The Moon, The Water and Good Friends

Good morning,

Here are picture of Linda Jean and Linda Jean to start today's post.

 She hated being around water, she didn't like being in the sun because she burned easily but she loved being in a warm climate.

In spite of all of her dislikes, I believe that she would be thrilled with her name sake and appreciate the irony.

One of the shakedown cruises

Before anyone leaves for a big trip there should be many shake down cruises. Webster defines shakedown as, thorough search of a person or place: harassment and shakedowns by persons in police uniforms. 

If you apply this to boating you can understand why it is called a shakedown cruise.

On the 25th of September we left for Castine it was a grey day but motoring was fun and the waters were calm. We stopped at a friends mooring on Beach Island,  if we had motored directly to Castine we would have arrived after dark.

Beach Island

On the 26th we spent the day with good friends touring Castine on land and water. That evening we picked up a mooring nearby and spent the night.  It was so gorgeous and take note of the glass like water and keep that in mind for later on in the weekend.

Little sailboats standing at attention with the State of Maine training vessel in the background

Sunset 

Moonrise 

Sunrise

I don't think that I gave you the details of our trip in November 2014 to bring our boat home from RI.  I know that I told you I was petrified.  I couldn't get my "sea legs,"  had on slippery socks, was trying to stop the water from seeping through a plugged gutter in the window that was spewing water on the teak and cushions on the settee.  I looked at the other people on the boat and they looked composed and focused on the task at hand.  At one point I asked for a life jacket because I was sure that we were going to... suffice to say I wondered what I was thinking!  I don't know how high the seas were but high!

I bring this up now to put our trip back to Rockland on the 27th in perspective. We started out for home port in manageable waters and traveled between 7 and 8 knots. When we were further into Penobscot Bay the seas were rough so we slowed to 5-6 knots. On the trip home we had nearly 4 foot seas and strong winds of 20 knots. I am proud to say that I was at the helm the entire time.  I wish it could have been "smooth sailing" but what is important is the change in my comfort level since we first were introduced to Linda Jean. 

Spicy, Down and Dirty and Yum

September 23, 2015

I really should be filling spice jars to take with us but I wanted to talk to you instead.

We have all had someone say, "Do you want the good news or the bad news first?" well I have decided it for you.  Here is the down and dirty.

DO NOT be eating when you read this.

I learned a new word this week-guano, if you don't know what it is you might want to look it up or scroll down for the pictures.  In this case I am talking about gull guano as it relates to our boat. One gull after another found our boat to be a nice gathering place and nothing seemed to work to deter them from using our boat to land on. AND cleaning it off is a full time job hours and hours of work did not fully clean the guano off. You can decide for yourself if this qualifies for the bad news.

Canvas had to be removed.  Here is Rob's detail of what happened with the fly bridge canvas.  

"John LeMole of Gemini Marine Canvas and I removed the canvas and side walls from Linda Jean in just a few minutes. John wet down the canvas and prepared a solution for me to use with a stiff brush. Since the brush was much too small, I had to get a bigger brush to do the work. Constant soaking with the hose and brushing with the solution produced decent results after a while. The canvas was rinsed, folded, finished (sometime) more and carried into John's building to dry overnight. It will be shipped to Connecticut and be commercially cleaned and since Sunbrella is not by itself waterproof, it will be treated. Should be back in a week or so. We talked about waiting until moments before we leave to put everything back on the boat."

My beautiful boat has been christened.  I was thinking more along the lines of champagne.

My dear hubby at work.

Now you can eat.

Rob and I had this idea of bread making on the boat a kinda crazy idea!  We bought a simple bread machine and while anchored in Seal Bay we tried it out.

Slathered with butter we enjoyed hot bread in the middle of Inner, Inner Seal Bay.

Today I am making whole wheat bread to see how the machine does with that.

Seal Bay

I have lots to tell you about “In the Beginning” but first I want to tell you about today.  Rob and I are on an anchor in Seal Bay on Vinalhaven.  The trip out was spectacular.  The water moved with currents no wind. I was at the helm for the 3 hours it took to get here following Garmin chart plotter and Blue Charts.  I am starting to understand a little bit about the way they work.  It is about 80 plus or minus degrees and clear skies the next few days promises to be the same.  Can you believe I heard people complain because it was suppose to be cooler this time of year?  

It was a bit nerve racking to get into the bay and after some zigging and zagging we found our way through the rocky places.  After settling on the site to anchor we met another challenge.  I was at the helm while Rob dropped anchor and out the anchor came.  The anchor chain jammed as it came out of the locker and once the links were unjammed the windlass overheated and wouldn’t work at all. We found out that there is an auto shut-off when it over heats, but we were a little miffed about how we were going to get home if we couldn’t raise the anchor.  Now we know about our anchor and hopefully know what to do next time.

There were 3 other cruisers in the bay no rocking or rolling during the night just a nice place to be.  We understand that there is a place to hike and nice places to go with the dinghy but we stayed put taking care of boat chores.

Here are some charts showing where we are.  

          

               In this chart you can see Vinalhaven and North Haven

         This one is of the Fox Islands Thorofare that runs between Vinalhaven and North Haven.

 

                  This chart shows a close up of Inner Inner Seal Bay and gives you a sense of the winding through the                 

                    rocky areas that presented a challenge for us.

                         

                   I like this ariel photo because it gives you a pretty pictures of Seal Bay. We were not in  
                   outer Seal Bay but anchored in "Inner Inner Seal Bay".
                          

In the beginning

In the fall of 2014 Rob and I decided that we would buy a trawler for traveling the Intracoastal Waterway.  I had no experience with boating on the ocean and Rob had some.  It was just a dream that we had and I had no idea what I was agreeing to.  Rob worked countless hours learning about the boat from every source imaginable.  I have so much respect for how he has tackled this adventure for us.  I on the other hand, had no point of reference to know how to even think about such an undertaking.

The summer of 2015 was an emotional roller coaster for me, therefore Rob.  I had no idea how petrified I would be on the "big pond".  We encountered one thing after another.  New instruments needed to be tweaked, but most of the time we didn't find out about it until we were out in Penobscot Bay. There were so many times I could swear we were going to be found shipwrecked on ledges. The trip from RI in November 2014 was overwhelming with high seas and cold.  It was not a pleasure trip but a fast trip to get our "new to us" trawler to Stonington, Maine for a winter of work.  I can go into detail about all of the events that scared me to death but it will suffice to say I didn't think I would be ready emotional to hit the high seas.  There were many tears and doubts that I wouldn't be able to be on the boat for the winter.  I was very torn from absolute fear and wanting to help both of us do our dream.  I romanticized the whole idea and the reality hit me hard.

I worked very hard to tell myself that I could do it and we/I will make the trip starting in a few weeks.  I would never take this on if it wasn't for Sue and Paul coming along side of us in their own trawler.  Family and friends are priceless.

My intention is to keep you up to date on our travels.  I also feel fortunate that so many people are interested and excited for us and have asked for pictures and updates.