Fogged In

A post from Nicole...

Like all New Englanders, Mainers have endured less than summery weather this year. Along the coast that has meant many foggy days on the waters. On Wednesday we set off from Tenants Harbor in what looked to be decreasing fog, only to find it increasingly "socked in" as we motored our way up Muscle Ridge. The name seems like it should be spelled like the shellfish, but it is like the anatomy! We hoisted the radar reflector, brought up the horn in the cockpit and turned on channel 16 (to monitor for traffic) as we ghosted through the mist. Astraea does not have radar, but thankfully does have GPS. Most boats in the channel were either other cruisers or lobster boats, but one boat looked very strange as it slowly appeared from the mist. After a bit of guessing it revealed itself as a rowing boat from the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School, full of soggy teens who'd probably rather be sleeping in that day! We hoped the fog would clear for our passage across Western Penobscot Bay to Vinalhaven, but it keep on. As we approached the large vessel channel we radioed "Securitie" and noted our latitude and bearing as we crossed the channel to alert large boats that we were monitoring "16" for traffic. We also did several loud honks. If any boats were near we never knew and we were very relieved to cross without incident.

Eventually we sighted Vinalhaven (Land Ho!) and had just enough visibility and wind to hoist the sails for the last hour up the coast to Pulpit Harbor on North Haven Island. The fog continued for rest of the day and through the night became a hard rain. Pete's boom tent (with ample help from the Sewing Silverman's) was a great help in keeping moisture out of the boat. It also makes a great sunshade... we'd love to use it that way more often!

Fouled Prop

Maybe it's a rite of passage in Maine that every good sailor needs to dive on a fouled prop and remove the line that has wrapped around it. I got my salty merit badge on Wednesday evening right in the middle of cocktail hour (1/2 a Manhattan down) . We had anchored in a mooring field which was pretty tight and one of the lobstermen returned and indicated we might want to move since we would likely bump his boat in the night. Not that he minded, but that we might. "Current and Wind make the boat go all which way" he said. So we pulled anchor. I should note here that we add a trip line to our anchor setup to make it easier to pull the anchor out of a muddy rocky bottom. The trip line is about 25 feet of line with a small bouy on one end tied to the head of the anchor. To use it just pull it and the anchor will pull backwards out of the mud. Our problem this night was that the trip line bouy was off to the side and the anchor pulled up with a need for it. The line found it's way along our hull with the bouy near the stern. As Nicole put us into forward it sucked the line right around the prop shaft. The engine stalls, now we are drifting with no power in a mooring field. We grabbed onto the nearest boat, got a tow to the town dock from the lobsterman and went diving. That's a knife I'm holding in my hand that helped cut away the line. I'm glad it's July and the water is fairly warm. I also hope this a badge I don't need to earn twice.

South Bristol to Tenants Harbor, Maine

We finally set off from the mooring at S. Bristol around 12:30pm on Tuesday 7/28. A day later than we'd hoped and many, many dollars short due to all the various boat repairs and upgrades. Since the winds were somewhat light and southerly and we were leaving later than expected, we motored south to the gong of Pemaquid to save time. At the gong, we set the big genoa and main and sailed a very pleasant beam reach for about and hour or two in winds of about 10 kts. The seas were about 3 feet or so, so when the wind lightened up, it made for a very rolling ride as our speed declined from about 5.5 kts to 3 kts and lower. After putting up with the rolling seas and flapping sails, the iron jenny was deployed. Several other boats in the vicinity were also giving up on mother nature at that point. We continued to motor well across the southern end of Muscongus Bay and then rounded a buoy near Allen and Burnt Islands to head Northeast towards Tenants Harbor and Penobscot Bay.

A beautiful, restored lighthouse marks the entrance of Tenants Harbor. It looks like a private residence now, not a working light, however. Tenants Harbor was much quieter than we had expected and we found a rental mooring for $20 night fairly easily. Cod End restaurant delivers cooked lobsters to boats, which was a luxury not to be missed. We ordered up a couple softshells and biscuits, made our own green salads and drinks and settled in for the best waterfront lobster we've ever had! (Note the clever use of pliers for lobster crackers!) We'd certainly felt liked we'd deserved it after all the hard work and waiting!

New Anchor Setup

Our new anchor setup on the bow is going to make life much easier. Our new Rocna anchor is sitting on a bow roller ready to deploy into the murky muddy abyss. The temporary hawse pipe (thru deck fitting that the line comes through) is too small to pass the shackle and eye splice. [Mike didn't order one in time and had to scrounge this one. Sigh, Frustration . . ] So the chain is sitting on deck on a rubber pad. The arrangement is a little tight in that the anchor is very close to the roller furling. We have to tie the anchor to the side to keep it away from the furler. Hopefully we will test it later today and report on the success of the arrangement.

Boat Prep

Getting underway on a sailing vacation can take longer than you might think. We are learning that sailors need to be patient.

To start it off we arrived Sunday evening, walked our bags down to the dock to find our mooring empty and boat gone. Turns out they were still completing repairs and upgrades we had requested.

Monday we spent the day flushing and filling water tanks, registering the boat, putting the registration numbers on, watching Mike put the new name lettering on "Astraea" and helping setup the new chain locker, hawse pipe and anchor roller. It was totally socked in fog this day so we weren't missing any good sailing. You can see the white anchor line piled up in the opening at the bow behind Nicole. Tuesday John from Bittersweet Landing fitted a nice cover for the opening so the anchor line won't spill into the V-Berth.

We got going Tuesday around noon and set sail for Tenants Harbor on the western side of Penobscot Bay.