Date: 1 July, 2001
Port of Call: Southwest Harbor, Maine
Subject: Sailing Sovereign Home
For the past two weeks we have been re-learning what it is like to sail Sovereign. After motoring much of the way from Brunswick, Georgia to Onset, Massachusetts, we have finally been making good use of New England's prevailing southwesterly summer breezes. Since leaving Onset, we have made nearly 300 miles in a series of short day-hops, mostly under sail.
Gurnet Point, near Duxbury
We left Onset early on June 19th to catch the last of the flooding tidal
stream and motored (as required by the canal authority) through the Cape
Cod Canal. Once we cleared the canal we raised the mainsail, unrolled
the staysail and yankee, and enjoyed a beam reach in southwesterly winds
of 10 to 15 knots. The weather forecast of "hot, hazy, and humid" was
at least correct about the haze, and we watched the indistinct shoreline
of Massachusetts crawl past Sovereign's port side as we slid northward through
the flat waters of Cape Cod Bay. We dropped our sails off the entrance
to Duxbury, Massachusetts and motored into an anchorage just a few miles
from the Pilgrim's famous landing site at Plymouth.The next morning we raised the anchor and started to motor out of our anchorage when we noticed that the engine exhaust sounded strange. Looking over the transom, we saw that there was no cooling water coming out of the engine exhaust, so we hurriedly picked up a mooring and went below to look into the problem. Fortunately it was only that the sea strainer had clogged with grass, and we were back under way within a few minutes. After motoring long enough to cool down the refrigerator and charge the batteries, we raised sail and enjoyed the "aaah" feeling of silence after we shut down the engine. This day the wind was light and variable, and we struggled with various sail combinations trying to keep the boat moving. Eventually we raised the spinnaker to make the most of the flagging breeze. By late afternoon the wind was so light that the wind shadow caused by the mainsail was making the spinnaker collapse, so we wound up sailing under spinnaker alone, logging as little as 1.6 miles during a one-hour period. Finally we gave up altogether and motored the last hour or so into the corner of Boston Harbor near Hull, Massachusetts. Although the cruising guide extolled the virtues of sailing Boston Harbor, we found that the views of the shoreline crowded with houses and condominiums was not much to our liking, so we only stayed one night.
Boston Light
The following morning the sky was gray, the sun obscured by clouds from a
stalled front just south of us, and the wind had shifted around to the northeast,
almost directly the direction we wanted to go. Our goal of reaching
Southwest Harbor, Maine by July 4 meant that we could ill afford to wait
for the return of the southwesterlies, so we motored out of Boston Harbor
and straight into 15 knots of wind. Cathy bravely made the offer of
letting us sail instead of motor, so we spent the next six hours beating
up the coast of Massachusetts towards Gloucester. Though we normally
avoid sailing upwind, I must say that Sovereign did a good job getting us
there, and we had fun riding up the swells and playing the helm for every
bit of upwind performance.Entrance to the Blynman Canal
In the morning we went ashore and hunted for a grocery store for a few fresh
provisions. We didn't quite remember where the grocery store was, but
lots of friendly locals pointed the way to "Shore's" which, we learned, is
actually "Shaw's" with a thick Massachusetts accent. We rushed back
to the boat, skipped sightseeing in Gloucester, and had the anchor up by
1130 so we could take advantage of high water slack current for our trip
through the Blynman Canal. Because of shallow depths and strong tidal
currents, there is only one hour in every 24 that we are able to pass through
the canal. We wanted to take advantage of this short-cut that would
save us at least a dozen miles rounding Cape Ann. We approached the
bascule bridge that guards the canal's southern entrance in a fog so thick
that the bridgetender had trouble seeing us when we called him on the VHF
radio from just a few hundred yards away. Once inside the canal, with
land close on either side, the fog lifted and we enjoyed motoring through
the countryside as we snaked our way through the twists and turns of the
Annisquam River. Small boats were moored everywhere, houses dotted
the hill tops and lined the river banks, and there were even a few floating
houses--full size cottages built on floats and anchored in the marsh! Floating Houses in Blynman Canal
We left the canal behind, raised the sails, and enjoyed a six-knot beam reach
through the fog in easterly winds. As we left the coast of Massachusetts
behind, the wind gradually died, the fog thickened, and we wound up motoring
into Portsmouth Harbor in a dense fog. We had never been into Portsmouth
before, so it was a bit exciting entering the Piscataqua River, blowing our
fog horn every two minutes, with Cathy standing lookout at the bow and me
at the helm peering intently at the radar's glowing green screen for hints
about the world outside the 30-yard radius of our vision. A mis-programmed
waypoint on our GPS caused us a moment's confusion, but we were soon anchored
safely off Fort McClary.The Piscataqua River divides New Hampshire and Maine, and we dinghied ashore to the closest landing, which happened to be in Kittery Point, Maine. We explored the little village, which consisted of a restaurant, Frisbee's Grocery ("North America's oldest family store" says the sign), a post office, and several houses, some of which date from the 1600's. We called my brother Dick, who lives about a 1-½ hour drive away, to see if we could arrange a visit with his family. We weren't comfortable enough with the anchorage to leave the boat unattended that night, so we delayed making final plans until the following day.
During the night as the tide rose, the protection afforded by the numerous rocky ledges disappeared as they became hidden under water, and we spent most of the night rolling in a southerly swell and the wake of passing ships. We decided we would need a more secure place to leave Sovereign, so the next day we arranged for a mooring in the much more protected Back Channel. In the evening Ted picked us up and drove us to Ted and Kerrie's home in Concord, NH. We spent the evening visiting with my niece Kerrie, her husband Ted, their son Nathaniel, my brother Dick, his wife Linda, their son Andrew, and their friends Phil and Debby. Ted and Kerrie graciously offered their sofa bed, and we sacked out for the night in our first unmoving bed in 2 ½ months.
A huge lobster dinner in Kittery, Maine
On Sunday we went to a church picnic with the family, then rode back to Kittery
with Dick, Linda, Phil and Debby. Dick treated us to a fine seafood
dinner, dropped us off at the dock, and drove off to find a hotel for the
night. The next day we had Dick, Linda, Phil, and Debby aboard for
a day-sail around Portsmouth Harbor. Though the current was often faster
than our boatspeed, we had a nice afternoon beating into a light southerly
breeze, making little headway but having lots of fun. That evening
we had a typical Maine dining experience: boiled lobster eaten at picnic
tables on a "lobster pier". The six of us tore into our lobsters with
gusto, and Cathy and I showed the "landlubbers" the finer points of eating
lobster.Cape Neddick Light, Maine
On Tuesday we slipped the mooring about 0745, and with light winds and nearly
50 miles to go that day, we had our first all-motoring day since leaving
Onset. It was an uneventful trip, and we anchored in the harbor at
Jewell Island for the night. Jewell is a wonderful place, but we had
to content ourselves with memories of previous trips ashore as we still had
a long way to go to reach Southwest Harbor.Friendship Sloop “Surprise”
We spent Wednesday sailing downwind in the typical summer southwesterlies,
with the yankee poled out to port, and the staysail and mainsail on the starboard
side of the boat, making between four and five knots. The seas were
calm, the wind just strong enough, the sky was blue, and the sun shone down
on us. We passed by the offlying islands of Seguin, Damariscove, and
Monhegan, dodging the lobster buoys and watching typically Maine wildlife:
a seal shyly poking his head above the surface, a sunfish the size of a car
tire basking in the sunshine, and cormorants and guillimonts scurrying away
at Sovereign's approach. We reached Tenant's Harbor around 1630, and
sailed onto our anchor in Long Cove, only starting the engine after the anchor
was down, just to make sure it had set fully. A little later the Friendship
Sloop "Surprise" tacked through the anchorage, looking beautiful in the golden
sunshine of early evening. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.The following day was an almost perfect repeat of the last one. We raised the anchor and motored up Muscle Ridge Channel just long enough to charge the batteries, make water, and cool the refrigerator. With the batteries and water tank topped up and the 'fridge frosty cold, we raised the sails, shut off the engine, and reached across West Penobscott Bay in a northwesterly breeze. We sailed close-hauled up the western entrance of Fox Island Thorofare, which separates Vinalhaven and North Haven, and spotted two harbor porpoises as we closed in on The Sugar Loaves. We eased the sails as the Thorofare curved around to the southeast, tightened up to round Calderwood Point, then eased the sails again for a run across East Penobscott Bay. We saw three schooners working their way up East Penobscott Bay, and as we sailed through the island-strewn passage of Merchants Row we saw dozens of seals basking on the low tide ledges. As we approached Burnt Coat Harbor on Swan's Island, we rolled up the yankee and short-tacked up the harbor under main and staysail, once again dropping anchor under sail. It has been a heartening experience to remember that Sovereign really is a sailboat, and to rediscover the joys of sailing in a place that is at the same time pleasant and challenging.
Another of Maine’s many lighthouses
Our last days' passage to Mount Desert Island was a short one, only 13 miles,
which we motored in light and variable winds. We entered Southwest
Harbor and picked up a mooring owned by friends Joe and Elsa Hayes, whom
we met on our last visit in 1999. As soon as we arrived we jumped in
the dinghy and went looking for our friends Ann and Charlie Bradford, who
run the Island House, a wonderful bed and breakfast inn built in 1850 that
we have visited many times.There are a few places that have a special place in our hearts, where every time we arrive it is like coming home. Southwest Harbor is one of those places. It is, in part, because Sovereign was built here. We can look across the harbor and see the field where we first saw her, the yard where she was built, and the crane that lifted her into the water. But it is also because this place somehow resonates with the inner strings of our souls and gives us a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, like a guitar being strummed on one's chest. Sitting at anchor or walking around the town, we feel the music playing and know that, at least for a while, we are home again.
Smooth sailing,
Jim and Cathy