Latitudes and Attitudes Magazine has published my follow-up article to the Coast of Maine Favs.

The my favs of adventuring into the Bay of Fundy  is in the just-released Jan/Feb issue.

Check it out online or even better, pick up a copy.

Spending the weekend in Pulpit Harbor

Magazine article published

Latitudes and Attitudes is publishing my article on Favorite Harbors.

sv Oriane is launching June 6 for another summer of cruising along the coast o'Maine.

Shorelines

 Shorelines are a seemingly unchanging constant in the human time span.

For the mariner, shorelines offer both refuge and danger. The interface between soft and hard, safety and disaster.

Carefully approached shorelines provides refuge from the storm, safe harbor from wind and waves. Shorelines presents danger from unseen, unforgiving land both subsurface and above the tide line.

Charted knowledge present safe harbor for the attentive.

There’s a stillness in the world of Pulpit Harbor this fine Sunday morning broken only by bird song, the crinkle of an eagle’s feathers as he hunts along the shoreline and the low rumble of April Brown’s lobster boat as she gets ready for a morning of setting traps.

Yesterday’s weather is over the horizon and the morning dawns clear as the Sun warms the cockpit. The water is glassy with the tall masts of the schooner Stephen Tabor reflecting on the surface from where she is anchored nearby.

It’s time for coffee.

 Spring Commissioning for Oriane

Highlighted tasks are completed 

First Tasks

Cover off

Batteries hooked up and charged

Interior cleaned and straightened up

get rid of mold & absorbant stuff

Dodger and bimini installed

Solar panel hooked up

Engine commissioned

tape waterline

Bottom paint

New zincs installed

Interior teak oiled

cushions off and delivered to cleaner

get cockpit cushions

Clean under galley sink

Clean bilge – inspect hoses and pump

Hull waxed

Hot water heat exchanger valves

clear tank vents

Water system flushed and filled

Before Launch

Distance log reset to zero

Check safety gear - update as necessary

Documentation on board

Post launch

Personal gear onboard - PFD, Foulies, etc

get sails & bent-on

Zinc in Heat Exchanger 9/16” nut

Deck cleaned

As possible

Re-bed deck fittings

Service winches

Clean cockpit lockers and rearrange gear

horn for hailer

Replace nav lights with LED’s

Replace Deck lights with LED’s

Redo teak deck

 

Inner Winter Harbor on Vinalhaven is a spectacular place but a bit more challenging to get into without local knowledge. Follow your chart, watch your depth sounder and you’ll find a good place to anchor. I particularly like the 9 foot spot on the chart near the bridge over the Mill River. Great holding and very secure from storms. Best advice is to follow the lobster pots in the narrow section just before the anchorage.  

This is how I have taken my boats all the way in to the old quarry derrick: after passing the large cliff face at a narrowing part of Winter Harbor, stay close to land on your starboard side to avoid the 2 foot spot on your chart. You might see the kelp marking the spot. Then make a large arching turn keeping the 2’ spot to port. Ahead you will see a passage between rocks. Follow the lobster pots, your depth sounder and your charts. You will now be at the really cool well protected 9’  spot that has good holding. The road bridge to the north is a good place to head with your dinghy as it is provides shore access at high tide to get some shoreside exercise. High tide, otherwise muddy. You can also take your dinghy under the bridge as tide allows to gain access to Seal Cove. I would favor a rising tide to start such an exploration as you wouldn't want to have Mill River to go dry while you're on the far side.

If you wish to proceed to the head of navigation, try it on a rising tide and watch the mud flats.  There is a triangular rock on your starboard side as you follow close aboard the western shore. Use that  rock and the bench on the quarry across the water on your port bow as a range that will get you through the mussel beds with water under your keel. Anchor bow and stern or send lines ashore to old iron pins.