Tonight (Friday) is a blue
moon—a second full moon in one month.
It’s hard to say if the week
really was hectic or if it was the prospect of the vacation/break that made it
seem so frantic.
Monday began with fog that
gradually lifted. Mike took out a Pirate
Cruise on the Ruth. Then we brought the
Cotinga into the dock. We had a family party of six for the three-hour lunch
trip. They arrived with their dog. I have to confess to being a bit surprised by
this. As we may have discussed earlier,
six people in the cockpit often seems at tad crowded. As they were all one group, we relented and
let them bring the dog. There was no
wind so we motored up to Ridley Cove and anchored for lunch. While we were serving lunch some wind sprang
up from the south. So we set off through
a narrow channel into Quahog Bay, putting up the sails and motor-sailing south.
We turned to the east to return toward Sebasco when the fog rolled back over
us. It seemed that some fog was still
present out over the open water and the southerly breeze carried it into our
sailing area. We returned to Sebasco
without incident.
Later that evening, Mike had
a sunset cruise on the Ruth. I was
getting dinner ready and realized that it was nearly 8 pm and I didn’t see the
Ruth approaching the dock. Then I
spotted the launch going out rapidly toward the navigation buoys that mark the
entrance to Sebasco Harbor. In short
order I saw the Ruth appear and tie up to the dock. Strangely though, I spotted Mike coming
toward Cotinga in the dinghy without having moved the Ruth off the dock. Once he got on board, he explained that the
engine of the Ruth had been making some loud squealing noises during the
trip. These sounds were loud enough to
prompt Mike to look into the engine compartment (with the passengers on board). Nothing appeared amiss to the casual inspection. However just as they were approaching the red
marker off Sebasco, the engine cut out leaving the boat drifting toward a
lobster pot marker. A radio call to
Ellin had prompted her to bring the launch out in case they needed
assistance. By changing the fuel feed to
the second tank, Mike was able to re-start the engine and get the boat to the
dock. He left the Ruth tied up to the
dock to allow the mechanics to get started on the repair the next morning.
Luckily for the resort,
Tuesday is an “all Cotinga” day. That
allowed the chaps from the “repairatorium” to sort out the engine problems.
Meanwhile, we had all three Cotinga trips booked. The lunch trip was to be a party of four—the
Knuckles (who had been out before) and their friends from Florida. However, once again, the fog rolled in as the
southerly breeze got started. So the
lunch trip was cancelled. In the
afternoon we took out Parker (who is working on the dock over the summer) and
his girlfriend. At short notice Cherie
(from the gift shop) showed up and came out with us. The sky was quite threatening with dark
clouds heralding a thunderstorm. We had
a brief shower followed by diminishing winds but we didn’t let that stop us. Fortunately the storm moved off to the west
and we were able to go out for a nice sunset sail with two parties—a couple and
family with three-year old twins. I kept
thinking that if the couple were expecting a quiet, romantic sail, they might
have been disappointed.
Wednesday was a busy day for
the Ruth. The schedule called for two trips, morning and early afternoon but a
private sunset cruise had been added to the schedule. The Cotinga afternoon sail had been moved to
earlier (3:30 to 5:30) in the afternoon to allow Mike time to fit in this extra
trip, starting at 6:30. The change over
time was short but do-able if everything went smoothly and to time. However, it seemed that no one notified our
sailing clients off the schedule change. The front desk was able to contact
them and arrange for them to meet us on the dock at 4 pm. Mother nature wasn’t done messing with us
though. Just as they arrived a squall
hit with torrential rain and we agreed to postpone until 4:30. We would be able to take them out for an hour
and a half sail. Just then Ellin came up
to say that the dock was moving strangely possibly because one of the lines
hold it may have loosened up. She asked
us to get Cotinga off the dock so that we weren’t putting more stress on the
dock. Out to the mooring we went in the
downpour. At 4:30 the squall was clearly
over, Mike went to the dock on the launch to talk to our clients. Ellin brought them all back on the
launch. We went sailing with a gentle
breeze and lovely clearing skies.
Thursday morning found the
repair crew back on the dock, this time trying to fix the broken bracket
holding the ramp to the dock. (If you
recall this had been broken earlier in the summer when a large cruise boat had
docked as part of a wedding event). This
welding was accomplished in time for the Ruth trip at 10:30. Cotinga had a four-hour afternoon sail with
six people. One party was a family of
four from San Francisco. They were
having a vacation/college tour trip (for the daughter) around New England. The father, Todd, had suffered a stroke
several years earlier and had some difficulty getting aboard the boat. The other pair was a couple from Virginia
Beach. They had been on a business trip
to Boston and decided to head up to Maine to avoid the heat wave. Bill had worked for General Dynamics and had
visited the Bath Iron Works many times, without getting time to explore the
area. So he and his wife Ruthie had
decide to come to Sebasco for a few days.
The forecast called for 10 knots of breeze from the Southeast. We decided to head for Jewel Island in Casco
Bay. Once we got to the outer islands,
the winds seemed quite light and the swell was considerable. Diana, the daughter of the family confessed
to being very prone to seasickness. This,
combined with the slow speed we were making, suggested that we head to the tip
of Bailey Island and then head northward along Bailey and Orr’s Islands and
then back east to Sebasco. The wind
continued to build with significant gusts as we sailed along. One strong gust caused Diana to shriek as the
boat heeled over. Rather than reef (a
process that creates a certain amount of commotion in the cockpit), we chose to
ease the sails and carry on. We were
back off Sebasco a tad on the early side and decided to take an excursion into
West Point. Sadly, that was directly
into the wind and we chickened out of trying to tack our way there. We motor-sailed to the entrance to West Point
and then through the heavily potted area and back to Sebasco. By the time we got to the dock the wind was
really strong from the south. That
combined with a powerboat at the north end of the dock, made for a
nerve-wracking landing. However, Mike
managed it well. Our clients
dis-embarked with onto the tossing dock with some difficulty. The trip out to the mooring was also made more
difficult by the gusty wind. By the time
we had the boat squared away, the wind was easing.
We had a lovely meal in the
Pilot House restaurant to celebrate our anniversary (a few days early). After returning to the boat, no one had any
ambition to start packing. This morning
it was packing, clearing the fridge and buttoning up the boat for our
mini-break. Mike and I drove to the
airport in Boston for his flight to Italy. He is going to his niece’s wedding
on the shores of Lake Garda. I’m going
to have a few days catching up with myself at home.
