Catching up June 17 -19, 2015

Wednesday morning was sunny and breezy.  We had an early start for a charter at 9:00 am.

Despite the northerly winds, the docking went well.  We met Gene and Joann on the dock, they live near Worcester and were at Sebasco for a vacation.  We had a fast sail out to Orr’s Island, tacked around and came back on a more southerly route.  We threaded our way through the gap between Blacksnake ledge and Ragged Island and carried on in a southeasterly direction until we could turn north toward Sebasco without crossing any ledges. (Overall we took a very similar route to the shown in the blog for Sunday June 14th).  The big difference was that with northerly winds we were now tacking to windward with Gene at the wheel.  The whole sail went well and the docking maneuvers also went smoothly.

In the late afternoon, Mike was slated to take the Ruth out with a private charter group.  This left us with a large chunk of time in the middle of the day—just perfect for doing laundry.  We went to shore with the dirty washing and our showering kit.  After showering in the gym building we started the laundry and read our books while waiting.  We were back on Cotinga with clean laundry by about 2 pm.

Mike took out his charter group (a company outing type of thing).  They brought along a cooler full of drinks!  That was quite a different thing from the standard Scenic Tour on the Ruth. 

Everything went well but our early start and full day left us pretty tired.

Thursday:

Mike had a morning trip on the Ruth.  I went to shore to help with the lines when he brought the boat into the dock.  That trip went smoothly. Over the course of the day the wind continued to build.  By afternoon the forecast was predicting 18 knots of wind from the south-southeast with gusts to 25. 

As luck would have it we had a sunset sail booked for 6 pm!  We tried all afternoon to get in touch with our clients but cell phone coverage is not terrific here and we never reached them.  Mike and I were thinking that we should just cancel or rearrange for Friday evening.  However when Mike met the clients on the dock, they had other ideas!  So under these windy conditions, with no one to catch our lines, we brought the boat into the dock.  We set off happily, thinking the docking was likely to be the worst of it.  Once we put up the mainsail we took in a reef.  Our plan was to sail with the reefed main only.  However, after a while it seemed that we weren’t making good progress.  We looked up at the sail and noticed that the reefing line had come untied.  This was lending an absolutely hideous shape to the mainsail.  We partially unfurled the genoa and tried to sail on that while Mike wrestled with the main to take in the second reef. We carried on as best we could but true sailors might have been horrified.  Part way back, Bill (the client) started to feel a bit seasick as a result of the swell.  Thankfully we managed to re-gain the harbor without further problems.  The docking went quite well considering how poor the conditions were.

Of course the mooring pick-up was also fraught with difficulties....We passed another bumpy night.

Friday was supposed to be a free day.  We started out with showers on land and then decided to bring the boat into the dock to pump out the holding tank.  First we had to find the maintenance chap who opened the dock house for us.  Then a lot of fooling around with switches allowed up to power up the pumping apparatus.  The docking went well and we were soon tied up on the unusual starboard side (needed to get the hose to the waste pipe).  After more fooling around we found the correct sized hose end and were ready to get started.  Mike was going to work the hose end on the boat.  My job was to turn the pump-out station on.  We got started.  After a short while I heard a noise and notice some liquid bubbling out of the hose that takes the waste to the storage tank.  Exercising caution, I moved to the other side of the dock.  Over the next few minutes this bubbling turned into a veritable shower all over the dock and one kayak that was tied up nearby.  We shut the system down and tried to duct tape the hose.  We manage to finish up pump out without further showering of the dock.  Liberal application of the hose removed the mess from the dock.  We even rinsed out the kayak and turned it over to drain.  

Once order was restored, a lady appeared asking if Mike was the captain of the Ruth.  She said that a private group wanted to go out in the afternoon but she had been unable to get in touch with the dock master.  We agreed to do the trip, with me acting as crew on the Ruth.  Our “free day” was suddenly looking a bit busy.  The trip went smoothly and we returned to Cotinga to sort out the reefing lines and get ready for the party.

A few months back a lady from Massachusetts had asked us to run some charters for a group of her friends who would be coming up to Maine for a celebratory weekend.  We agreed to do these charters and were thus invited to the party this evening.  This woman has a connection to the Sebasco Harbor resort and owns a part share in a cottage on the waterfront nearby.  For a number of reasons she is selling her share in the cottage and is throwing a big “end of an era” party.  It’s a lovely cottage in a stunning location.  We met some of the people who will be coming out with us tomorrow.   

A foggy day

A foggy day   …   Tuesday 16^th June 2015

We awoke this morning to almost dead calm conditions, fog and alight drizzle. We went ashore for showers and then had banana pancakes for breakfast ( roll on Jack Johnson). The 10.30am scenic tour on the Ruth was cancelled because of an absence of customers and so I jumped in the dinghy and took off with my camera to “West Point”, a harbor about a mile south of Sebasco. It was a fun trip – beautiful location in foggy, atmospheric conditions and I cruised around in the “Dumb Dog” for about an hour taking pictures.  Gloria spent the time on land ironing pieces of fabric for a quilt that she is working on whilst on the boat. As the day progressed the weather deteriorated and it rained most of the afternoon, so we spent the time hanging out on board, working up photos and reading. This evening we had Phil Ludee and his daughter Catie over for dinner. Phil works on tug boats out of Philadelphia, but has been Captain of the “Ruth” for many years and also ran sailing charters on the “Magic” until a couple of years ago. This year his commitments down in Philadelphia have increased and so he is happy to have someone else step in and take on some of the responsibility for the “Ruth”. Phil has been a great help to us both this year and last. Catie is in college, but at home over the summer and is working at a local restaurant “Anna’s”. It was great to have them both come over. We ate shrimp and chicken scampi with pasta, salad and damson crumble. Tomorrow we must be up early as we have a sailing charter scheduled for 9am!

Mike

West Point - panorama looking northwards back towards Sebasco

The docks at West Point - the red roofed building is the dock where we bring the Ruth for fuel.

Boats of various sorts in the harbor

Looking south beyond the narrow and shallow channel off West Point

The bright colors of this red skiff stood out in the fog

Smelling, smelling, smelling--15 June 2015

Monday dawned cool and cloudy.  Just as we were started our breakfast, the rain began.  Mike was scheduled to meet Phil on the dock.  The plan was to take the 'Ruth' over to West Point where they sell diesel fuel. (something about West Point in Maine amuses me.)   As soon as we tied up the dinghy we met Phil.  We clambered aboard the Ruth for the hop to the fuel dock—just a short way south of Sebasco.  After returning the Ruth to her mooring, we retreated to Cotinga to wait out the weather.

Mike was writing some checks and I thought it would be the perfect time to get out the sewing machine.  We got the inverter fired up and set up the machine on the dining table.  All was going well.  Mike, having finished with the bill paying, was cooking up some collard greens.  The aroma of the bacon, onions and collard greens filled the cabin, prompting thoughts of lunch.  Mike whipped up some grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and announced that lunch was ready.  I shut off the sewing machine and scooted around the side of the table to eat.  After a few minutes, there was a crackling sound and smoke started emanating from the sewing machine.  I quickly unplugged it, while Mike shut off the inverter.  I’m not sure who was more distraught.  We finished our sandwiches glumly, then set about trying to figure out what had happened to my Elna.  (This was a second hand machine that we bought specifically to bring along on the boat!)

After studying the casing for screws we took off the top plate and managed to prize open the side of the machine.  Nothing obviously looked amiss.  After disconnecting some wires we were able to take the end piece off the machine.  The copper coils of the motor looked fine.  Nothing was obviously wrong with either the motor or the circuit board, although both parts smelled strongly of burning electrical wiring.  At a loss, we reconnected everything and plugged it back in.  Much to my astonishment, the sewing machine seemed to work just fine.  Maybe time will tell...

We went ashore to run some errands and to escape the indescribable conjunction of collard greens and burning insulation.  There’s just no end to the smells that boat living throws at you

All in a Day’s Work …   Sat 13th – Sun 14^th June

This was the first weekend of our season up at Sebasco Harbor, although the summer season doesn’t start until next Sunday. At the outset we knew there were two 10.30am – 12 noon “Scenic tours” scheduled for the “Ruth”, but nothing in the books for “Cotinga”. We were a little concerned that our efforts to be open about timing might be interpreted as nothing scheduled by the front desk, and so we have been working with them to try and make sure people know we are open for business. As it turned out we didn’t have any bookings for Saturday afternoon but we did run our first sailing charter for the year this afternoon. 

Our mornings typically start with coffee and breakfast and then we go ashore to take showers in the sports center. It sounds leisurely but somehow it ended up feeling very rushed on both days as Mike needed to be ready for about 9.30am to bring the “Ruth” in to the dock. Taking the "Ruth" off her mooring and bring her into the dock seemed to go reasonably well – although definitely room for improvement. One challenge at the minute is our outboard motor, which despite being very reliable in the past, is proving a little hard to start and to keep running at idling speeds. This means that Gloria either has to stay on "Cotinga" whilst I am off running tours on the Ruth, or stay on land, as she can’t reliably re-start the outboard to make trips to and from our mooring. We have fresh spark plugs ordered.

Anyway, the Saturday morning trip on the "Ruth" went fine and we were left with a free afternoon and drove in to Bath to re-provision. Whilst we were out a large vessel had come into the dock to take a wedding party (~100 people) out for a cruise. When we returned we had to wait to go down the gang-plank to the dock as all of the wedding party dis-embarked. Things were going remarkably slowly with staff only allowing two people up at a time. We wondered why this was, but waited patiently (another first for me!). When our time came, we realized that the ~30 ft gang-plank was listing slightly and that half of the supports at the top were broken.  With the tide out and maybe a 12ft drop to the dock it was a little spooky walking down. We later found out that the ships Captain hit the dock a little hard and broke the upper supports! Not only that, but when the dock-master complained the ship’s Captain was very rude about her on the open radio! Having finally got our provisions back to the boat, I was feeling a little restless so decided to go up the mast to spray lubricant on the sail track, which had been a little sticky. Gloria hauled me up in the bosun’s chair all the way to the very top (59ft above the water). At this point I figured out there must be more swell in the anchorage than I realized. I'm doing a fair impression of a human metronome and starting to feel quite unwell. Once back on deck I didn’t feel much better. Gloria cooked a wonderful meatloaf for dinner, which I didn’t appreciate as much as normal and shortly thereafter I took two meclizine tablets, went to bed and passed out for the next 12 hours in a drug-induced slumber.

When we went to shore this morning the resort had a fork-lift truck at the top of the dock lifting up the broken gang-plank and all was welded back together 30 minutes later. The scheduled trip on the “Ruth” went fine and then this afternoon we had a first paying charter of the year.  Gloria describes the afternoon …

Our client was Albert a young man from Beverley Hills. He was in Maine looking at properties with a view to purchasing a home.  If I understood it correctly he works for a consulting firm in the retail promotion part of the fashion/clothing design industry.  Whatever it was, it was a long way from either sailing or chemistry so I might have got that slightly wrong ... but whatever, he was a lovely man.

Thankfully the lull in the wind that occurred around noon was just a reflection of the north wind giving way to southwesterly breezes.  Taking the boat into the dock went smoothly.  Albert arrived and we set off.  Our departure was somewhat more problematic as the wind was pushing us onto the dock.  Ellin, who was managing the dock today, was a great help pushing the boat out.  Then we were off.  Once out of the harbor, the winds were good.  We set off on a reach to the west, moving along very nicely.  Albert was delighted to take a shift at the helm.  We soon arrived at our standard turn around point the two hour cruise.  The sailing was so perfect that we decided to make more of a loop-trip.  We tacked around and headed slightly southeast to pass between Blacksnake Ledge and Ragged Island.  Turning ENE we made our way back toward Sebasco.  We haven’t yet had the courage to sail all the way into the harbor, but maybe some day soon we’ll try that.  Our landing was once again assisted by Ellin and we dropped Albert at the dock about 4pm. We quickly exited and headed back to our mooring for a fine cup of tea and a peaceful evening.

We are delighted to have our first charter of the year successfully under our belts. We have a sunset cruise scheduled for 6 people on Tuesday and two trips scheduled for 6 people next Saturday. So things are starting to get busy. If we approach anything like our published schedule then we are going to be running around like “blue-arsed flies” … (no idea where that expression comes from – but it’s one mike grew up with!)

The view from our home ... looking south from our mooring, stupendous views but limited protection from southerly winds and swells

The waterfront at Sebasco Harbor Resort ... looking east from our mooring

Cotinga .on the mooring ... looking northwards 

 The route we took on todays charter ... in an anti-clockwise direction