Day 4 - Play, Play, Play

Tuesday

Swans Island

After an incredible night’s sleep I got up a little after 7am and joined my brother on the bow.  The sun was out and the water was glass; very calm and clear in Burnt Coat Harbor.  As we savored our coffee, looking over charts and guides, deciding what to do for the day, the harbor awoke with the quiet sounds of other cruisers emerging from below, their own steaming cups of coffee or tea in hand, to enjoy the lovely morning.

We considered a long-haul in big water to Mount Desert Rock.  In order to do an out-and-back in a day we would need 10-15 knot winds.  Listening to the weather channel on the VHF made it clear that that was not happening today. The more we lounged and pondered the day's potential the more apparent it became that what we were doing already felt right.  A couple more minutes of soaking-it-in and Dan decided he wanted to rig Wesley, our dinghy, for sailing.   This would be the first time.

Dan took the dinghy out for about 20 minutes and returned pleasantly surprised at how fun it was.  However, wanted to solve the loose-oar problem.  His solution was to drill holes through the blades of the paddles to drop over one of the horns on each of the oarlocks.  He sat in the dinghy while I brought him the (wired for house-power) drill and plugged it into the DC power jack hidden in the transom-well.  Holes drilled, oars hooked and bungied together at the bow and Dan was back out.

While he was buzzing around the harbor I took the opportunity to do some housekeeping.  I ran the engine to charge the batteries and cleaned the dishes and other things from dinner.  After getting Windfall fully changed-over for daytime I rinsed down the decks and scrubbed the cockpit. I also did a little laundry in a bucket, rinsed it overboard and hung it on the boom for drying.  Then I attempted a little "bath" hanging off the swim-platform.  
C O L D.

Cheers!!

On his next pass I handed Dan a travel-mug of wine and he continued sailing around the harbor while I continued to tidy.  Ah well, the sun's over the yardarm somewhere.

In time, it was my turn to take Wesley out to try my hand at dinghy-sailing around the boats in the harbor.   Perfect wind, perfect conditions...  Beautiful.

Dan preps for diving.

On one "fly-by" I saw Dan looking overboard lamenting that he had dropped a fresh mug of wine off the starboard Sail-Seat^©.  "It just slid right off!" He was bothered enough by the loss of the mug (and the wine, of course) that he decided to dive in after it.  I made him wait for me to come aboard as I wanted to "support" him. He put on his mask and fins and jumped in.  

He dove and resurfaced.  It seemed to me a very quick trip. He said visibility at that depth (about 10-12 feet)  was quite limited.  There is light, but the Maine waters tend toward the green.

"It's all weeds."   

"Gross!"

"Yeah, it's gross...Very gross.  It's weeds and you can only see three feet in front of you."

Gross!!

"What kind of weeds?"

"I thought I'd swim blindly and then this blue thing would say 'Hi, it's me!'"

Another dive and another notably quick return.

"I was swimming along the bottom, through the weeds and this giant, slick, heavy, orange thing covered my face!!  

It was kelp."  

This is a creepy prospect for me.  Though I grew up next to the ocean and spent thousands of hours around it's shores, only in the last 15 years have I spent any time on it and, even more recently, in it.  Clearly a little "immersion" therapy was in order here to move past the creep-factor.

My Big Brother...

Dan gave up on the mug and swam around and under Windfall.  The jealousy kicked in.  So, I went below to don my flippers and jumped in to join him.

C O L D.  Maybe 57ºF.  

We "high-fived" and began swimming around Windfall admiring her from the water level.  My brother said he'd just swam below and put his hand on the bottom of the keel; a promise he had made to her the middle of last winter.  He would not just put her in and forget to appreciate her underside.  He did grind off years of bottom coat and gave her a fresh new one, after all.  He told me to swim down and touch the keel.  No way was I going to do that!  He said. "Well, at least swim under, between the rudder and the keel to this side."  I did.  As soon as I was underwater and saw how beautiful and serene it was, I stayed and headed further down and put myself under the keel facing upward. When I came up I said, "Did you see?" He hadn't.  I didn't tell him before I dove.  Oh, well.

At this point the water was starting to feel pretty good.  Dan suggested we swim out to some buoys before we get out. We did and continued on to swim around the harbor admiring boats, playing with buoys and chatting with other

boaters as they enjoyed their day.  Dan shimmied up the mooring line of a barge and hung upside down from it. Unfortunately, for obvious reasons, there are no pictures from the swim.  Next year, I will have a waterproof camera hanging off my neck!

After swimming Dan went back out dinghy-sailing. A bit later I jumped in; Dan in the stern with his back to the port and me in the bow; back to starboard. Well into the afternoon now, we sailed around the harbor for a few more hours enjoying the festive atmosphere. The Sweet Chariot Music Festival was starting today. That's why all the other boaters and the party atmosphere. We made friends with a dog on one of the sailboats who would run from side to side to keep track of us as we sailed near and called out to him. Later we saw him with his master in their own dinghy. One of the highlights of cruising around was chasing a large sailboat criss-crossing the harbor while about 25 people sitting on deck sang sea-shanties. They were very good and appreciated by everyone.

     

Though we were not attending the festival we were definitely in a partying mood.  As we sailed around the harbor we collected seaweed with which to decorate Wesley and adorn ourselves in solidarity with the other revelers.  This also turned out to be an excellent way to embarrass one of Dan's art-students, Jessica, who happened to be working on the pier where all the lobsterman were delivering their daily haul. 

Before retiring to Windfall for dinner we bought lobsters directly from Jessica. After putting Wesley to bed for the evening, drying off from the days events and putting on comfy pajama bottoms, it was time to prepare dinner.

Hello Dinner.

We boiled the lobsters on the alcohol stove in a small oval roaster Dan had purchased for the purpose.  In lieu of butter we had crushed, fresh garlic in extra virgin olive oil.

Some tunes to go with the chopping.

What a great day!

Day 3 - Haystack and Narrows

Monday

1. Opechee Island  2. Black Island  
3. Sheep Island

4. Eagle Island  
5. John Island

By the time I emerged Dan had already made coffee, rowed around the surrounding islands (all uninhabited) to take some pictures and returned. (Later, Dan described a recumbent pedal 

Mmmm, coffee.

system he had visualized for the dinghy). I made more 
coffee and took Wesley out for a row. A quick stop at one of the islands to take care of a bit of business and back to Windfall.

I'm still asleep.

  

Working on tiller

Before dropping off we puttered  around bit.  Dan removed the holding clip for the tiller-extension from the tiller as it was a bit dangerous and installed two more receptacles for alternate extension attach points.

We decided to fulfill a years-old fantasy for Dan and visit Haystack Mountain School of Crafts by water.  Haystack is an arts school Dan has attended fourteen years as student, teacher and chaperone. With world-class practitioners he has studied blacksmithing, furniture-making, assemblage-sculpture, concrete-sculpture and life-sculpting with live models.

Leaving Opechee

In moderate to heavy fog we pulled anchor, set the sails and headed back out around Black island to duck west under the Opechee archipelago across the Casco Passage toward Jericho bay.

During a long tack across Jericho Bay I prepared brunch. Steak and onions with fried eggs.

On the other side of Jericho Bay Dan picked a fairly aggressive route through a lot of tight water SW to Stinson’s Neck in Deer Isle.  The Haystack campus is on the Northern shore of Western Cove.

*****

Oops!

At one point, I was tinkering with the Lowrance (learning to program it/pull data etc.) and Dan asked me to return it to the chart.  I did and it was clear we needed to tack.  We did so immediately to reveal a large rocky outcropping breaking the surface of the water that had previously been in the blind-spot created by our genny.  There is definitely a take-away here. 

*****

Haystack by water!!

As we approached Western Cove it became apparent that it terminates in a working harbor.  There was a fair amount of boat traffic coming and going.  We picked a spot out of the way of the prevailing traffic and dropped the Mantus.  It fetched instantly.  We tidied

Shore-hike to Haystack

up and rowed to shore which is all rock with many large smooth areas.  We landed and hauled Wesley above the tidal line (about sixty feet) and hiked the shore about an eighth of a mile to Haystack.  

Dan at Haystack with our garbage. 

Haystack's Director and Dan’s long-time acquaintance, Stuart Kestenbaum, was our for awhile so we decided to wait an hour for him to return.  Haystack is very protective of its students' privacy and works to create an environment that allows for intense engagement and creativity.  Consequently, we were not at liberty to wander about.  When Stuart returned he gave us an intern named Hannah to show us around.  I now have a mental picture for this winter when Dan shares his Haystack stories via telephone.

Narrows, Haystack and onward to Swans Isle.

*****

She's still there.

We found our tender and Windfall where we left them and rowed (in choppy water and wind) out to Windfall.  Anchor up and under sail we headed SE back across Jericho Bay across Toothacher Bay into Burnt Coat Harbor at Swans Island.

*****

Approaching Burnt Coat Harbor

Arriving at Burnt Coat Harbor

As the Sweet Chariot Music Festival, a three-day, by-boat-only, live-music and arts festival was due to begin the next day on Swans Island there were quite a few other boats "from away" already there, as well as a festive atmosphere.
There were plenty of dinghies ferrying folk from boat to boat and a great deal of rafting going on.  One, quite large sailboat had it's pennants flying and was surrounded by dozens of smaller boats.  A party appeared to going on above and below decks. 

   

Dan considers his anchoring options. 

It took us three drops to catch our anchor (the Mantus), but we made some corrections to our technique and got a good hook in-and-amongst the other visiting boats right away.

We tidied up for the evening and sat on the benches in the cockpit with our backs against the forward bulkhead while the sun set and watched the festivities.  Dan enjoyed a glass of wine.

Dinner was leftover tortellini  and shrimp with cocktail sauce.

Sunset at Burnt Coat Harbor, Swans Isle

*****

Day 3 - Opechee-Haystack-Swans Island

So Far...

Day 2 - Oh, What a Day!

Darin in Salon Berth

I awoke around 6:30am to sunlight streaming through the nautical American flag draped over the hatch. The weather was gorgeous. 

View from my berth

Valley Cove South

Valley Cove West

Sunny, clear and blue sky.  Very excited to be on the water.  Valley Cove is a beautiful spot and Dan snapped a few pics in the morning light and calm water.

Valley Cove North

While making coffee, Dan discovered the fresh water tank empty.  We decided to motor back to John Williams Boat Company to refill the freshwater tank.  

Once back, I walked the garbage to the dumpster while Dan used the hose to replenish our fresh water.  When I started back down the ramp, I saw Dan holding a kink in the hose.
  
The hose has a classic brass twist-type nozzle on it.
As he was twisting the body to open the valve fully, the body fell off into the fresh water tank.  I had to shut off the water so he could let go of the hose. What to do?  Certainly don't want to leave Jock without a working nozzle.  A quick phone call to Dad and he brought us a replacement nozzle.

Mod'ing the Ryobi for house-power

Meanwhile, we were enjoying the morning tied up to the dock and working on some other projects. I made an extension cord with an automotive power-point on one end and alligator-clips on the other.  The idea was to have a tester cable around as well as to get around recharging batteries for Dan's 12V Ryobi drill.  We plugged it in and the drill did not work...at all. Discussion followed as to why and possible solutions. Battery interlock?  A quick check with the volt-meter.  No voltage.  Dan checked the fuse.  It had a tiny current value and was quite blown.  As we were handling it, it fell apart. Dan was quickly losing
interest in the cheap, Chinese part.  He managed to put it together with electrical tape and then we discovered there was a spring missing.  I cut the whole thing off and crimped on more alligator clips. Shortly after throwing the part away we found the spring.  It was a piece of junk anyway.  The drill worked beautifully. Eventually, Dan replaced the alligator clips with the a heavy duty plug that was originally intended for the outboard.  Since he has a new outboard, with new wiring, this perfectly placed, high-current socket was available as utility power.

Transom-well cover handle and foot-stop

With the now working drill Dan installed a handle on the transom-well cover which also doubles as a foothold when heeling.  This turned out to be an excellent
addition for both applications. 

  

Dan made tethers for our hats.

It was time to get going.  We decided to motor out of the sound as there was not sufficient wind and it's a time-consuming undertaking beating out of the sound anyway.  We ended up motoring all the way to Placentia Island which was our first destination for the day.  I worked on this blog-post while underway.

As we approached Placentia Island and the beach the Stillman-family has visited in the past, we found the beach occupied by a day-outing from the Asticou Inn in Northeast Harbor.  We opted to stay clear of them and chose a spot about two hundred yards further down the beach. This was going to be our first time deploying Dan's new Mantus Anchor.   Dan already had his anchoring system in place.  The rode is set up for one-man sailing.  The line stows in the stern, runs up to a chock on the bow and than back to the stern to the anchor in another stowage compartment.  He has sections of rubber chaffe-guard along the way to manage the line.  The chaffe-guard releases the line when the anchor is dropped.  All we had to do was rig the new anchor and rubber-jacketed chain-rode to the line-rode.  We had to "tap" the 5/16th shackle through the end of the chain with a small hammer as the rubber made the hole in the link a little too small.

Left Mantus - Right Danforth

So, we dropped the Mantus.  It wouldn't grab.  I let out 120' of rode (the most Dan had in one piece of line).  It still didn't fetch.  We pulled it up and tried again. No luck.  Disappointed in the new Mantus, we brought it onboard, secured it to the deck and rigged up his original Danforth, double-fluke style anchor to another 100' length of rode.  Reposition and drop. Again, no luck.  Re-pulled, dropped.  No good.

Meanwhile, at the stern, I've attempted to start the motor three times stalling each time.  I look overboard to discover the the dinghy-painter fouled in the prop.  Release the painter from the cleat, raise the motor, untangle the prop, bring the dinghy alongside, back to business.
  
Note:  Get floating line for dinghy painter.

...and cheeseburgers

At this point we had achieved a "controlled drag."  This seemed as good a time as any for lunch.  Baby-spinach, bell pepper, basil and apple salad with olive oil...

Lunch over, we cleaned up and spent an hour organizing hardware below deck.  Windfall is still very much just "off-the-jacks."  Our next goal was to sail to Opechee Island.  As we had a nice breeze it was decided to sail right off the anchor.  As Dan was pulling up the anchor from the bow, I let the dinghy out and raised the mainsail.  Windfall started to "sail" thus making it more difficult to pull anchor.  Dan had me let the main-sheet out.  This helped, but Dan was still having some trouble with the anchor.  We knew it wasn't fetched up as we had drifted significantly, during lunch.  The boat drifted into a lazy jibe, which Dan alerted me to in time for me to pull the main sheet and "control" the sail as it switched sides and the boat came around.  At this point I lowered the mainsail.

The anchor continued to give Dan trouble.  I went forward to help pull.  The anchor was indeed "fighting" us.  Finally we got to the chain and discovered a tree-sized kelp plant attached.  I went back to get "Sharpy" the stupidly sharp knife our mother gave Dan for Christmas.  By the time I returned (carefully) with Sharpy, the kelp was drifting away. The anchor was still a problem.  More grunting and it was revealed that we had picked up a long-lost (and buried) lobster buoy.  It was still attached to it's long-lost line which had also been buried and was still running off into the depths under tension (presumably to a long-lost lobster pot).  I have never seen so many living, squiggling, wiggling, squirting life forms as was covering this line.  The deck was smothered with "alien' life-forms.  After our initial heebie-jeebies we briefly toyed with the idea of pulling the line all the way up to see what was on the other end, but it was coming too hard and we were ready to get going anyway. So, we let it go.

Finally we were free and ready to sail!!  As I was prepping the two anchors for travel and rinsing down the deck Dan was readying the cockpit.  He asked me if I had put extra friction on the tiller-tamer.  I said that I might have, but not intentionally....

As it so happens when we jibed earlier (because I had raised the mainsail prematurely) we had wrapped ourselves in the painter (which I had let out prematurely).  Ok, no problem. We'll remove the clips and knots from the line and pull it through whatever it's fouled on underneath us.  Ostensibly, the keel.  It wouldn't move at all.  It was stuck.  We were floating off Placentia with the dinghy line wrapped around the rudder post.  I can tell you that I had exactly zero interest in jumping in and swimming under the boat to fix this.  My thoughts turned to my sister, Darcy, who had swum underneath our parents' boat to disentangle a lobster pot warp from the prop.

New green color scheme.

We brought the line around to the starboard and wrapped it on the winch. Using the winch-handle and moving the tiller back and forth we were able to get the line to move millimeter by millimeter. About twenty minutes of this and we were able to free the line now enhanced with fresh, green bottom-coat. 

Check out how the Nav system saw our Struggles!

Finally on our way again...

Our dad had suggested Opechee island as a good anchorage spot, so we explored going there.  A little time with the charts, the nav and The Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast, Fifth Edition by Hank and Jan Taft and Curtis Rindlaub, we had a course and destination.  We approached Opechee Island after a beautiful, event-free, sail to discover two other sailboats already on anchor.  Dan was a tad bit “anxious” due to our earlier anchoring machinations. The Mantus fetched instantly.  We let out 90' for a 10/1 scope.  I set an anchor alarm on the Lowrance with a 100' threshold.

Bread and olive oil with basil for appetizer.  Tortellini and Pesto for dinner.  Simple and delicious.

Jiffy Pop, of course.

Spent the evening looking at YouTube videos.  Most notably those of Doug and Kay at SV Seeker. Lots of cool videos available on YouTube.  Popcorn and snacks while watching videos.

Hit the berth around eleven.

Anchor alarm went of about twenty minutes later.  I reset threshold for 200'

The Day's Travels.