Portland almost to Seguin Island and back

Not my picture, not my boat

Before we get started on some SeaPearl 21 adventuring in Casco Bay, I want to point out Dave-in-NJs blog about his Goatee Goat Island Skiff "Chivita" and some pretty damn epic sailing he did around New York Harbor.  Its somewhat of a departure from my Goat perched on a wild island in Down East Maine, but it is just as epic, if not more for the sheer stupendousness of that mother of all cities, New York City, and her crazy harbor.  Please see this post in particular.  If your heart doesnt get thumping, you must not like Goat Island Skiffs, and I question why you are here in the first place.

Dave, you go man.  You go.  Impressive.

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Now for the main feature:

In which SeaPearl Scout and I sail around Casco Bay, meet a squall, and get boarded by fictitious pirates.

Red = Day 1, Yellow = Day 2.  Black = Iron Mizzen usage

I headed out of South Portland recently and met up with a Pearson 30 as she sailed north along the Maine coast, destination Brooklin and WoodenBoat.  I planned to be along for a day, maybe two.  The first nights destination was either going to be Damirscove Island or Seguin, depending on distance travelled.  I thought I could probably make Seguin via Half-Way Rock, but Damirscove was probably out for me due to the distance and my energy level.

The weather was fine, with a remote chance of thunderstorms, and calm winds gave way to a beautiful stiff breeze of the kind that you can only really find on salt water.

Scout moved along smoothly and with efficiency. I pushed her hard which means I pushed myself hard, and gave myself little time to eat, drink, pee, or enjoy the sailing, as I was intent on keeping up with the Pearson 30 (which I did, but jeez... enjoy the ride already, right?)

Blowing out to Half-Way Rock with nice water and a good breeze!

Pearson 30 

 After I had passed Half-Way Rock (no pictures, sorry, but lots of seals!) it started to become blatantly obvious that the slight chance of thunderstorms was going to probably become a very real chance.  In the deeps of my ears I imagined I could hear low-frequency rumbling, even though the sky still looked somewhat innocuous.  Soon however, it was apparent that we were in for a blow.

Trouble brewing

 I cracked down to make as much mileage as I could towards Small Point/Cape Small not in a vain attempt to outrun the storm, but to get closer to the shore so that if things went bad, I wouldnt be miles out to sea.

Behind me, the wall of bruised green and black advanced, with thunder filling the air.  It was on.  My buds in the Pearson 30 became insignificant by contrast.  I hoved-to and started preparations.

Trouble is creeping up on the Pearson 30! Run guys, run!

Battened down.  Small Point in the distance behind me.  Trouble is on its way!

We tied Scout up and towed her behind the Pearson 30, which was actually a mistake.  When the squall hit she sailed on her own, and the skipper had to stay ahead of her.  It would have been far more desirable to hunker down in Scout and ride out the storm with her as it would have been significantly less nerve wracking.  Lesson learned.  When the storm passed the crew of the Pearson decided to make for Damirscove, and I broke off and headed towards Harpswell to a small island on the Maine Island Trail.

The Squall over, I take my leave of the Pearson 30 and sail out of the dark and into the sun.  This was a good feeling.

Wet, but pleased with this particular outcome

 I reached the island after navigating around and over several treacherous reefs (again, yes! 6" draft!) and found that there were few good access points.  I was somewhat chuffed at the description of this particular island as I was lulled into thinking Id have a good beach, but with a stable west breeze, Scout was held perfectly in a small cove with a flat bottom so she could bottom out at low tide.  Exhausted after approx 22 miles of sailing, I ate some rice and crashed in my tent on shore.

Nestled in for the night... or is she?

My view in the morning.  Peaceful.  I am happy!

 I awoke the next morning to *BANG CRASH BANG* and the first thoughts in my tent was:

1. Raccoons are searching for tasty food morsels and ripping things apart

2. Crazy hobo person who probably lives on island is ransacking my boat

3. Pirates (this one bad)

With little fanfare (Im pretty sure I was naked) I went running out of the tent down to the shore and around the corner, where I found Scout slightly south of her original position and bottomed out on a now not-so-flat bottom, her bow pointing skyward, and my booms sliding down to the stern of the boat.  No pirates, but a sorry sight!

It looked steeper in real life.   

When you are waiting for a tide to fix your sorry boat, you might as well make coffee.

 When the tide came back up and floated Scout into position, we hauled back for Portland.  Southbound, I had some of the finest sailing I can recount this year, making significant mileage against the tide with a steady breeze.  There was much hollering and hooting and, as with IAZ,P, lobstermen waved cheerfully as we passed.

Booming home.  

 The wind really picked up and we reefed down continuously as the day progressed, finally putting in at Fort Gorges in Portland Harbor where we waited for the wind to calm a bit so pulling the boat out of the water wouldnt be as dramatic.  Scout happily sat in the small harbor while I read my WoodenBoat and napped on the beach.  This is summer.  This is happy.

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IAZ P and TWO HEARTED wander to Whaleboat Island

Last sailing season, the Dynamic Duo of Destiny got together for a "small boat" trip (as opposed to breaking out Scout) and did a short but wonderful two day trip around mid-Casco Bay.  We huffed out to Whaleboat Island which is managed by the worthy Maine Coast Heritage Trust.

It was two nice days of sailing with a wonderful camp and picnic time.  Straightforward.  If anything, I remembered how nicely the Goat Island Skiff rows compared to the Sea Pearl 21.

I have included a picture below with my new outhaul scheme for those interested.

Capn Jon and TWO HEARTED cruising on

Sailing in company.

This is my NEW outhaul arrangement for the loosefooted mainsail.  I love it! Extra line hangs from the higher reef points to accommodate the shorter foot. 

In the harbor on Whaleboat

Meadow camping.

If you dont find a rockwall somewhere in New England, youre doing New England wrong.

Under those clouds on the horizon is Mt Washington and the Presidential Range.  No joke.  We saw it clearly the next morning.  Whaleboat Island has a mountain view.

No comment.  If Capn Jon is not camping with you, your camping trip is no good.

We revisited FAMOUS BANGS ISLAND site of many a IAZ,P adventure!  This is the North Beach.

Classic Whaleboat

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Friendship Tour 2012!

OOOOOOOHHH *SNAP* it is high time for another exciting update to your favorite Goat Island Skiff blog!  This time its another four day cruise in northern Maine including Blue Hill Bay, the Eggemoggin Reach, and the Deer Isle Thoroughfare.

Yours truly and IAZ,P launched solo and sailed for two days and then met with the illustrious and dashing Capn Jon for another two days of salty adventurous fun.  I love sailing in company, and Capn Jon and his plucky Pheonix III TWO HEARTED is one of the best to sail with.  (You may remember TWO HEARTED from this introductory post earlier in the summer and the shenanigans at Small Reach 2012).

DAY 1

IAZ,P and myself started at the Brooklin ramp, much like I did for BILTrek2012 with Count Gregoire de Frontenac.  I obviously missed the tide I wanted by about 3 hours and found the water at full low, which means I had to roll the boat all the way down the sand to the water.  I guestimated to where the water would be when I was done packing, and when the boat was rigged and fully rigged, I realized I had guestimated wrong.

Ready to go, and still 6 feet of water needed.  

With a setting sun, I muscled her back into the water screeching and moaning over the rocks the whole way.

I didnt really have a plan.  Originally I thought Id go south to the Deer Isle Thoroughfare and cherrypick a campsite down south.  Unfortunately with wind and tide heaving northbound and after many minutes making marginal way I decided to go with the flow and head elsewhere.

I ended up skimming between two islands in water so shallow my throat seized with almost-panic but the shoal draftiness of the Goat Island Skiff saw me through.  At one point I stepped out on a giant boulder and stood in 2" of water several hundred yards from any shore.  I made good time on a nice reach and with a gentle tide.  A few island circumnavigations later I landed, with the sun setting, on an isolated empty beach.... except for two kayaks!  What in Poseidon!?  Midweek? Remote northern Maine island!?

DAY 2

The next morning I arose with my two campmates who were totally awesome and paddling from Lubec to South Portland on a sort of VisionQuest (sound familiar!?).  We had a rousing good time making conversation, eating, quenching thirsts, imagining the future.  This is what the Maine Island Trail is about-- water, awesomeness, visionquesting, and friend making.

Typical water-borne camping style mandates chaos

Foggy calmness

Breakfast with a view 

VisionQuesting

  After a good breakfast and repacking the boat I shoved off in light airs and headed north.

Rarin to go!

The low scud parted, the sun came out and the temperatures went up.  Perfect for lazing around and exploring long beaches and marshy tundra-like landscapes.

Three years of camp cruising and still looking good.

Cricket laden, heat baked, taiga type landscape

Long romantic beaches

 When the wind started to pick up a hightailed it back to Brooklin, and explored a little around the islands off the boat ramp.  Capn Jon would be coming later that evening, and I needed to find a good campsite for the evening.  One option was Hog Island, not on the MIT, but a good camping option and conserved by a group dedicated to the cause.  There is a fantastic well protected albeit rocky harbor, and a giant glacial erratic that is split down the middle.

Hog Island.  If you dont stove out the bottom youre good.

Holy Giant Erratic!  Notice IAZ,P in distance.

 After picking up some trash on Hog Island and eating some lunch on the hook we continued to sail up the Eggemoggin Reach, and went to the HOLY of HOLIES, WoodenBoat.  I sailed around the anchorage, took in the sights, almost ran aground in the deceptively shallow dinghy mooring ground, and then I did something which Im pretty sure is a Goat Island Skiff first-- tied up at the WoodenBoat dock!

I present, history!

Goat Island Skiff IAZ,P tied up at WoodenBoat. OH! The Awesomeness!

Another, just because maybe you want vertical format!

Afterwards, it was back to the Brooklin ramp to wait for Capn Jon.

We waited.  

And waited.  Thats all.  Road was foggy, etc.  You know how it goes.

By the time he arrived we nixed Hog Island and went with nearby Sellers instead.  It was a good choice.

DAY 3

After a truly epic/spooky night sail to Sellers Island off the ramp (bioluminescence like you cant BELIEVE!  Epic Epic Epic!) we set up camp and caught up, then promptly passed out.  In the morning, we realized that I had forgotten my compass (WTF?) and Capn Jon had forgotten his BattleStick tiller extension which is essential to any adventuring boat.  

So, BACK to the cars and ramp, and time for pictures.  Capn Jon will now be contributing to the photos as well!

Tides up in Brooklin and ready to go.

Im ready to rock.  Note new drysuit!  (Capn Jon)

After gathering our wayward items we blasted off into the wind.  Forecast was calling for 10-15kts gusting to 20kts.  Remember this, it is important.  10-15, G20.

IAZ,P sailing south out of Brooklin. (Capn Jon)

We sailed around Sellers Island and worked our way south, towards destiny and a hopefully a beverage at Stonington (the goal of the day).  As we proceeded out of the Egg Reach, the wind started to slack.  Hmmm, 10-15ktsG20, right?  Oh well, shake out that reef.  

And the wind continued to slack.

slackity slack slack

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.

.

.

.

and time to ROW.

This is what 10-15kts, G20 looks like.

Heres Capn Jon

IAZ,P and me with Acadia in the background. (Capn Jon)

Capn Jon plunging into the darkness beyond.  Remember, 10-15G20.

So with all this business of rowing, we got hungry.

So we stopped at a familiar island.

Rowing in

So fed up with rowing, Capn Jon tests his new drysuit.

After a snack we decided to keep forging south towards Stonington still somewhat hopeful that we would arrive with plenty of time for beverage AND a sail back to some island for some good camping. Of course, the wind was 10-15kts, G20...

...Which meant we werent going anywhere.  Capn Jon rowed out and then with a hint of a hint of a breeze, we raised sail and just chilled the screw out.

Capn Jon ghosting along

The front slowly pushing eastbound with TWO HEARTED in the distance.  Note rudder up for super light-air downwind performance.  One reason out of many on why I loooooove the vertical Australian rudder cassette design.

Slowly, and I mean slowly, the wind started to gently pick up.  We did some island reconnaissance and did some miscellaneous sailing around.  I ended up hitting a mysterious underwater obstruction since I tend to find these things, and Capn Jon and I took pictures of each other.

We ended up sailing to check out another island, and then the wind decided to pick up to its promised 20kts, and it came on suddenly and with little warning.  I had a monster plane (I was "moving with purpose" in the words of Capn Jon) in the wrong direction, and then it was a monster fight back to our chosen island of camping.  But whats a day of sailing without something frustrating.   Remember, if youre sailing and you dont have a moment of frustration at some point during the day, youre doing it wrong.  We made it to our beach, rolled the boats up, and spent quite some time fiddling with how we were going to keep the stationary when the tide came up that night.  We had a howling wind, rocks, and tide to deal with.

Triumphant engineering pose after solving the close proximity anchoring situation.  

Catspaw

The sun plunged into the west, the wind rose to a howl from the northwest, and we hunkered down on a meadow facing south to get out of the wind and had a very nice quiet dinner.  Then, it was time to visit the boats before hitting the hay.

Boat Starry Night.
Note the rock ledge in the distance.  Remember that.

DAY 4

We awoke to a howling NW wind.

Brrrr.  

A tent shaking, bone rattling, head scratching "how we going to get out of here", cold, toothy wind.  Barreling straight into our makeshift harbor.  Oh man...

But first, nature calls, stomach calls and campsite cleanup calls!

Poop bucket.  With a view.  In the warm sun.  Where you at at 7am? This cant be beat. (Capn Jon)

Then, some breakfast!  Yes, those are my home grown eggs that I am soft-boiling (a mystery cooking method in the USA, I am finding) on day 4!  Hmm Hmmm hot tea.

Boat check? Boats are still there!  PHEW (Capn Jon) 

Time to clean up camp.  A little more order than usual this morning, it seems.

 For what happens next there is no photodocumentation.  We loaded the boats and set off.  Capn Jon (Mr. Smart) went first, rowing like a madman straight into the teeth of the wind.  When he was out of the harbor, it was my turn.  I attempted to sail out, and I failed, miserably.  I should have stopped when I was raising the sail and the downhaul was caught around the anchor.  There was a certain level of disorganization in the boat that was not acceptable and it should have merited a do-over.  Instead I cleared the fouled line, raised the sail, and jumped in.  I sheeted in the main, and then slipped when inserting the daggerboard and we went skidding sideways into toothy jagged rocks.  Too late, I missed my narrow exit, now it was time to minimize the damage.  I careened over several boulders, hit some others, and came to rest on a leeward rock shelf (see Starry Night picture above).  The main did not dump, as the mainsheet wrapped around an oar.  Chaos.  I jumped over and kept her from capsizing but she was getting absolutely pounded on the rocks.  I couldnt reach the halyard from where I was.  Struggle ensued.  Finally, with the sail down, I walked her around the rock shelf, reboarded, and let her drift to the lee, now away from the island sailing on bare poles. From the comfort of having all the sea-room I could ask for I raised the main and went to meet Capn Jon who was waiting for me.  From there it was an all out screaming plane downwind.  Some of the fastest speeds I have attained in the boat were in this stretch, and this is loaded with camping gear!

The sail to Brooklin was half downwind, and then upwind as we worked our way back to the Eggemoggin Reach.  It was here were TWO HEARTED really shone.  Except for rowing, the GIS is usually slightly faster than the Pheonix III, except in certain situations.  With very lumpy seas coming out of the Egg Reach, close hauled, she shouldered in and literally just left me behind.  Now, IAZ,P did quite well in the lumpiness for a flat-bottomed boat, but close hauled with confused large lumpy rolling seas have always been her low point.  The flat-bottom-healed-over to make a "V" doesnt work as well since the waves are of a chaotic motion and there is a fixed percentage rate of waves that slap the hull in some flat area, knocking her about.  Mr. Parker of "The Sharpie Book" fame distinctly talks about this phenomenon in a recent WoodenBoat article.  The rounded lapstrake bilge of TWO HEARTED really stood out in these conditions.  Capn Jon waited on me for the rest of the day, which pleased him to no end.

We ended up sailing back to Brooklin and making a quick pit stop before sailing back to the HOLY of HOLIES, WoodenBoat.  It was Capn Jons turn to sail through the anchorage with TWO HEARTED and make some Pheonix III history of his own.

WoodenBoat anchorage (Capn Jon)

Me and IAZ,P leaving the WoodenBoat beach where stopped to do some backslapping.  2nd reef. (Capn Jon)

Then, it was an easy downwind cruise back to the ramp.  The wind was actually becoming more reasonable, and I could have shaken out some reefs, but to be honest, after 4 days of muscling boats around I was absolutely shot.  I just sat in the bottom of IAZ,P and cruised back to the car.

IAZ,P rolling downwind to the cars. 

On the beach at Brooklin.  I love screaming over that bar with 2" of water.  IAZ,P floats on moisture.

Narcissus returns to boat ramp. This is what a hero looks like- awesome.
Note how heroes let others do the dirty work.

And so ended another 4 days of high seas adventure with my trusty Goat Island Skiff and Capn Jons Pheonix III.

What other adventures await this Dynamic Duo of Destiny?!

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