Harvest Moon Regatta

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 finally eased out Tuesday afternoon to the face of the
dock, took on a few thousand gallons of fuel Wednesday morning and
sailed that afternoon.

We will be racing all night long with the rest of the fleet nearby
(we are currently winning in the 3 masted barque class!) We should be
arriving at Port Aransas early tomorrow afternoon and then on to
Corpus Christi on Monday. I get to fly home for a few days in
between venues here. I miss Maine but this is a very beautiful place
to be. The Harvest Moon should be up in a few hours when I take the
watch at midnight.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Hail Mary

My heart is heavy with sadness as I write this particular blog. Since the beginning of August our dear friend and cook for the last 12 years, Mary Barney, had been struggling with cancer. I have intentionally respected Mary’s privacy and I apologize to you for not sharing any news about Mary’s health sooner. On Monday afternoon Mary passed away very peacefully at home, surrounded by friends and “family”. Her departure was as graceful as the rest of her life. Many people, including Jen, have been doing heroic work to support Mary these last few weeks. Oddly enough Mary was never very excited about transitions though this was about the fastest transition she ever made. And as I struggle to let go of Mary I realize I am terrible with transitions as well. We used to joke about how we liked things just the way they are, thank you very much, so why change what is working already even if it might be less labor intensive. Hard works is its own reward. I used to joke about getting Mary a Cui...

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A Golden Windjammer Anniversary

Happy Birthday Mary Day! 50 years ago today Mary Day slid out of the shed at the Harvey F. Gamage Shipyard in South Bristol, Maine marking the beginning of a whole new chapter in the history of the windjammer fleet. The Gamage yard had not launched a schooner since 1933 and Mary Day was the first commercial coasting schooner launched since 1938. That also makes her the first commercial coasting schooner launched in the second half of the 20th century and the first schooner ever launched for the windjammer passenger trade. There may be a few more firsts in there but that doesn't really matter. What is most important about this celebration is the fact that Mary Day was launched today and began her career touching the lives of thousands of people. This schooner was built by people, for people and has never done anything else but bring joy to peoples lives. She has become a legendary windjammer here along the Maine coast as part of the largest fleet of commercial coasting schooners...

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