Sailing Vacations
A Maine Windjammer

Good morning everyone. What a beautiful couple of days we have had around here. The sun was just brilliant these last few days and you can really feel the warmth despite the northerly wind. I am starting to think about putting out the maple taps. It won’t be long day before spring is here. Yahoo! Alex and Elisa finished the large acreage varnish work in the barn this last week. On Friday afternoon we hauled in numerous small pieces, oars, spreaders, ladders, etc. that will be the focus for the next week. Jim Dugan put in a hero’s effort this last week launching our new home page for the web. I know I spent a couple days sitting with him and he spent countless hours that I did not see. It was time for a new look and Jim did a great job simplifying the look of the site and yet adding a little bit of “flash” as well. Let us know what you think. There is more to come so stay tuned. The exciting news around here was the tuning of the sawmill this weekend that we have just purchas...

Good morning everyone. Yesterday was a busy one as usual none of which was made any easier by my truck deciding it needed a vacation. The kids have been very patient with us this week as they are on school vacation and we have a full schedule here in the office. Jen took the kids skiing at the Camden Snow Bowl for the day so they could all blow off some steam. Back at command central the big event of the day was helping our sail makers, Grant Gambell and Brad Hunter , bring the mainsail over to the village school gym. That basketball court is the only place we can spread out a sail that large. This year we are taking time to have all of the sails surveyed and necessary repairs made. Talk about "keeping it local" Brad is our next door neighbor and the service these 2 fellas provide is beyond comparison. In the past they have dropped their weekend plans to patiently make repairs to sails that I tried to get "one more season out of." In looking over the mainsail I ...

Good morning everyone. Well wasn't last nite a real treat. I don't know how many of you stayed up to watch the eclipse but we certainly kept the kids up to see it. Though lunar eclipses are not rare we here in New England don't see them often. Seems like you have to be in Australia to see the most of them. Perhaps as rare as any part of the event was the fact that we had clear skies on the particular evening in question. The kids were not disappointed. Some of you might remember that we had a "Transit of Venus Cruise" a few years back. We got the silly glasses and everything so we could look at the shadow of Venus cross the early morning sun low on the horizon. We anchored in a protected little harbor that would give us clear access to the unbroken horizon. All night long the sky was brilliantly clear. I remember getting up several times to check on cloud status. As morning approached the Maine coast worked its magic and fog rolled in from offshore. Oh,...

Good morning everyone. Hope all is well for you folks. We are enjoying another blast of winter here before the rain comes tomorrow. Zero degrees this morning and quiet as can be out in the door yard. I have been feeling like we have turned the corner on winter. I have seen robins and even a catbird yesterday. The days are getting noticeably longer. I walked out to the barn last night to load the wood stove and was struck by the brilliance of the moonlight on the snow, the chill in the air, and how quiet the woods can be. My heart leaps with joy on nights that catch my attention like that. I think I have been spending way too much time inside this past week. I am healing well from last week's surgery. My mind says go but I can feel it if I overdo myself. Varnish is the word of the week around here. Varnish, varnish, varnish. This kind of work is unforgiving. Jen and I once had a boat with all bright finished cabin houses. A fella came walking down the dock one day as we...

Good Afternoon. As Valentine’s Day approaches preparations are in the works. 24 cards for 1st grade, 15 cards for 2nd grade and another half dozen cut, glued and glittered for family. (That made one Capt. slow to recover move a bit faster!) Dinner reservations are set for us to share with friends and flowers sent to mothers (don’t forget yours!). Here is a hors d’oeuvre that I wanted to share that was a big hit last summer on the boat. You know if Barry reads this he might get the hint and make this favorite for me some time. How romantic! Have a wonderful holiday with your loved one! Shallot & Onion Baked Brie 1 Baby Brie 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed scallions shallots white pepper white wine Shave off the top rind of the wheel of brie cheese and set aside. In a small bowl combine: 3 Tbsp. chopped scallions ¼ cup chopped shallots ¼ tsp. white pepper 2 Tbsp. white wine Spread shallot-onion mixture on the wheel of b...

Good morning everyone. I am healing nicely, at least that's what the press release says and I am sticking to the story. Believe it if you will. I am way less sore today and am getting ready to go plow from the last 48 hours of flurries and mixed precipitation. This is one of those snow falls that coats everything with a hard crusty rime ice about an inch thick on the wind shield. Add to that a dead battery on the plow truck and you get a challenging morning right off the bat. But Jen managed to jump the plow truck in fine fashion and away we go. I have been thinking about tides the last few days. High tide is such a joy. The world is so clean. No messy inter-tidal zone. No bathtub ring. It is much easier to get provisions to the schooner because the ramp is level. For lots of reasons high tide is a joy. High tide also hold the peril of running aground and being stuck for hours, maybe even days. So high tide requires no less attention to lifes direction than low. And th...

Good morning everyone. What does it take to get this captain to slow down? How about hernia surgery? Well it works. Nothing like sitting in pre-op to get you thinking about all sorts of things...friends, family, how beautiful the world is. Now I know a hernia repair is small potatoes in the world of health care. Just the same it is one of those moments that gets your attention. All the pain medications they have given do not take away the feeling of being kicked square in the abdomen by a good size draft horse. Only dreams of being on the bay bring any relief. God, get me back out on the bay, full sail set and a fair SWly breeze. Can someone take the wheel so I can climb back into the yawl boat hung in its davits and sing a few quiet tunes to the porpoise and the eiders. For lunch, a bowl of fresh lemony ceasar salad chased down with a piece of Mary's chocolate cake that I squirreled away in the ice box last night. How could it get any better? We sail through dinner unabl...

Good morning everyone. Winter is still here in New England though it seems to be taking a rest these days. We have enjoyed a little bit of a thaw. We still have snow covering our field but it is thinning out in the sunny patches. Mary Day rests comfortably in the harbor, bilges dry, cover intact, waiting for the crew to return. Another busy week has passed so I will get you up to speed on everything that is happening here at the global headquarters. Jen is putting the finishing touches on year end taxes. Blockfest 2008 is finally finished. The blocks have received quite the massaging. And while we have the off-white paint out we are starting in on the lifeline stanchions, the davits, and a few other miscellaneous parts. Alex asked me last night how we were doing with our pace. We are doing great but in the back of my mind I know that there is never enough time to do it all. Having perfectionist tendencies is a curse. I want to do it all and know we will never have enough time. There se...