Sailing Vacations
A Maine Windjammer

Good morning everyone. I found this photo while cleaning up some folders in my computer and I just had to laugh. How cool is it that a kid gets to grow up along the Maine coast building boats out of scraps of foam laying on the beach? Answer: VERY! Sawyer actually paddled this thing back out to the schooner anchored a hundreds off the beach. This was during a noon time picnic at Pickering Island and you can see the afternoon storm clouds building in the distance. I remember being antsy about wanting to get off this exposed beach and underway. I had one of the crew follow close by during this epic voyage. Silly, I know, but that is my job. Wearing his Tallship Elissa t-shirt and oblivious to the weather, Sawyer paddled serenely back out to the schooner's boarding ladder. He wasn't worried at all. What could possible go wrong? Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good morning everyone. I do not often get a chance to see our cruises through the eyes of a first time sailor. Chelle Walton and her husband Rob sailed with us. As a travel writer she is no newbie to travel and leisure. She has seen a fair amount of different vacation opportunities. So any words of praise from her feel good. Of course I don't know what those folks who had a lousy time have to say but let's start the new year with a positive outlook. Check it out. Jen, Sawyer, Courtney and I wish you all the best in the year ahead. Of course tomorrow will not be any different than today really but I like the the idea of starting anew with resolutions firmly in mind. Every new day is really the same. Don't you think? I don't know why I wait for December 31st to make my resolutions. So here is my resolution: To treat everyday like December 31st, all year long. Oh yeah, if you don't mind me saying, I also resolve to go sailing as much as possible next summer. How abo...

During one of our 6 day cruises in July 2010 I was up early one morning and caught a neat reflection of this good looking schooner in Great Cove off Brooklin, Maine. It is one of the loveliest schooners with a graceful sweeping sheer that goes on forever and lovely douglas fir spars that receive a good scraping and slushing every fall. I am a sucker for a beautiful windjammer. OK, you schooner experts out there. Which windjammer is it? Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

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 ...

Good morning everyone. We are currently anchored in Burnt Coat Harbor on Swan’s Island. We left Camden yesterday morning, performed under way drills with the Coast Guard aboard, and tacked out of the bay to see the alcids gathered around Seal Island for the second of our 2 annual Maine Audubon trips. The southwest wind was just perfect after 2 days of northwest. The ocean was quite flat and the sun was warm. Seal Island is where nesting puffins have been re-established and they were out in full force along with numerous razor bills (as seen in this photo by Jen), and guillemots. Roseate, arctic and common terns by the thousands protect the nesting alcids from predators like gulls and at one moment we saw them rise from the island in a swarm. Like little kids we just were so excited to be witness to this annual ritual when the puffins come ashore to nest in burrows. The down wind run to Swan’s Island was marked by sighting many immature gannets. A few greater shearwaters, and a (?) so...

Good morning everyone. What a week. What a great week. The impressive gentlemen of Delta Tau Delta are home by now, hopefully getting a little rest. Thursday we had a great sail in a light NW wind that built some as the day went by so that we were taking in topsails by days end. Part of the days plan was to sail up to a local fisherman to buy their dinner straight from the boat. We celebrated with a lobster picnic on the beach and another round of schooner Olympics, the rowing challenge. The rowing challenge puts new meaning to the phrase, “we are all in the same boat together.” Six guys rowing a boat is an exercise in teamwork. There is no practicing, no coaching, no training. The team has a few minutes to solve the problem of coordinating 4 rowers. Communication under the gun is difficult. But they did it. Final exam day was a challenge for everyone, including me. Thunderstorms, some of which were quite strong, were close at times. Black clouds and rain smothered Belfast an...

Good morning everyone. We received 15” of new snow yesterday and I am here to tell you it is just beautiful as the sun rises over the ridge top to the east of our home. Plowing was a real challenge in the soft mud with the heavy moisture laden snow. We were all out digging for most of the morning. The afternoon was spent in the barn prepping the peapods for painting. Gently the primer was sanded baby bottom smooth. I reefed out some caulking and re-caulked the garboards on one of the boats. I also spent some time replacing a deadeye in one of the topmast backstays. The smell of pine tar is lovely. I introduced the crew to some rig maintenance concepts, worming, parceling and serving. Today we will divide and conquer once again. A few of us will be at the schooner while a few paint the peapods so that we can get them out of the barn before they dry out any more than they have. Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Good Morning Everyone! We have all the makings of a beautiful day here. I am hoping to get the maple taps out. A few locals say they have sap running but it is on the early side of the season yet. The kids are down with some kind of bug; long night up with the poor urchins. We have a potential crewmember coming to interview for the messmate’s position. And I am on call on the ambulance. Another slow day here in the woods. I received an email the other day, curious about ARNO, the schooner’s yawl boat. Where did that name come from? Arno Day was Mary Day’s brother. He has passed on but he was a very well know and loved boat builder from Sedgewick, Maine on the Benjamin River. Arno also designed boats and shared his knowledge freely with any one interested. As I have it, and this may not be completely accurate, Arno built his own yawl boat namesake from a design drawing we have a copy of done by Havilah “Buds” Hawkins. Ronny Hawkins, one of Buds’s and Mary’s sons showed me t...