the day is about patience and preparation. It works for painting. It works for life. I think about all the work we put in to training on the ambulance service and the fire department. We are all keen to put our skills to work and we sit with radios in hand waiting for the tones to go off. When they do all the practice pays off. Imagine if we all practiced for relationships with the same thought in mind. “I could do that interaction better...

Good morning everyone. Looks like we are through the worst of the weather from this last storm. The fire department went to pump what we hope was the last basement yesterday afternoon although a small stream still runs through our own underpinnings. I swear I saw a trout sitting in a small pool down there. Yesterday I spied my first killdeer and bluebird of the season so they must think the coast is clear. We have also had more than our fair share of deer in the field at odd times of the day, driven there by hunger more than a desire to be seen. And speaking of hungry…. We are starving to get some paint on the schooner. The forecast for the next few days looks amazing. I told the crew not to plan on any time off until the next rainy day. Yesterday Mary and Becki painted Rosey and did a marvelous job. Painting between all those frames takes forever and I give them both high marks for patience. And that is why the crew rarely let me get a paint brush in my hand. I like to paint...

Good morning everyone. Well the very large storm that arrived here Sunday afternoon should explain in part the lack of blog entries the last few days. I was just returning from my "Pumps" course at school this weekend when it started to snow. The wind really picked up here on Sunday night and by Monday AM the power was gone and I was able to put my pumps training to work, pumping basements that is. I have been quite busy between the fire department and the ambulance service. Jen has been holding the fort here at home, no small task with 2 small kids and 3 new crew that are in this strange place where the weather seems to have no interest in the painting plans of the schooner. Working aboard the schooner was out of question even if we could have driven there. Before the roads washed out Jen did manage to drive in to check the schooner on Monday morning at the top of the tide and reported seeing the small schooner Surprise pitching its bowsprit into the swells in the pro...

Good morning everyone. One piece of fitting-out a schooner that folks seldom see are all the trainings that we conduct with the crew. Learning to sail is actually quite easy but putting sailing into the context of becoming a crew member aboard a large sailing vessel is more complicated. We drill and we train and we study and we talk. We explore all the what ifs before they get here. Today I am off to fire fighting school to learn about pumping water. Seems like a pretty easy topic but when put into the context of a very expensive fire truck with more gauges than you can shake a stick at, well,it all requires great attention to detail. Today's class is specifically about working with other fire trucks to move water great distances. Here in Maine most rural communities don't have fire hydrants so we have to get creative, just like a schooner. We work with what we have at hand to do the best we can. Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone. A lovely Currier and Ives morning here in mid-April with a fresh 5" of snow on the ground. We spent yesterday preparing for the storm and here it is. The yawl boat is safely tucked back in to the barn. Small boats have been shuffled. We managed to get some sanding done outdoors to keep the dust down inside the barn. Even with our vacuum systems the dust gets into the air. You will notice that the crew are always wearing respirators and some of you may wonder what they really look like. The photo for this blog shows Becka stripping a varnished hatch that was just repaired with a new piece of wood right down the center. She did a beautiful job and we stained it with a mahogany wood filler to try to smooth out the years of experience this hatch has seen. As I tell the crew, "it ain't a Steinway". Still we do the best we can to get a fresh coat of paint on to everything that is exposed to the weather and all of the high traffic areas bel...

Good morning everyone. We have another snowstorm on the way for this afternoon and tonight. They say there is another storm on the way for Sunday as well. Today we will focus our efforts here at the global headquarters. Like squirrels gathering nuts we will be busy, busy. We will be shifting projects, small boats, blocks, and davits, indoors and out Yesterday was sunny and we were able to put the paint and varnish to a number of items aboard. The crew did a great job painting window frames and hatch combings. Mary’s touch with the varnish brush added to the sparkle. Jen and Mary will be varnishing the main cabin sole today. Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone. Jen, Mary, and I appeared on the local TV station yesterday. The focus of the show was windjammer vacations of course. Actually I must confess it was a live taping and the show will not actually appear until the last week of the month here in Maine only and only on cable service. I am sure both of the viewers will enjoy what we have to say about great sailing vacations in our own back yard. We do get more and more guests from in state each summer. Maybe with the price of gas these days we should be doing more in state marketing. We are forecasted to have a beautiful day, temperatures soaring into the upper 40s, so finally we will be spreading paint to beat the band. Today we paint cabin house window frames, the chocolate brown skylight combings, and the wooden slides for the varnished hatch covers. Mary will be varnishing the skylight over the main cabin and the lazarette combing. Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone. We had a great day aboard the schooner yesterday. We sanded most of the primer and we just await the warm sun to work its magic. Jen, Mary, and I will be appearing on a local television station in Augusta this morning on behalf of the Maine Windjammer Association. Then it is all back aboard to paint. Curtis Island Light is one of the those backyard wonders we pass every week coming and going on each trip yet so seldom get a chance to actually visit. Memorial Day Weekend we will see this light before any of the others. Built in as Negro Island Light 1836 the island was renamed Curtis Island after a prominent summer resident of Camden, Cyrus Curtis, publisher of the Saturday Evening Post and other magazines and newspapers. The current tower actually dates back to 1896. The keepers house dates to 1889. Owned by the Town of Camden this park is open to the public and a family lives on the island all summer to welcome visitors. The past few summers a pair of ba...

Good morning everyone. Another busy week awaits us. The weatherman promises a warming trend in the forecast by weeks end but the wintry conditions will persist through the first part of the week. The almanac seems to be right on target for this time period predicting snow, then sunny and cold. I managed to spread some varnish upstairs in the barn on Saturday and I think it looks OK. Painting and varnishing are some of those life skills that one should be careful about displaying anything resembling competency with, like laundry and cooking. I always leave a “holiday” here or there just to make sure. This week we will be finishing the peapods, sanding the covering boards, painting trim around the cabin houses, painting the rail clamp, the bulwarks, the covering boards, the galley sole, miscellaneous varnish above and below decks, and the white tables in the galley. Whew…sounds like a lot of work and it is. Remember the cover comes off in 3 weeks and then we are exposed to the elem...

Good Easter morning everyone. We wish you all a happy day, Easter or other wise. We just finished a very exciting Easter egg hunt in the house. The kids had us up at 3 and again at 4 and then again at 5 AM. We finally got up at 6 o’clock. I think they might be a little excited. I believe the kids have the right idea…. Wake up excited, looking for the sweetness that the day will bring. Eggs for breakfast anyone? Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone. We had a beautiful day here yesterday. The sun felt quite warm under the winter cover aboard the schooner, warm enough even to put a little primer paint on a few things. Today’s forecast has temps soaring into the 40s so we will be priming the cabin houses in the mid-day heat for a few hours. I drove down to the marine chandlery in Rockland yesterday and the bay looked so inviting. The peapods were painted yesterday, inside and out. As you can see Jen and the crew did a great job, hardly a brush mark visible. We now just have to paint the off-white trim and the names. We have promised ourselves we will launch the peapods as soon as we get them finished. Kaitlyn has stripped the varnish off the deck box lids and she put a thinned coat of varnish on yesterday to seal those. They are looking good. I love the rich color of the white pine. Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone. We received 15” of new snow yesterday and I am here to tell you it is just beautiful as the sun rises over the ridge top to the east of our home. Plowing was a real challenge in the soft mud with the heavy moisture laden snow. We were all out digging for most of the morning. The afternoon was spent in the barn prepping the peapods for painting. Gently the primer was sanded baby bottom smooth. I reefed out some caulking and re-caulked the garboards on one of the boats. I also spent some time replacing a deadeye in one of the topmast backstays. The smell of pine tar is lovely. I introduced the crew to some rig maintenance concepts, worming, parceling and serving. Today we will divide and conquer once again. A few of us will be at the schooner while a few paint the peapods so that we can get them out of the barn before they dry out any more than they have. Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone. Well, here is the scene in New England this morning. Just amazing…. My plans to travel to Portland for the USCG industry day have been changed by Mama Nature. I suspect I will be spending this morning plowing and the afternoon working at the desk. I told Mary to stay home before we left work yesterday and the crew will here spreading paint on the peapods in the barn. We work with the weather as best we can. It is all a very Zen experience…it is what it is. The driveways are soft with mud so we will be doing what I call “tai chi” plowing…moving the snow with a light touch of the blade, just enough to make a path. Lower that blade hard to the ground and I will be plowing the gravel driveway across to the neighbor’s woods. The photo shows Becki sanding the main cabin sole yesterday preparing it for a fresh coast of polyurethane. Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone. Yesterday’s snow has melted away already. Here in New England we call this kind of snow “poor man’s fertilizer”. Things are looking clear at this moment but the forecast speaks of 3” of snow by tomorrow afternoon. Winter lingers on like a bad cold sometimes. Yesterday the crew spent the day in the barn sanding our two peapods while Mary and I worked at the schooner. One project this winter has been removing and cleaning sections of ballast in the bilges. We focused on the section under the galley. Mary also sanded varnish work in the galley. Today we divide and conquer peapods and the galley sole (floor) as well as varnish in the main cabin. The white dining tables will get a new coat of paint also. The photos show the dock system back in place and Mary sanding in the galley. You can see her smiling even through her respirator, happy to be giving her schooner some TLC. Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone. We had a great day aboard the schooner yesterday. We all agreed that it was good just to get aboard. After 3 weeks in the barn it was becoming difficult to believe that there was a schooner attached to all these blocks and davits and such. Alas we will be back in the barn today, and probably a few more days this week. We are in for a spell of unseasonably damp and cold weather. The little icons in the weather forecast are not filled with smiling suns. We have a fresh inch of snow on the ground here in Appleton this morning. The good news is that the crew is doing a great job despite the challenges of weather. Yesterday they sanded rail caps, the rail clamp, and the lazarettes. We started our day with safety training. We shifted our power supply and bilge pumps from winter to summer mode, commissioned one of the heads, and finally swabbed the decks to knock down the dirt and dust of winter. The boat looks great and as soon as the temperature breaks 40 degr...

Good Morning Everyone. I am so glad to be home. It is a feeling that I am not sure how to describe…it is about family and community, the woods and fields surrounding our house, the smell of Spring in New England. As the Dave Mallet tune goes, “I knew this place, I knew it well, every sound, and every smell…” Though the snow is melting fast the frost is still deep into the ground in the field. The crew spent the weekend attending a Wilderness First Aid course while Jen and I helped pull off a very successful fund raising auction for our kids school. Yesterday we spent in recovery mode dismantling strands of lights from the trees that decorated the hall (69 strands removed from 25 trees and we are not finished yet). The docks are in and today we begin work aboard the schooner. These next 7 weeks are the busiest weeks of our year so please wish us luck. The weather forecast for the week will explain why the winter cover is so important. This week will be mostly spent priming and pai...