The last 7 days have been very action packed. In some ways too packed.
We left Burnt Island in Muscongus Bay and sailed into Rockland harbor, enjoying a nice gental breeze and our first attempt at flying the new assymetrical cruising spinnaker! We had fun watching the knotmeter continue to increase while Karen guided us up Penobscot Bay. Our arrival in Rockland was marked by a fleet of Windjammers returning from a day’s sail. It was quite a spectacle to see all of these old ships so skillfully handled in the harbor and to revel in the splendor of their beauty.
Rockland is a great place to stock up on necessities before heading further Downeast. We spent two days there, and our purchases included two Razor scooters for the boys — got to find new ways to keep them in shape!
After these 2 days, it was time to move on. Rockland, although not a big city by any means, has all of the typical noise and congestion that one tries to get away from while cruising. We shot across the Penobscot Bay to a 5 star (according to the cruising guide) spot, Pulpit Harbor on North Haven/Vinalhaven. This was also our indoctrination this season into navigating in the infamous Maine fog. Here are the various fog-related duties aboard Thalia.
Pulpit Harbor came highly recommended and we couldn’t disagree with this assessment… we decided to stay two nights! In retrospect, I wish we had stayed a third night. Instead we headed to another popular destination in Penobscot Bay — Castine — a town with a lot of early American and military history as well as the home of the Maine Maritime Academy. Yes, the town was all of this, but we paid the price for it. After arriving in the afternoon and getting the dinghy all ready to motor to the town dock, the clouds started darkening and we saw lighting in the distance. We regretfully retreated to the cabin to wait it out. It started with light hail, then the wind came. I watched with interest as the anemometer registered 10-15 knots, then quickly climbed to 20, 25, and then over 30 knots. This was a storm packing quite a punch! I looked out into the cockpit and to my astonishment, our dinghy had gone airborne and flipped over, including the recently mounted outboard engine. After a few choice words, Karen and I hustled into our foulies and into the cockpit. We watched as the dinghy went 4-5 feet in the air again and righted itself, then flipped again. The wind was continuing to increase and the rain and lightning were all around us at this time. I started the engine, just in case we needed to maneuver to avoid other boats dragging or breaking free of their mooring. Our bimini, which would have benefitted from being stowed had we known the force of this storm, was being contorted into positions I thought would surely damage it forever and send it flying through the air to some lee shore. At this point, the wind was so strong it was blowing us sideways and healing us nearing over to the lee toerail, all with out any sails up. I had to stand within a foot of Karen and yell as loud as I could to be heard. During a brief lull, we put out more anchor line, but despite this we dragged about 100 feet.
As thunderstorms have a habit of doing, as quick as they come, they are gone. 30 minutes later, the sun was coming out, but our nerves were positively shattered. Part of the bimini frame broke, our dinghy was upright but with a flooded outboard engine, and our kids were both still panicked that we were going to sink. We followed several old local charter schooners to a more protected anchorage nearby and settled down for a foggy but entirely calm evening.
It wasn’t until the next morning when we went ashore at Castine that we discovered the real story about this storm. It was a heavily localized system that at it’s peak contained 70 mph winds and caused downed trees and powerlines in the area around Castine and Isleboro. Locals said it was the worst storm they had ever seen. Why did this have to happen only a week into our journey! Sailors that we ran into that were in Rockland at the time said they got some increased wind, but no rain or lighting. It was concentrated in a narrow path that included our anchorage… if only we had stayed at Pulpit Harbor!
Unfortunately Castine will always be associated in our minds with frighteningly high winds and so we promptly bid adieu to the town and made our way through the Eggemoggin Reach to Northeast Harbor on Mt. Desert Island/Acadia National Park. We are at day 2 here, in this snug, yachty center of activity. We have taken full advantage of the areas services, starting with 5 loads of laundry this morning, then a hearty hike up Mt. Pemetic for sweeping views. We even found wild blueberries!
