Saturday, August 15, 2009

Rockland to Drop Off Richard


The morning at Pickering Island was very warm. There was a ground fog that quickly burned off but resulted in some strange effects while it lasted. I shot a photo from the back of the boat showing both the sun through the fog and its reflection in the water, kind of pretty. We had a pointing wind last night so the guy next to us was not a problem. Richard took Hoolie for his morning walk on the beach and I took the opportunity to take a photo of the anchorage. There are no houses in view and the anchorage is well protected from the southwest, the prevailing wind in the summer. It's often used by windjammers for lobster bakes on the beach. However, it's possible to just use the mosquitoes "attached" to you to fly back to your boat!


We motored out of the anchorage and after about 30 minutes and Ann took over the helm in her perch on the port side. The GPS swivels so she can see the chart and she has a remote to control the autopilot when avoiding pots. It's most used when motoring, seldom when sailing.

Shortly, a southwest wind came up and we hoisted sail. We were able to sail the rest of the way to Rockland with the wind building to 13 to 15 kts! It was a glorious sail and so warm for Maine. The sea temperature read around 70 for most of the sail, a Maine bathtub! We did have one scare. I was busy watching out for lobster pots and missed seeing a sailboat coming from my blind side (the side with the jib out, obstructing my view in that direction). Suddenly I saw his bow appear awfully close but he cleared but then he was trailing a dink and I almost clipped it. We were close to the wind and the boat was tipped about 30 degrees. I had been ducking under the jib over the rail to look out but I somehow missed seeing him! It would have made a great photo op but then I was occupied at the time; I never seem to capture those moments...

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