Chip Ahoy's 2008 Maine Cruise
“Seafaring” to Chebeague Island, Casco Bay, Maine

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Description

Michael Sullivan drove down from Haverhill in the afternoon and provided a much needed hand loading up Chip Ahoy with its cruising gear.  He and I lugged the boxes and bags from my Blazer up on the street while  Barbara watched over the vehicle and stuff yet to be carried down and loaded.  I'd brought the boat in from its mooring and tied up at the Village Street town dock for the loading party.  (Jul. 25)

By 5:30 pm Chip Ahoy was fully loaded and ready to go.  My plan, as I've done often before, was to get out to the cove on Misery Island and borrow a mooring for the night, so I could get an early start the next morning.  I was soon on my way, to the waves of farewell from the dock.

Out at Misery Island, the cove was pretty full of moored boats.  While most of them would be gone come sunset, it offered little room inside.  I took an empty outside mooring for the night and settled in, organizing the cabin better after all the new stuff Michael and I brought aboard and just sort of piled up.

The next morning Chip Ahoy and I were underway, destination:  Rockport, up and around Cape Ann.  I didn't get the early start I'd planned; didn't drop the mooring until 9:00 am.  Oh well, the trip was a relatively short leg, about 21 nautical miles (nm).  In the photo, I'm approaching Thatchers Island at the tip of the Cape.  (Jul. 26)

The helmsman's position with my navigation tools at hand:  The chart, GPS on its mount, and a cold drink within reach in its gimbaled holder.

Across from my position and also within reach are the tiller pilot, life vest, and sailing gloves.

While going around Thatchers Island with its twin lighthouses, a large dirigible passed overhead in the distance.

Chip Ahoy and I reached Rockport Harbor at 3:30 pm, where the town harbormaster helped me dock for the night, with the famous Motif #1 again as the backdrop, just as it was last year when I stayed here for a night.

The next morning I awoke to rain still.  I had begun last night, so I was grateful I'd put up the pup-tent, initially for shade, and had to close the forward hatch.  The weather forecast sounded bad, so I arranged to spend another night.  (Jul. 27)

Confined to the cabin, I attached the new CCRadio's small solar panel to the starboard side forward window to keep the radio's lithium battery charged.  Beneath are (left to right) the box containing my cruising guide, books and notebook, and a bunch of electronics charging adapters brought aboard just for the cruise.  Next to the box is my seabag that always comes aboard with me, containing among other things the two handheld GPS units, my knife, the handheld VHF radio, a change of clothes (either warmer if I'm wearing shorts, or cooler if I'm wearing jeans).

I was on my way to Portsmouth, NH the next morning, a 37 nm trip, so got an early 7:00 am start.  Along the route a band of something aquatic stretched as far as the eye could see from shoreline to horizon ahead of Chip Ahoy.  We sailed easily through it, though it had given me pause when I first sighted it.  (Jul. 28)

I reached Prescott Park's city dock at about 5:00 pm with a mild current much to my satisfaction and gratitude.  There were no other boats or anyone in sight to lend a hand tying up, had the current been racing -- as was my experience in the past when additional hands were welcomed, and desperately needed.  Michael Sullivan came over and we went out for dinner, then picked up a couple gallons of gas to top off Chip Ahoy's working tank.

Chip Ahoy sits lonely at the Prescott Park (Portsmouth, NH)  town dock, waiting for the current so we can be on our way. (Jul. 29)

The gardens of Prescott Park in early morning sunlight.