Spring Fitting Out

These first warm days of spring bring out the superstitious side of sailors. The cry around the boatyards is: "If you take off the winter covers it's gonna snow!" It would be just like Maine to deliver up one more good blast of winter weather.

Spring is a wonderful time in New England boatyards. People crawl out of hibernation armed with toolboxes and paint buckets, lugging bags of gear and sharing genial banter about the season to come. Discussion of weather among boat people is inevitable. We risk becoming green with envy by checking out all the winter purchases of electronics and accessories. Most of all we are, to a person, filled with anticipation of adventures awaiting us.

For Whisper this year will bring cruises down east. From earlier posts you may remember that the New England coast tends north and east and with prevailing winds from the southwest. This means that, in sailing "up" the coast we are sailing downwind and east, hence "downeast".

It has been many years since I have explored the waters east of Mt. Desert (pronounced dessert) Island. The Schoodic Penninsula is a turning point. Not many yachts get east of here. Not many tourist traverse Route 1 this far east. The reward for those intrepid enough to venture this far downeast is a trip back in time.

It is important not to romanticize this time travel. The small outposts scattered along this coast were all dependent on fishing which, at the best of times, was a hard life. With the fish stocks depleted and few prospects for other work, families see whole generations of young people migrate away. Those that stay risk poverty, alcoholism and drug abuse. You can't eat scenery.

The only fishery that has sustained is lobstering. Yet the price of lobster is depressed to a point where fishermen work harder and harder for less and less.

For the itinerant sailor it creates the reward of pristine, uncrowded anchorages far from the hurly burly of yachting centers to the west. It is a more reflective kind of cruising, appealing to those who like the quieter pursuits.

Further to the east lies the Bay of Fundy and the Maritime Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Fundy is the bay of huge tides, 30 - 40 feet, and currents that make sailing an underpowered boat nearly impossible. Despite invitations to visit friends near Annapolis Royal, Whisper will forego Fundy for the southeast coast of Nova Scotia.

Yarmouth is the jumping off point for a Nova Scotia cruise, lying some 220 nautical miles from Portland. From there the major ports are Lunenberg and Halifax. Between lie some wonderful little harbors, awe inspiring scenery and warm, welcoming people.

Otherwise, Whisper will be moored off Willard Beach in South Portland. Her dinghy will be capsized on the beach, a mere 10 minute bicycle ride from "the hovel", a cottage tucked amongst the homes of working class and wealthy alike. Of an evening Whisper can slip her moorings and, in less than an hour's sail in any direction, have the anchor down by sunset. Morning light will see her home in time for the skipper to get to work.

This is the life that drew me downeast yet again.......This time for good and all.