Sailing in Maine

As much as I hated the idea of leaving Destiny behind, I had a really good time in Maine sailing around some really fantastic boats.


I launched Destiny on 6-5-15 and sailed her that day and the next two days. But then because we had planned this trip in advance we had to leave her behind for the following two weekends. On 6-13-15 we flew to Boston Mass. and rented a car to drive to Maine. The reason for the long drive is that Tim my friend who we chartered the boat with was in Boston on business so we caught up with him and his wife Karen there and then drove to Maine for our charter.


The boat we chartered was an O'day 34 shown below in the second picture below. We arrived at Buck's Harbor in time to load our gear on the boat and sleep on her overnight. We did have time that night to scope out the boat and her operating systems so we had a good handle on what it would take to operate this boat. The next morning (6-14-15) the guy from the charter company caught up with us to go over the boat and it's systems with us but we already had a firm handle on what was involved.


After we had our check out with the charter guy all 4 of us sailed to Pulpit Harbor were we anchored out for the night. We got down there early so we spent time sailing around outside of the harbor to enjoy the day before we went in to anchor. When we were running out of day we motored into Pulpit harbor and anchored in a very quite cove for the night.


The next morning (6-15-15) after breakfast onboard we pulled up anchor and sailed back to Buck's Harbor. The girls got off the boat and drove the car to Castine Harbor and Tim and I sailed the boat up there and tied to a mooring so we could spend the evening with the girls. The girls were OK with spending some of the time on the boat but not all of it. So they rented a bed and breakfast room so they could spend time on shore when they wanted to.


In Castine we rented a mooring so we could tie up for the night and go visit our wives on shore when they were not with us.


The following morning (6-16-15) was a rain out that lasted most of the day. so we went to visit the Morris Yacht manufacturing facility that was located in Northeast Harbor on Mount Desert Island. That turned out to be an excellent visit. We did not know it at the time but the CEO Cuyler Morris was the individual who gave us the tour. And not only did he give us the time to go through the tour but he delayed some important meetings he had to give us a complete tour. How many CEO's do you know that would take the time to do something like that? I also did not know how much Morris Yacht did to customize each boat they sell to fit the customer's needs. Cuyler told us that they had some customers that ordered yachts over the phone and some that took 20 years to finalize an order. This is a company that goes above an beyond to take care of their customers and the boat they produce is amazing. After spending 4-1/2 years to restore Destiny I had a great deal of appreciation for the boats Morris Yacht builds.


The following day (6-17-15) was a perfect sailing day so all 4 of us sailed from Castine Harbour to Rockland. It was over a 30 mile sail and we really enjoyed the day. We tied up to the city marina dock that night and spent some time walking through the town of Rockland. We had a very nice dinner in town and spent the balance of the night sleeping onboard Mantra (the O'day we had chartered).


The next day (6-18-15) we sailed back to Castine and it was an even better sailing day than the one before. We literally could not have planned a better trip than the one that developed while we were there. That night Tim and I overnighted on the boat and the girls spent the night in the B&B.


The next morning (6-19-15) Tim and I went into town to have breakfast with the girls. It rained in the morning but cleared up early so Tim and I went sailing while the girls visited Acadia National Park. Both the girls and Tim and I had a great day the rest of the day. Tim and I sailed to Belfast Harbor to check out the area. On the way out of Castine we sailed beside a clipper ship shown below. There were 10 to 15 people chanting and pulling up the sails when we got close. We watched for a while and then headed out of the harbor. The clipper ship ended up passing us but we did pretty well based on our waterline length versus theirs. After that we sailed back close to Castine and then we turned toward Searsport. We did not make it to Searsport before we ran out of day and had to return to Castine.


The following day we had to return to Buck's Harbor to return the boat. the wind was dead calm so most of the way we motored. About 45 minutes before we had to be back to the dock to return the boat we got a whisper of wind and sailed for a while. But then it was time to return and we headed into the dock. the girls met us with the car and we off loaded the boat for the return trip.


It was a very good time. I wished it did not happen right after launching Destiny but it did and we could not have had a better time.

Pic#2: Absolutely gorgeous picture! The only thing that would make it nicer is if the subject was Destiny instead of the ODay... You left just in time, it rained buckets Sat and Sun night.

Beautiful sailing grounds! So much fun to have so many places / islands / harbors to sail to. The 12' tides and rocky bottom are a little intimidating though. I've motored around Harbor Island and the surrounding area. My folks live at the blue dot just below the space between the s and H "Bucks Harbor" :)

Kyle


Do your folks live right on Eggemoggin Reach?


The 12' tides had me a little intimidated before we got there also but I did not find it as difficult to deal with as I had imagined. Apparently some do because the charter company has a standing rule that the deposit is not mailed back to the person chartering the boat until they have a chance to dive the bottom of the boat and inspect it!

Yep. Right where the Eggemoggin River meets the Eggemoggin Reach. Sedgwick,ME. It's beautiful there.

I think (no duh...) the tide / rocky bottom navigation improves with experience!

I subscribe to a (mostly) video blog: http://www.offcenterharbor.com/about/ Based out of Brooklin, ME - right around the corner from their house. (GoogleEarth Chatto Island) A couple hundred videos of masterful workmanship at their workshop / marina. Good stuff. Worth a peek - they have a free subscription test-ride.

Reach with offspring:

Attachment 9616

Actually I already subscribe to Off Center Harbor. Many an evening I have sat watching videos from their website. Good Stuff!


I can't even imagine how cool it would be to live right on the Eggemoggin Reach. Of course I would want a winter home in Florida. I moved away from Wisc. because the winters were more than I wanted to deal with. Maine is worse. But what a glorious summer I would have living there!


Very cool.