Our next trip was north to Maine. We made it as far as Cape Porpoise where there is an awesome anchorage in Stage Island Harbor. We originally wanted to make it up to Biddeford Pool Harbor which is 8 miles to the North of Stage Island, but the weather forecasted as suspect. Next year we plan to spend three weeks cruising Maine making it up to Acadia National Park. This trip was a teaser...
On our way to our first stop in Little Harbor Portsmouth. You can see the Ilses of Shoals off to starboard peaking up over the horizon.
We made it to Little Harbor right at sunset which was really cool. Plus we went through a school of small sharks which my son thought was neat. By the time we grabbed a mooring it was dark.
A-24 on her mooring. You can see a large building in the background with a red roof. This is the Wentworth by the Sea Hotel where Roosevelt brokered the Treaty of Portsmouth to end the Russo-Japanese war.
This is Odiorne Point State Park where there are tons of trails and beach to explore.
We left for Cape Porpoise later in 20-30 knot winds and three foot seas. She handled great.
This was off of York Maine looking at Mount Agamenticus.
This is looking at Cape Island which makes up part of Little Stage Harbor where we were spending the night. The winds had died down considerably at this point.
After making it around Cape Island, we snuck into the harbor where we were the only ones there with the exception of my friend in his CD-27 who tagged along. Funny enough this quiet lonely anchorage is where the older George likes to picnic. In fact I have a couple friends at the yacht club who have come in and seen secret service boats blocking the southwest part of this small harbor so George can BBQ with the family.
There were some awesome tide pools to explore. The tidal range is about 10 feet.
Operation, "Recover the Dinghy". Looping the painter over the cleat doesn't sut it I guess. I'm lucky it was an incoming tide and I saw it out of the corner of my eye. I'm sure some people have woken up and said, "Hey, where's my dinghy." and have never seen it again.
This is on our way home looking at the Cape Porpoise Light on Goat Island. There was no wind, not even a puff.
Just around the corner from that lighthouse is Kennebunkport where the older George lives. You can see the white security markers preventing you from getting too close to shore near his compound. If you want to meet a secret service agent in person tie up to one of those marks for lunch. I hear they come out pretty fast wielding goods.
This is looking at Nubble Light on the tip of Cape Neddick.
We stopped into York Harbor for the night and then back to Newburyport MA from there. It was an awesome trip and the boat performed beautifully. I now have a real clear picture of what the boat needs and what modifications I will make.
On the way into the Merrimack heading back to our mooring we saw an ocean sunfish which are uncommon for this area and the most bizarre looking creatures you will see.
We spent a night at my folks house and then headed out to the Isles of Shoals again for a Yacht Club overnight BBQ thing. Ten boats left for the Ilses including my parents in their S2 and me in my Ariel. Only two boats made it to the Ilses because there were steady 40 mile an hour winds gusting to 50mph (verified by two different boats outside the river with there anemometers before they turned back) with 4-7 foot seas. When my parents and I got to the Isles it felt like a nice accomplishment being the only two that made it. My dad and I are similar and like these types of challenges, but we are both very experienced and were in control of our boats the whole time. I had the storm jib up and double reefed the main and she sailed like a dream. We were on a beam reach sailing 5.5-6 knots the whole way. We only took about 5 waves into the cockpit which quickly drained and the crew and myself felt safe the whole time. The boat was very well balanced and I had very little strain on the tiller except when I had to fall off and surf down a wave and then turn back into the wind during one of the large gusts. I was very impressed with the way this handled high winds and seas, and set up correctly I would not hesitate to sail this to far off destinations.
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