Overnight – take two

We did it, we bit the bullet and spent our first night away from the dock.

We had a beautiful 4.5 hour sail to a mooring we knew we could pick up for the night in Cundy’s Harbor, ME. Friends of our own the mooring and had told us we could use it for the night.

If was our first ‘off-shore’ sail, where we were in the open Atlantic Ocean, there was nothing between us and the Azores Island besides the Atlantic Ocean. The winds were 10-15 knots out of the East, which put us on a nice beam reach most of the way North-West.

There were quite a few swells in the open ocean, and two of our crew got sea sick! 🙁 Prior to this no one had had any problem with sea sickness, but the swells were too much for the male members of our crew. Being in the cockpit and able to see the horizon helped both of them and they tried to stay on deck after getting sick.

Trixie spent a good portion of the trip in her bunk, and she slept for a good portion of it as well. Often we leave the aft door to her cabin open to allow better air-flow, and this also allows for a quick peak in at her when she is snoozing. We spent most of the sail on a starboard tack, so her full lee cloth came in handy.

We arrived and picked up the mooring, and after Ben pulled off the algae and growth on the line, attached it to our bow. Just as we grabbed the line the skies opened up and we finished tidying up the boat during the following 10 minute rain shower.

After cleaning up the boat, dropping the mainsail and launching the dinghy we went ashore to say hi to our friends. The kids were eager to get in the water, and both of them got in. We did put Trixie in a full wet-suit, despite the fact that the water was 68 degrees, she was still turning purple after about 2 minutes in the water. Our children lack thermo-regulation skills, like their Mom.

After visiting with our friends we invited them aboard to see our boat. Just as we arrived at the boat, all of 50ft from the dock, the skies opened up again. Ben and I rushed about closing up the hatches and putting the full enclosure down on the cockpit while our kids gave the penny tour down below.

Our friends headed back to shore before the next squall hit, and we started the process of making dinner. Noodles with oil and garlic – a quintessential boat meal from my youth.

A few more squalls hit while we were eating dinner, and then the calm after the storm produced one of the most gorgeous sunsets we have ever seen. Each time we looked up it got prettier than it had been 10 seconds before. Ben and I braved the mosquito ridden deck a few times to capture it on camera. Our full enclosure did a decent job of keeping us mosquito free.

We had a windy night, and we swung on the mooring around and around. I woke up at 2am and the Captain in me needed to go on deck to make sure we were still secure on the mooring and in the cove. Everything was as it should be, and I was able to return to bed and sleep easy the rest of the night.

The next morning, after a breakfast of French Toast, we went ashore to visit our friends again. Trixie had been asking all morning if we could ‘go see Peppa’, Pepper being one of the dogs belonging to our friends.

Of course, as soon as we found Pepper, she shied away as Pepper tried to lick her face, but she soon found a wealth of toys to play with. After visiting with our friend for a bit, it was time to head home.

We said our goodbyes, dropped the mooring, and headed back toward home. There was very little wind, coming from directly behind us, so we sailed wing and wing, main and mizzen only, for a little while.

Our friends hiked out to a point on the land and we waved to them as we passed and they took some pictures of us sailing by. Soon after they faded out of view we lost most of our wind.

We sail/drifted down-wind, avoiding the famous Maine ledges that abound in this area and keeping a close eye on the charts and chart-plotter for ledges we didn’t know about. Once we finally made it out past all the ledges and islands the wind picked up again, but it was coming from the exact direction we wanted to go.

We had a great time tacking out in to the Atlantic, and then back toward shore a few times with 15 knots of wind pushing us along. With no large swells none of the crew got sea-sick on the sail home. We figured out how to fold back our bimini so we could stand in full sun at the helm. With the breeze it was a bit chilly in the shade, so we soaked in the sun while we could!

We did ‘rescue’ a tarp from the sea with the boat hook, saw one lone porpoise and a few seals along the way. Once we made it back down to Jewel Island, we did decide to motor-sail the rest of the way home. It was getting late in the day, and with the wind still not cooperating to take us home, it was the best way to get home in the quickest manner. There were also a few shallow spots to navigate, which we felt more comfortable doing under motor.

We made it home at 5:30, and once securing the boat to the dock, jumped ship to go find dinner as all of the crew were hungry after a long day at sea.