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Sail Training aboard a Maine Windjammer

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Good morning everyone. We were working down at the boat on Saturday with the usual gaggle of visitors checking out the boat. One young woman in particular was lingering and looking at the boats extra carefully. I asked her if she was interested in them and she informed me she worked on a similar vessel from the Chesapeake. She was on a short break before having to return to meet the schooner in Gloucester. We talked about the windjammers and all the Maine coast and she commented that almost every captain she had sailed with had cut their teeth here in the Maine windjammer fleet.

That is an amazing commentary. As owners hiring crew we never know where our young charges will go with what skills we teach them. This week is our annual Wooden Boat School week. We are giving a whole group of people from all over the US and Canada the chance to play deckhand and learn the ropes. In conjunction with the Wooden Boat School we will be offering folks the chance to learn the soup to nuts of sail handling, marlinspike seamanship, coastal navigation and piloting, and so much more. There is more here than one can learn in a week but we will certainly see a good chunk of the big picture. So stay tuned as we head off for another special week of exploring the coast.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.
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Unknown said…
I read Al's comments on a previous entry. It seems his bags are packed. So with sincere apologies to John Denver a song to be sung to the tune of "Leaving on a Jet Plane."

All my bags are packed
I’m ready to sail
I’m standing here against the rail
I hate I have to wait to raise the sails
But the dawn is breaking
Its early morn
The crew is waking
And Mary’s baking
Already I’m so hungry
I could cry

So pass the crank and smile with me
Tell me that you’ll sail with me
Pull that line like you’ll never let it go
Cause I’m sailing on the Mary Day
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh matey, heave that line.

All year long I’ve dreamed of this
So many times I’ve read the blog
And this is what I‘d like to say …
Every place we sail, I’ll enjoy the ride
Fair winds will blow, on the rising tide
Weigh the anchor on the Mary Day

So pass the crank and smile with me
Tell me that you’ll sail with me
Pull that line like you’ll never let it go
Cause we’re sailing on the Mary Day
Don’t know where we’ll be at end of day
Oh matey, heave that line.

Now the time has come to anchor
Our last time,
Let us furl the sails and coil the lines
Let’s dream about the days we had
When the schooner was fore the wind
And about the times, we’ll remember this way.

So pass the crank and smile with me
Tell me that you’ll sail with me
Pull that line like you’ll never let it go
Cause we’re sailing on the Mary Day
Don’t know where we’ll be at end of day
Oh matey, heave that line.

Sailing on the Mary Day
Sailing on the Mary Day
Sailing on the Mary Day
Sailing on the Mary Day
Sailing on the Mary Day
Sailing on the Mary Day
July 23, 2007 at 9:12 PM
Unknown said…
Thanks for the large scale scan of the MD sail diagram. With a little help from our engineering plotter I now have a 2' x 2.5' copy framed and hung on the wall in my office. One of our co-workers came in my office and looked at the white board, where Alton and I were honing our memory of the pin rails, then at the sail diagram and she said, "You're obsessed with this!"

Maybe I am but sure beats being obsessed with golf.

Ed
July 28, 2007 at 12:22 PM
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