The Launch of the Must Roos

We took a break from cleaning our boat up for the season and watched the Must Roos launch for the first time ever. This is the vessel we helped step the mast at the beginning of our season.

The Captain built the boat from a proven design and had been working on it for fifteen years. A lovely vessel, perfect for a 'pirate crew' and for sailing. Red and black, steel hull which the man had welded himself, wooden masts and spars. All in all a labor of love and beautiful to look at.

The Captain and his wife, their assorted animals (3 Corgies and a Corby) and an increasing accumulation of people walked along behind the boat as it sat in the slings and traveled from the jacks to the slip. With the boat yard right next to the ferry boarding ramp, this unusual vessel drew quite a crowd.

Into the water it went, and . . . it floated! The expressions on the face of the ships owners as they anticipated then saw it work was a wonder to behold.

Fiddler hauled

Our season is over.

Fiddler was hauled out of the water yesterday afternoon. We are busy cleaning the boat, at least when we are at the boat. I am off running (and on foot it is running) a few last minute errands before we finish packing things up.

We have three (or four?) categories of items.
1) to stay with the boat (navigation books - HO249 tables, whale spotting in the gulf of Maine, etc.)
2) to carry home (sextants, musical instruments, some clothing and the like)
3) to ship home (books, "trophies" and trinkets, gear for home)
4) to dispose of somehow - give away or throw away (more books - probably going to the swap shelf at the marina, broken parts - trash, and the balance of the food stocks - going to the local food bank)

A final washdown inside and out, and we catch the bus tomorrow to make connections in Boston for home. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Engine puzzle solved

With the bit of trouble we had with the engine, when it started to clatter terribly when running, we were concerned. Having now spent several days trying to figure out if we need to rebuild our engine (or would need to get a whole new one) the local expert says our problem is just air in the fuel line, and that it is likely to do a bit of that for a while.

I am very relieved.

I must say that the noise this machine was making was not a noise I liked hearing. It sounded for all the world like something had broken loose inside the poor thing and it was working on tearing itself apart. Oil pressure and engine temp both show good, and unless something else comes up we should be good to go.

Games to play while waiting in the Ferry Line

The first year we were here someone explained to us how the line for the ferry works.

There are several lanes painted on the asphalt. Each of them is marked for destination and status - NH= North Haven; VH= Vinylhaven; RES= going to the islands with a reservation. Folks line up for the ferry as early as the night before, and must be with the vehicle 15 minutes before loading. The result of all this is a long line of cars with folks waiting. We keep expecting a tailgating party to break out at any minute.

When the ferry is loading, cars and trucks are pulled out of line depending on what there is room for on the particular run. We had wondered about the cars in line with large gaps between. Watching the loadmaster fit garbage trucks, semi-tractor rigs and passenger vehicles into the space of the ferry deck like a jigsaw puzzle is a quarter hours entertainment. The islanders call back and forth between vehicles and catch up on the news of the day. People who live on the islands often have one vehicle on the island and another on the mainland to avoid the problems with the limited number of cars back and forth.

Between ferries the folks waiting in line will wander off into town to get a bite to eat or do some shopping, so it can get quiet. When time for the next ferry to load comes along, activity picks up. The ferry runs seven days a week (except some holidays) from 7 am to 5 or 6 pm, with two vessels on each run shuttling back and forth between terminals. These are the ferries to the Havens.

There are a few to other islands, with only one trip every few days, or maybe once a week, depending on the location. In the 'off season' at least one of the more infrequent runs drops to twice a month. Talk about needing to plan ahead!

Plans for the future

from Dave

We had planned to take Fiddler to Europe next year, but have decided instead to stay in the Maine area and take Kathy's mother, Star with us. Star has been an excellent sailing companion and crew member in the past and we look forward to showing her some of the sights in the Maine islands.

We have also got our eyes on a number of improvements to the ship and her rigging over the winter: having lazyjacks installed to make sail handling easier, a new mainsail, adding floatation to the dink so that it can carry my big butt without danger of dumping me in some harbot some dark night, maybe a kerosene stove if we can find one and finally a thirty pound stock or fisherman anchor (the kind you see on tatoos).

I wonder if Kathy would let me buy us a deck gun...

Wrapping up the Season

July 7

We headed back for Rockland out the west end of the Fox Island Passage. Spotted a pair of osprey sitting on a day marker along the channel. They were very still and very attentive and I thought they were just being careful of us and where we might be going. As we pulled up even with them, I realized four juvenile osprey were bathing in the shoals at the foot of the marker. The parents watching their babies at the bath. I did not have the camera to hand, so no picture.

We made it almost all the way across to Rockland, running the engine to get our 12 hours on it. Just about few miles outside the harbor the engine quit (What? Again?) and we put up sails to try and make it at least as far as the harbor mouth before calling for help. We made it to only a mile off the breakwater when we found we were making very little headway in the wind shadow of Owls Head. We did call the yard and they sent someone out in a power boat to haul us in to the dock. (sigh) At least we got to sail a bit more.

July 8 & 9

Hung around on the dock, meeting people as they came and went. Read. Got some more groceries, mostly beverages, for the next few days. Marveled at the poor fellow who hit something with his keel. Took a big bite out of it. I suggested he should tell his friends a shark bit it. Expensive damage.

July 10

Changed the fuel filter and ran the engine for a while before it developed a terrible sound. Not sure if we just have some loose carbon in a cylinder or if we are about to throw a rod. urk. We will look into that little problem over the next couple of days.

Removed the sails and had a discussion with our rigger about the new main and some other details. Plan to haul the boat tomorrow at or near high tide. With the shallow draft on our boat the tide does not have to be at dead high.

Started with some of the cleaning. The trick with a boat is to put it away dry so no mildew develops over the winter. The weather is hot and dry right now so that helps. I have also been collecting all the little tips people have passed along that might help. Some are pretty obvious, others sound more like 'folk remedies'. (pans of fresh coffee grounds to control odor.)

The commercial products sold for boat maintenance leave me in a bit of a quandry. Bilge cleaner, for example. The directions say pour undiluted into the bilges, but the disposal instructions say NOT to put the contents down a sewer or pour it out onto the ground. And the precautionary statements about not using in enclosed spaces seem pretty contradictory to me.

Castine

from Dave

Castine is an interesting place. It’s the second oldest European settlement in the US founded in either 1611 or 1612 depending upon which hysterical marker you want to believe. It has been taken, held, fought over and fortified by the Dutch, the French the British and the Americans ever since.

The Brits took it in 1779 and held on to it in 1779 until 1784 (three years after the Revolutionary War ended if memory serves). They took it back again in 1813 and hung on to it until 1814. The Americans tried to take it back in ’79, but dithered around until the Brits stomped them. If they’d pressed home their initial assault, the British general holding the place thought he’d have lost it. Paul Revere was these but is not much admired by the locals. (He may be popular in Boston, but this is Maine.)

We got up here on Saturday and spent Sunday touring the place. (Kathy whimpers “Five and a half hours of history!) In late afternoon, we noticed the Schooner Bowdoin tied up on the town dock and went over to rubberneck. Since they were provisioning and since we helped them hump the groceries down to the boat, the kindly gave us a tour of the vessel.

The Bowdoin was built in 1924 as an arctic explorer. She’s been across the Arctic Circle 26 times and hopes to find sponsorship for a 27th trip in a year or so. She’s well remembered all up and down the Labrador and in Hudson Bay by the Inuit residents there. It was a joy to see the fine old lady in such good shape since she was acquired by the Maine Maritime Academy and is being used to train future sailing ship captains. Gordon Bok wrote a fine song about her which still chokes me up when I hear it.

We set off for Buck’s Harbor on Monday and promptly came scurrying back with the high water alarm howling. Seems we’d blown an engine hose and were pumping water into the boat. The bilge pump was keeping ahead of it, but this isn’t a thing you want to sail with so we pulled into Eaton’s boatyard and a salty old gentlemen named Burkey soon found the problem. By the time it was fixed, it was too late to sail and besides, Tuesday was July 4th and Casting has a fireworks display, so we made arrangements to stay for that.

On Tuesday morning just as we were getting ready to move another jump up river to the Castine Yacht Club, an older gentleman came over and said that he used to own an Allied Seawind that looked like ours. He said his was hull #155. We told him that this WAS hull #155 and had him come come aboard and sign the logbook His name is Paul McMahon and we have his name on one of our old mainsails.

About 4:00 PM, we were sitting on Yacht Club mooring, and suddenly up the river came the Schooner Steven B. Tabor. Then out of the mist came the Victory Chimes followed by the Angelique, the Heritage, the Louis B. French, the American Eagle, the Isaac Evans, the Bowdoin and several others I didn’t recognize. There were an even dozen in all the they all rafted up in Smith’s Cove across the river to have dinner and enjoy the fireworks display set for that evening. About 8:00, the schooners unlimbered their deck gins and began firing on the town and some folks in town began returning fire with cannon of their own. In the mist, it was all very reminiscent of the 1779 battle to retake the town from the British with the American fleet pounding the British position above the town the and Brits returning fire.

About 9:00 the fireworks began and with the low ceiling, it was unlike anything I have ever seen. You’d hear a “whump” as something went up and then the clould would light up in green or blue or orange. All in all, a great time was had by all.

We Left Castine about 11:00 the next morning and sailed out into a white wall--fog.

North Haven

July 6

Heading out of Buck's Harbor it became obvious that the fog down Eggemoggin Reach was pretty thick and would not thin until the change of the tide, so we went down East Penobscot Bay, along the east side of the Havens and on into the Fox Island Passage. On the west end of the passage stands an enormous granite monument. We threaded our way through lobster pots and other traffic to pick up a mooring at J. O. Brown and Sons.

We met Foy Brown over in Rockland last year, and ran into him again this year. It was another Brown running the store the day we were there. We did see Foy out putting in traps in the late afternoon. Quite restful on the mooring even with the guys who want to go really fast and make great wakes. Fiddler mostly ingnores them if they come in on the bow. We only feel the ones that catch us on the side.

Buck's Harbor

July 5

We went into the Castine Yacht Club dock long enough to get water and make a run into the head. Then we set off for Buck's Harbor. We made it past the harbor bell and into fog. Visibility was somewhat limited. We ran along on GPS and RADAR with me steering and Dave blowing the foghorn at regular intervals. The fog lifted and we could see the islands and navigation markers.

We could also see the schooners coming out of Castine and heading on to their next stops. At one point we had five sets of sails in view. We had a lovely day on our way to Bucks Harbor, spotting a couple of porpoises and a seal that watched as we went by. Bucks Harbor is a quiet little place with an island in the middle of it. Although at this point its most attractive feature was a laundry. We had not done laundry setting out from Rockland, and no one in Castine had a washer. The only laundromat had gone out of business. The first thing we did in Bucks Harbor was wash clothes. Then we took showers in the outdoor showers. Lovely to have hot water to wash the cares of the day away, and a bit of cool air as well.

Decided to treat ourselves to something besides soup. There is a surprising restaurant in the town. You walk up the hill, turn left to the Methodist Church and the restaurant is down behind the general store. Great Medditeranean food. A bit pricey, but we enjoyed it. (If you are ever in Buck's Harbor ME and have the money to spend, I recommend the place. For chocolate lovers, try the chocolate mousse with espresso cream sauce.)

Sitting on the dock after dark I watched a firefly dance about as the whole harbor fell silent. Sitting with the brook babbling quietly behind somewhere and the moon rising in the sky it was one of those almost magical moments.

Four Days in Castine

We did not find a library to update the blog, so I just kept notes.

July 1

Left Rockland headed for Castine, home of the Main Maritime Academy and lots of history. A 20 mile (or so) journey, we sailed and motored. Had a bit of trouble reefing the main sail. Managed to break a a few of the cars that hold the sail to the mast in the process. The seas and winds ended up being a bit more vigorous than we had expected, so we were very glad to get into Castine. We tied up at the dock in fron of Dennet's Wharf restaurant. Mostly folks just come in for dinner and don't stay the night. Dennet's was the only place that had space for us. We tied up and went up the ramp for a lovely dinner of scallops in butter with bread crumbs. After listening to the weather report, and hearing a bit from the locals, it seemed best to just stay where we were. Thunderstorms on the water are more excitement than I am wanting to deal with right now.

Dennet's Wharf has a gimick (not knowing what else to call it). They tack dollar bills to the ceiling by placing a thumbtack right in the middle of the bill, backing it with a 50cent piece, and giving it a couple of folds to make a sort of dart. When thrown the bill sticks in the ceiling, and the 50 cent piece falls back down. Dennet's donated the bills on the roof to the 9/11 cause, and again to Katrina relief. Now they are building back up. It is interesting to look up and see the bills hanging from the ceiling. Reminds me a little of all the ties at the old Traildust Steakhouse.

July 2

We dozed a bit and just sat around below decks being quiet company. When we finally went topside we found another sail boat had docked just ahead of us on the dock. I did not recognize the boat at first, but we did recognize the people - the folks who gave us all the cheeses (which we have not eaten up yet.)

When we finally got moving, we headed into Castine to see the forts, the Historical Society and the Wilson Museum. The collection at the Wilson Museum started as an individuals private collection. Pretty impressive. Things from all over. Pots from the Southwest Indians, tools and weapons from all over Southeast Asia, fossils from the Rockies and items from tribes here on the East Coast. We walked all over the fort (only made it to one) and spent a good bit of time with the blacksmith at the museum. Hungarian fellow, came over in 1957 or thereabouts. I have been teasing my husband about the "5 1/2 hours of history" but it was an interesting walk. In spite of the forcast, winds inland were mild, and no thundershowers found us in Castine, although we heard it was a bit rough out in the Eastern Penobscot bay area.

We stopped for dinner at the local seafood shack, than wandered over to the Maine Maritime Academy docks where we found the crew of the schooner Bowdoin loading groceries. Not being at all shy my husband offers to help, and we end up with a tour. The Bowdoin was purpose built to be an arctic explorer. She had one of the very first Cummings diesel engines. Lovely boat.

We had missed the last tour of The State of Maine which had been a US Naval research vessel and is now used for training students at the Academy. You can see the large vessel in the webcam picture. We did meet the officer of the watch out walking his dog. Decided we would catch the first tour the next day, before we headed out to Buck's Harbor.

July 3

Took the tour of The State of Maine. Large vessel, full of stairways and metal. Definitely not a luxury cruiser. Our tour guide was one of the few female cadets, they only 19 out of 230 total on the last cruise. I can see that the maritime trades are still largly male, although we did see several lobster boats with women as "sternman" and one that looked like an all female crew. (It can be a little difficult to tell in the coveralls and such.) This young woman is quite enthusiastic about the whole thing, and admitted she enjoyed the 30 Foot Jump. Everyone who takes course work for working on vessels is required to jump off the deck of the State of Maine, a 30 foot drop to the water. Like a parachute jump, it does take a little training. I suppose the theory is that one might need to jump from a ship in distress. The folks taking other majors are encouraged to participate as well. I suppose as a sort of right of passage.

Got our selves all organized to head out to Buck's Harbor, with a reservation for a spot on the dock and headed out. As we reached the harbor marker our high-water alarm went off. Not a comforting sound. I went below and started the check of the through hulls. All good and dry. I ran the manual bilge pump, and we were a little heavy on the water. While Dave turned us around I got on the radio and called Eaton's Boatyard, (the next dock down the water front from Dennet's) and they had someone who could look at things and help us figure out what our problem was. Through hulls all tight and dry. (A little condensation had formed on some of them, but a few beads of 'sweat' is nothing.) The stuffing box was holding. (The stuffing box is the bearing for the propellor shaft where it goes from the engine inside to the propellor outside.) Turned out we had a leak in the cooling water system that was pumping water into the boat. More water with higher rpms. Had to replace the hose. And since they had to run to the next town for parts, we were not going to get moving for awhile. We cancelled our reservation at Buck's Harbor, and went next door to Dennet's for lunch. The owner was a bit surprised to see us.

After repairs were completed, it was late enough in the day to be difficult finding a place to stay. The dockmaster at Eaton's said we could hang on the dock overnight, but needed to be off by 9 am to make room for a boat race the next morning. We watched a 40 some foot schooner come in alongside of us to lace on sails. The skipper charters this boat for a few weeks most years, and was just getting the season started. We offered to help with the sails, figuring that everything we learn is useful.

During the afternoon someone from the Castine Yacht Club was getting fuel at Eaton's and encouraged us to stay for July 4 and invited us down to the yacht club mooring.

July 4

Awoke early (for us) and were getting our breakfast when a fellow stopped by to talk. He had owned an Allied Seawind for several years. Conversation revealed that he had owned THIS Allied Seawind for several years. We invited him aboard, took his photograph and had him sign the guest book page in the boat log. Very nice conversation.

By then it was getting on and the yacht club moorings are 'first come, first served' so we felt we needed to move along to be sure of a place. We picked up CYC guest #1 at 8:15 am and sat on the mooring all day. There is a little day sailer called a Castine boat, and this was the day for the Castine class race. We got pictures of much of the race, and one lovely shot of one coming streaking by us with its spinnaker still out.

Along in the late afternoon we see a schooner come into the harbor, followed closely by several more. This is the Great Schooner Race up Penobscot Bay, ending in Castine for the fireworks show. We had a full dozen schooners rafted up across the mooring field from us, most of them boats we are familiar with, including the Bowdoin back from a short run out. The fog rolled in as the day faded, and we began to wonder if the fireworks would be delayed.

Guns started going off. Some were deck guns that the schooners had, and I think there were a few in town. A sort of historical recreation with the Americans firing on the British position up at the fort, and the British firing back. The fireworks started when it was full dark. By then the fog had lifted a bit. The large shells made the clouds glow all sorts of colors, and for the really big ones a few stray sparks would fall out of the bottom of the fog. It was an interesting effect.