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The first time I decided to go sailing on my own, I managed to convince a
handful of friends from college that it would be great fun to rent a little
Sunfish from the school and drive it out to one of the nearby lakes on the roof
of my weathered Datsun B210 hatchback and have an adventure in the sun and wind.
They asked if I knew anything about sailing and I replied with confidence "Sure! It's
a piece of cake!", when in truth, I'd never rigged a boat before in my life! We loaded
the boat on the roof, strapped it down and five of us crammed into the little car
and drove off down the road, bouncing and rattling all the way. After getting to the lake, we distributed all the ropes and poles and sails on the beach and with a little head scratching, we managed to figure out how all the pieces went together. When we were done, much to my amazement, it actually looked a little like a sailboat should! It didn't appear that I'd lost anyone's confidence (or perhaps we were so far into it that no one wanted to turn back) so off we went! After a few short excursions onto the water (mostly to make sure we weren't going to flip over on a regular basis), we all decided to climb onto the tiny craft and go for a sail around the lake. Now, if you've ever had any experience with a Sunfish, you can imagine how one of them might look with five guys from college stacked like chord wood on the deck (as small as it is!). We only rolled it once, and that was mainly because we weren't coordinated enough to make the move to the opposite side of the boat when we came about for the first time. Things got a little smoother after that. Toward the end of the day, when the sun began to dip lower, the wind died down and we suddenly found ourselves stranded on the opposite side of the lake, bobbing around with nothing but the centerboard to paddle home with. It turned out to be a longer day than any of us originally anticipated! What a great day that was! |
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Since that time, I discovered the excitement of sailing catamarans. These boats are fast! I've owned two of them over the years. I started with a 14 foot boat that I bought in MA and kept moored on a nearby lake. After that I found a beautiful 16 foot Hobie which was a joy to sail. This is the one in the photo. | ||
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For the past several years, I'd been looking for a boat that I could take out in the ocean. For so long, I've been on the shore looking out at the ocean, I thought it would be interesting to turn that perspective around and see what the shore might look like when viewed from the ocean. So here I am, at the mast of the Pearson Vangard I purchased in the spring of '08. It's a 32 foot fiberglass hull, built in 1965. It's a great boat, easy to handle, and takes wind and seas very well. I've spent a good deal of time on it making things ready for longer excursions along the Maine coast. | ||
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Here's what it looks like under sail. | ||
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And again. | ||
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The following are some photos of nearby sights. This is a shot of Owl's Head Light as seen from Penobscot Bay. | ||
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And this is the entrance to Rockland Harbor. The Rockland Light is built at the end of a mile long jetty, which you can see in the photo. It's a popular tourist attraction and folks walk out on the jetty to visit it in all sorts of weather! | ||
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This is another shot of Rockland Light in foggier weather. I love the mysterious feel that fog gives to a place. | ||
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This is a shot from another boat that sails out of Camden. Here we're looking aft past the masts. For me, there's something magical and romantic about the sea and especially being around some of these older wooden craft. The stories that are held in the wood and canvas of these boats can be smelled in the salt spray and tar, felt in the ropes softened from years of use, and heard in the creaking timbers and rigging as the she strains eagerly in the wind to slice the blue green water and part the waves... | ||
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And the halyards used to hoist the gaff rigged sails. | ||
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There are a lot of boats in the area that take tourists out for short trips to the islands and back. This is looking forward from the deck of one of these boats. | ||
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And another from the same trip. |