Sailing Vacations
A Maine Windjammer

Good morning everyone. We have big doin's here in our world. The weather has continued to be magnificent with temperatures soaring in to the 50s. The sap has been running and we boiled our first batch of syrup on Sunday. The sweetest taste you can imagine comes from your own homemade maple syrup. If you have any kind of maple (or even a birch) in your door yard, tap it and boiled down just a gallon. You will probably only get a half cup of syrup but the taste will amaze you. Down at the harbor the docks were launched on Friday and rode out this weekend's storm just fine. Many thanks go the harbormaster and the Camden town crew who made this possible. Yesterday chief mate Rob was up for a visit and we ran the power line and did a quick clean up aboard the schooner. After a few months in Belize Rob has some good stories to tell and the corn rows in his hair to prove it. Tomorrow I am off to Texas for my annual trip to sail aboard the tallship Elissa in Galveston. The sailing...

Good morning everyone and Happy Mother's Day to all you out there. Well it has been a busy week in our windjammer world. We launched the schooner from the railway on Friday morning after five long days and evenings dodging the rain. Last year we turned the boat around in 23 hours and this year was just the opposite. The crew were absolutely inspirational in their energy and devotion to “gittin’ ‘er done.” I for one am very glad to be associated with such a fine group of individuals. Yesterday we sanded bulkwarks in the morning and rigged in the afternoon, running out the jibboom and raising a topmast. They have earned a well-deserved day off. As we were leaving the schooner a mother duck was sitting in the seaweed right next to our dock. Sawyer, not one to miss a great photographic opportunity, took several pictures up close and personal. It took me a few minutes but soon we realized that this was the same mother that had been swimming by with a raft of chicks in tow. (We have a ...