Available books are not on the best seller's list today, but many once
were. The selection is incredible. Two or three four foot shelves
are dedicated to Stephen King, a Mainer. The library even has DVDs
for sale. Charmed's library now includes six Dirk Pitt novels, gotten
for fifty cents or a dollar a piece.
Given we depart for Provincetown probably Tuesday, we thought we just
might get out of Maine without a hitch. It was bad thinking. While
sailing from Camden to Tenants Harbor yesterday afternoon in a field
of too many lobster pots we misjudged one that we should have given a
wider berth. Once passed the point of being able to do anything
different we watched and hoped the orange and yellow buoy would pop up
behind us. It didn't. The pot slowed us from a bit over six knots to
a bit over five knots, and you could see line trailing taut behind at
a depth of about four feet. Before we could douse some sails and slow
or stop we collected a few more pots on the line from the first one.
Once slowed, basically drifting, we pulled and pushed on the line with
a boat hook, first with the rudder full to one stop, then full to the
other stop, and then everywhere in between. But we were pretty much
anchored. It would take more than working off the swim platform.
While the water was not as cold as expected it does take your breath
away for a moment. Once off the swim platform and into the water, we
were on our way again in minutes.
Only a few more days of having our track look like an irregular zigzag
stitch at the end of the day . . . .
For one thing, Belfast has the WICKED LOW PRICE TWIN LOBSTER DINNER,
at the restaurant at the public landing, $19.95. And the lobsters are
normal one and a quarter pounders, not chicken lobsters.
A second and third thing, both a laundry and propane are just blocks
from the dinghy.
And it goes on. Tonight was the Belfast Summer Nights concert in the
street. Tomorrow is the farmer's market.
Mt Desert is fabulous! Cadillac Mountain was the highlight. We hiked up the North Ridge to the top, altitude 1530 feet. Then we "hiked" down the West Face. While we came off the mountain with no broken bones and just a few scratches, the "hike" down the mountain could not be described any other way, it was extreme. The rangers of Acadia National Forest need to better protect ignorant visitors, like us, from ourselves. Somehow they need to make it more clear these well known and well advertised trails are more than just hikes, which is what the ranger at the ranger station told us they were. Our final inquiry about coming down the West Face was to an older couple who had struggled up the North Ridge. They dismissed questions about the West Face with a, well, we did it a couple of years ago. For us the trip up was great exercise. The trip down scared us some. Kinda like a solid blue skier getting stuck on a double black diamond trail.
These two pictures are back up what we just came down. They don't do justice to what we were climbing down.
For those of you who ask why we didn't just go back up and down the North Ridge, which was strenuous but not extreme. The trail became more and more precarious as we went down. By the time we were concerned we thought we were almost done. Another thing the rangers need to address, distance markers. The West Face might be 0.9 miles straight down, but you can't go straight down, unless you are rappelling.
The Whidbey Island is a Navy ship 609 feet long, that takes Marines, equipment and gear to the beach. In the Navy's words, the Navy provides a boat, bacon, beans and bandaids. In the picture above Debbie is at the wheel, which is only about 12 inches in diameter, smaller than any car's wheel.
The Suburban is moving about 10 miles per hour, while the go carts zing over about 25 mph.
The different watches had names:
2000 2400 FIRST WATCH
2400 0400 MIDDLE WATCH
0400 0800 MORNING
0800 1200 FORENOON
1200 1600 AFTERNOON
1600 1800 FIRST DOG WATCH
1800 2000 SECOND DOG WATCH
The two Dog Watches compressed the period available for dinner or
supper. The Dog Watches also shifted the time that sailors would
stand watch so sailors wouldn't stand watch the same time every day,
day in and day out.
Regarding legal to keep, you can't keep the too small, the too big, egg bearing females, and females that have a V notch in their tail. If you trap an egg bearing female you are required to put a V notch in her tail. You can tell if a lobster is female by the shape and hardness of her swimmerettes. But, if you catch a female, and she is not bearing eggs, and she does not have a V notch in her tail, and she is the right size, she is food!
The largest lobster Ryan and Maine DMR know of was 100 years old, 44
lbs. The largest lobster now on display is 28 lbs and mid fifties
years old:
As Jim of Grand Adventure professes, all electrical problems are mechanical. Once settled on a mooring in Boothbay Harbor, a tug here and a tug there, until one red wire tugged apart. There are two 10 AWG wires connected to the positive terminal of the alternator. One was doomed from the beginning. The original crimp of its terminal had cut most of the strands of the wire. The balance had worked almost through. Renewing that terminal had amps flowing both ways again, into and out of the battries.
Not R Time
Not Keep on Truckin
The blue sign is the speed limit and wake rule in plain view. By the way, the four hundred horsepower center cockpit flying by at about 40 mph went by too fast for a picture.
Today we have to wait until 11:00 am to leave Onset for Plymouth. The
current of the Cape Cod Canal turns east then. It is difficult for
early risers to let the best part of the morning go by laying at
anchor, when we intend to travel. However, we were up at 05:30, off
anchor at 06:30 for the Point Independence Yacht Club fuel dock. We
arrived exactly when Captain Steve was raising his OPEN sign. After
taking on fuel and water and offloading a little trash we went back
out to anchor. We are laying on a scope of about 2:1, making flan,
chillaxing for a bit longer. We are looking forward to seeing The
Rock and the Mayflower II.
This guy could not have missed the sign. There is one at every point of access to the beach here in Onset. This guy was even acting sentry, probably wondering when he would be chased off the beach.
(This only goes to show, don't ever give us badges and the authority to issue fines.)
Talisman, IP 420.78, with Kathy and Rodger and dog Pepper have shown
up next to us here in Wickford, and it looks like we will have a
traveling partner as we harbor hop to Maine.
The Canal is about 7 nautical miles long, so in slack water it would
take us a bit over an hour to get through it. With maximum current we
would be through in about forty minutes. Against maximum current it
would take over four hours. (For you purists, we recognize you
wouldn't have maximum current for this length of time.) Charmed
intends to enter the Canal at Slack before Flood.
CANAL ARMY CORE OF ENGINEERS (This site seems broken.)
What was amazing, was discovering Carey Colwell's Upwind Cutter
Cruising, CCUCC for short. For CCUCC, set the staysail and main, trim
for upwind sailing, and just go. You move along nicely. No sail
controls have to be touched as you tack toward home. Note the
autopilot will even drive and tack for you.
While learning and practicing CCUCC for Charmed, I worked on the sails
for longer than usual, adjusting all sail controls from average
settings to precise settings to make sure the boat was performing
well. I was thrilled. The boat sailed 35 degrees apparent at good
speed. A bit more off the wind would probably give the best VMG but I
forgot to test. I was too thrilled with the sailing to remember to
look at the electronics.
Now to test CCUCC in various wind, and determine best VMG . . . .
