Sailing Vacations
A Maine Windjammer

Good morning everyone. You are not really going to want to hear this. While most folks ashore are enjoying(?) hazy, hot, and humid conditions we are out on the bay surrounded by islands with a cool breeze. I am terrible in heat and humidity. I wilt like a delicate flower. We could actually see the heat rising off the land and every time we sailed in to the lee of the land the heat was just oppressive. So I was thankful for the opportunity to don a wind breaker. Life in the islands is very good. The heat rising from the land yesterday generated a vigorous onshore breeze. We were tearing along at better the 9 knots at times yesterday. Tacking through the Pond Island Passage between Blue Hill and Jericho Bays was just awesome. We are seeing tons of jellyfish these days. Burnt Coat Harbor was teaming with them and the anchorage here in Brooklin has numerous jellies drifting and swimming along in the tide. The kids are fascinated by the tiny babies. While most of the ...

Good morning everyone. We are currently anchored in Burnt Coat Harbor on Swan’s Island. We left Camden yesterday morning, performed under way drills with the Coast Guard aboard, and tacked out of the bay to see the alcids gathered around Seal Island for the second of our 2 annual Maine Audubon trips. The southwest wind was just perfect after 2 days of northwest. The ocean was quite flat and the sun was warm. Seal Island is where nesting puffins have been re-established and they were out in full force along with numerous razor bills (as seen in this photo by Jen), and guillemots. Roseate, arctic and common terns by the thousands protect the nesting alcids from predators like gulls and at one moment we saw them rise from the island in a swarm. Like little kids we just were so excited to be witness to this annual ritual when the puffins come ashore to nest in burrows. The down wind run to Swan’s Island was marked by sighting many immature gannets. A few greater shearwaters, and a (?) so...

Good morning everyone. What a week. What a great week. The impressive gentlemen of Delta Tau Delta are home by now, hopefully getting a little rest. Thursday we had a great sail in a light NW wind that built some as the day went by so that we were taking in topsails by days end. Part of the days plan was to sail up to a local fisherman to buy their dinner straight from the boat. We celebrated with a lobster picnic on the beach and another round of schooner Olympics, the rowing challenge. The rowing challenge puts new meaning to the phrase, “we are all in the same boat together.” Six guys rowing a boat is an exercise in teamwork. There is no practicing, no coaching, no training. The team has a few minutes to solve the problem of coordinating 4 rowers. Communication under the gun is difficult. But they did it. Final exam day was a challenge for everyone, including me. Thunderstorms, some of which were quite strong, were close at times. Black clouds and rain smothered Belfast an...

Good morning everyone. As I have been describing the last few days we are asking a group of diverse brothers from fraternity Delta Tau Delta to come together this week and stretch themselves beyond their normal limits. Everyone of them is a great human being but the when all of their strengths are combined in one place at one time the outcome is as extraordinary as can be. These guys are willing to jump in, as you can see, to whatever needs to be done. Sara and Becki were in awe (and quite proud) yesterday as one watch group tacked the fore topsail, which has more than just a few strings attached, without their having to say a word. We practiced tacking and gibing several times throughout the day. Back at the wheel our objective was to learn to steer by the compass. Nature cooperated perfectly by providing a good blanket of fog and hiding the islands from view. The marlinspike station focused on the pin rails and nomenclature. The navigation station started in on the rudiments o...

Good morning everyone. What a beautiful day on the Maine coast we had yesterday. We sailed the live long day from Pulpit Harbor through the Merchant Row and down Jericho Bay to Swans Island to anchor here in Mackerel Cove. The Delts experienced some great weather and great sailing. The crew ran them through 5 watch stations: bow watch, marlinspike skills, navigation skills, and helm/galley as well as their leadership station. It is amazing to me to see these guys from all over the country come together so quickly to make this boat move. Each evening we present the Delts with a “schooner Olympics” event that challenges their teamwork as well as reinforces skills they have learned during the day. Last night we held the knot tying competition with the groups evenly divided across the board. Test yourself to see how quickly you can tie a square knot, bowline, figure eight or clove hitch. These guys moved like lightning and coached each other supportively as they sometimes struggled to...

Good morning everyone. We have a very unique adventure in the making this week. Some of you have noticed that this week does not actually appear on our schedule. We have aboard 26 young men along with 2 staff representing the college fraternity Delta Tau Delta, a fraternity that backs up its motto, “Leading lives of excellence.” These 26 young men competed for the chance to be a part of this leadership academy. The staff of the schooner will don their professors’ hats and teach these young men the soup to nuts of sailing a schooner and being an effective crewmember. I told these fellas as we gathered on the lawn in the park Sunday evening; this week is more about self-discovery and teamwork than it is about sailing. At least that is my goal. Sailing the schooner will be the vehicle but they will be the engines. It will be up to them to chose to grab this week by the horns and shake it for all that they are worth. The Delts spent yesterday at a challenge course nearby before we...

Good morning everyone. After an overcast and chilly early week we end with brilliant sunshine and warmer temperatures and great wind. We sailed off the hook yesterday after exploring Holbrook Island Preserve. We saw several new species of sparrows in the fields and a kingfisher along the shore. The total species count for the week was 47 including puffins and razor bills. While counting species and putting names to creatures we have never seen before is important the week is also about the excitement each of us finds in the natural world. We come closer to ourselves by watching nature and feeling the joy in sighting our first chipping sparrow or bald eagle. The seals never cease to amaze me. As we passed under the bridge the other day a pod of porpoise rolled close to the boat so that we could see the whites of their bellies. The crew aloft in the crosstrees could see them clear as a bell from their vantage point. Everyone stood breathless for just a few moments before gleeful...

Good morning everyone. Another day of easterly winds yesterday. We spent some time ashore at Wooden Boat before getting under way. We have seen at least 17 bald eagles this week and tons of seals, including seal pups. We sailed off the hook to the delight of the crew. They are getting good at sail handling which is the only reason we can pull this off. We sail off the hook yesterday as well but set the sails in “reverse” order giving the crew the idea that there are many ways to skin this cat, which is what makes schooners so cool. We sailed dead down wind out of Pretty Marsh just on jib alone. I did not have to worry about jibing the main in a 20-knot puff and the lee of Dogfish Point on Bartlett I gave us a few minutes of flat calm to get sail set easily. These rigs are quite versatile. Yesterday we sailed up Eggemoggin Reach. Many think this passage between Jericho and Penobscot Bays is one of the loveliest on the planet. In a southwest wind one can sail in both directions ...

Good morning everyone. We had a delightful and lively sail yesterday around Blue Hill Bay. We were tearing along on 4 lower sails, no topsails, at 8+ knots all day quite comfortably. And then with the turn of the tide the wind just died…completely flat. So we lowered the yawl boat and pushed the last hour in to anchor here in Brooklin at the home of the Wooden Boat School. We saw numerous bald eagles yesterday as well as seals and the unspoiled islands of Blue Hill Bay. This is one of my favorite stops. This week in particular, as we examine how we impact nature and how nature impacts us, it seems appropriate to come to a place where wood and water come together in the form of hand crafted boat. The environment sculpts the people that sculpt the boats which sculpt the culture which sculpts the environment and round and round we go. The students here come from all over, just like our windjammer guests, looking for a little reprieve from the modern hurry up world. Many of you kno...

Good morning everyone. We are nestled in to the protected cove of Pretty Marsh this morning. The wind has been NE for the past few days of this our first Maine Audubon cruise. We left Camden Monday on a light Nly that carried us, with the tide, out around Vinalhaven to Seal Island. Seal Island is one of several islands where puffin colonies have been re-established. And puffins we saw. There were the usual individuals and pairs flying by and paddling along the shoreline. We also witnessed a raft of puffins 30 strong by one guest’s count on the north shore diving in the surf along the edge. The swell was not big. As a matter of fact the wind died completely so we just drifted slowly with the yawl boat giving a gently nudge. Terns by the thousands were rising in waves above the rocky island. And razor bills were about as well. We pushed all the way back in to anchor in Moore’s Harbor in Isle Au Haut. I had been there years ago in open pulling boats but never in the schooner. We...

Good morning everyone. We had a great sail yesterday along the outer fringes of Penobscot Bay from the Fox Island Thorofare to Rockland and up the shore to Rockport. We beat across to the islands, Mark, Saddle and Laselle which lie just east of Camden before running up to anchor through the Bracketts Channel. Bracketts is a very narrow passage squashed between Job Island and Islesboro. Those on shore saw a parade of sail as we followed the schooner Stephen Taber and were chased by the Lewis R French. At one point half way between Vinalhaven and Monroe Island we counted 8 lighthouses visible from where we sailed. Brown’s Head, Heron Neck, Two Bush, Whitehead, Owls Head, Rockland Breakwater, Indian Island, and Curtis Island lights were all clearly visible though a few were admittedly only visible due to the crazy refraction of light coming over the horizon. Still, had it been a dark night, the beacons would have done their job. We will sail about 93 miles by the time we get back to ...

Good morning everyone. We are again on a 4 day lighthouse cruise having departed Camden under sunny skies and light winds yesterday morning. The wind was light easterly all day so we rode the tide up Penobscot Bay. With lobsters on deck in the day tank we had a great day for lobster picnic. The wind shifted in to the west late in the afternoon behind a cold front that had passed offshore earlier in the day. The wind and tide carried us up to Fort Point. The sand spit at the point gave us good shelter from the wind and Ranger Cole opened the light tower to us once again. And we feasted on lobster! As many of you know the last cruise was a fundraiser for the Maine Lighthouse Museum and the American Lighthouse Foundation (ALF). We visited the museum, which is the home of the ALF, to present Bob Trapani, the executive director, with a check for each organization totaling $2,000 in memory of CWO Ken Black, the original Mr. Lighthouse. The local news reporter asked why ...

Good morning everyone. The National Weather service forecast about says it all: ANZ081-041430- GULF OF MAINE TO THE HAGUE LINE 400 AM EDT MON JUN 4 2007 ...GALE WARNING... .TODAY...SE WINDS 20 TO 30 KT INCREASING TO 25 TO 35 KT. SEAS 5 TO 8 FT BUILDING TO 10 TO 15 FT. NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND TSTMS WITH PATCHY FOG...OCCASIONALLY REDUCING VSBY BELOW 1 NM. .TONIGHT...S TO SE WINDS 25 TO 35 KT EARLY...BECOMING SW AND DIMINISHING TO 20 TO 30 KT LATE. SEAS 11 TO 15 FT SUBSIDING TO 8 TO 12 FT LATE...BECOMING HIGHEST E. NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND TSTMS BECOMING SCATTERED WITH IMPROVING VSBY LATE. .TUE...S TO SW WINDS 20 TO 25 KT. SEAS 7 TO 10 FT...HIGHEST E. ISOLATED SHOWERS AND TSTMS. While I am honored to have the second tropical storm of the season named after me it looks like a "toad soaker" for the state of Maine today. It is a lucky day to be at the dock. We have lots of projects to take care of aboard. Kids are back to school for a couple days this week and we have a million things...

Good morning everyone. Another great day of sailing. What can I say... it is all good! Starting out from Fort Point at 1100 and beating upwind to Camden can make for a really long day. We were very lucky to catch a little bit of an easterly slant on the wind and managed to get up the West Bay (that is the part of the bay just west of Islesboro) in jig time. The wind came up to 15 -18 knots just as we were conducting a "man overboard" drill. The crew scrambled to take in the jib topsail in the building breeze and the schooner was hove to like a champ. The yawl boat Arno is our rescue craft and Becki and Sara were off to save the victim fender once again. Sara even provided CPR on the return trip. The boat was hauled clear of the water and away we sailed with darkening clouds in the western sky. The radio crackled with warnings from the National Weather Service about severe thunderstorms. I hate thunderstorms. Talk about a sitting duck. Our radar picke...

Good morning everyone. We are having a quiet morning here at Fort Point Cove at the mouth of the Penobscot River. We are on the first of 2 four day lighthouse cruises this week. Though the forecast was dreary we have actually had surprisingly good weather and have seen 10 lighthouses so far. Today we will get up in to the lighthouse here at Fort Point. Ranger Terry Cole was stationed here in the 70s and will give us a guided tour. This park is one of the gems of the state park system. The grounds of the old fort date back to the Revolution and are just beautiful with wild flowers everywhere in bloom. I took the kids for a walk and we just couldn't get over the aroma of the deep woods with their tiny little flowers carpeting the forest floor. Have a great day. Be well. Do good. PS I was finally able to get a picture from our cruise on here. This is the Eagle Island Light. Notice the lack of an attached keeper's house. The government burned it to prevent vandal...