Sailing Vacations
A Maine Windjammer

Good morning everyone. The roll of the vessel under foot once again does feel good. We had a great Memorial Day Weekend shakedown cruise. The weather was just fantastic and the guests were awesome. We left the harbor with a stiff northwest wind that carried us across to Merchant Row and our first lobster picnic of the season. A sunny beach, a warm fire, and more than enough lobster finished out a perfect first day. We all had big eyes as we short tacked Mary Day up into the anchorage in Pulpit Harbor on Sunday. I wish I could have been onshore watching. Camden was too close and Monday came too soon. Our turn around was quick as we greeted a school group from Connecticut on Tuesday and off we sailed again in a stiff northwest wind. The crew has been truly amazing teaching all day and standing their watches by night. This is not the most relaxed way to start a season and they deserve all the kudos for hustling and keeping their young charges moving as well. Yeste...

Good Morning! Springtime along the Maine coast is a wondrous time of year. After 6 snowy months under cover the windjammer fleet begins to emerge from its winter slumber and one by one the boats emerge from their cocoons. Crews put in long days getting the vessels in shape. People stop us along the street to compliment how beautiful the boats look with fresh coats of paint and varnish. The shipyards and chandleries are bustling with activity. And after all the topmasts are rigged and block and halyards are run aloft the sails finally come aboard. Ours are coming straight from the sail maker’s loft where they have spent the winter having every inch of seam and every cringle inspected. Watching the mainsail carried down the dock like a caterpillar and finally bent on to the wooden mast hoops is a little humorous as the floats sink under the weight of thousands of square feet of canvas all rolled up like a sausage. Staysails and jibs are bent on to traditional steel hanks with marline ...

Good morning everyone. Here at the global headquarters we have discovered a new fuel supply that we are tapping into with wild abandon. It is an energy source that is renewable on a daily basis and seems to have no limits when put under pressure. Midnight oil is what I am speaking of course and we are burning it in great quantities. As the saying goes... we will have plenty of time to sleep when we're dead. The crew is really stepping up to the plate getting everything ready. We have Coast Guard deck inspection on Monday and many details to take care of before then. The passenger cabins and companionways are all getting a makeover with new paint and varnish. Just when the crew thought they were done sanding we are once again tackling a major painting project. During this past weekend we began a new electrical installation that will allow us to supply 110 power to all of the cabins. The new inverter/charger will supply a very limited (read No Hair Dryers!) amount of electri...

Good morning everyone. The weather here in Maine continues to hold for us. The blackflies have appeared inland at our home and drive us to the coast where the cool sea breeze makes life more tolerable. Temperatures inland threaten to reach the 70-degree mark. Yeeeesh! Let’s go sailing. Our schedule is currently driven by our annual Coast Guard deck inspection on the 19th of the month. With most of the rigging finished we now turn our attention to passenger accommodations. We will brighten things up with new paint on the overheads and in the companionways. In the past these have been painted off-white. We are going to try a bright eggshell white this year. Some of the bright work needs renewing with a hand rubbed effect varnish. The whole combination feels bright and cozy all at the same time. Not that any of us spends much time in our cabins but we do think the little touches make a huge difference. Our last crew member Molly has finally joined us. She is currently attendi...

Good Morning! It's a beautiful one at that! We're still enjoying the sunny days, cool, but at least they are sunny. Ice on the decks in the morning makes for the first trip to the heads an exciting one! The crew have been "itchy" to rig and rightfully so. They have been sanding and painting for months now with the end of painting in sight. Rigging takes their jobs to a whole new dimension. Each block is hawled up and shackeled and moused in place. Lines are rove in a certain direction (sometimes taking more than once to get it right). Topmasts are ever so carefully lifted up and attached to their heel ropes. The crew are using these rigging days to "learn the ropes" as they say. Pins are in place on the pinrails now to hold their respective lines. Today they will be placing the jibboom back out for the head rig to go up. That funny piece they painted and smirked at this winter called the martingale (this is a test for Ed & Al) will finally make some se...