Many people think that sailing on the coast of Maine is challenging. The
combination of challenges that confront the sailors in this part of the
world appear daunting to folks who normally sail in kinder and gentler
waters. Large tides with attendant tidal currents along the Maine coast make
some folks nervous. Numerous lobster trap buoys waiting to catch your
rudder, propeller, and keel are intimidating. Impenetrable fog and
unforgiving rocky shores are enough to give southern sailors nightmares. I
am here to tell you that you have nothing to fear and that all of these
conditions were put here for a reason and that you should consider them all
to be personal gifts.



You can enjoy yourself in Maine knowing that there are large tides with
currents that can reach four or more knots in some places. If you are used
to sailing in places with tide heights of a foot or two, our tides of nine
to twenty-four feet should fill you with feelings of reassurance. You can be
assured that should you run aground at low tide that you will float free
sometime tomorrow and if you run aground at high water you will have plenty
of time to scrub and paint your bottom while you wait for the water to come
back. Those of us who are used to the tides of Maine can not understand how
folks who sail in areas that have small tides ever get their bottoms cleaned
or for that matter how they get themselves off when they inevitably run
aground.



The tidal currents are a gift for those of us who only travel at four to six
knots but are always in a hurry. On a recent trip to Eastport for the fourth
of July, Pacem was traveling up the Grand Manan channel, around the end of
Campobello Island and down the Head Harbor passage doing ten knots. The
incoming tidal current for the area's twenty-four foot tides sped us along
at such a speed that I would have been scared if it were not for the fog
that kept me from seeing more that a hundred yards.



As I have told our crew, Ben and Brad ages 13 and 11, fog is like nighttime
at home. You know that if you get up in the middle of the night and walk
around the house without turning on the lights that everything is just the
same as it was when there is light. So sailing in the fog is the just the
same as sailing in the bright sunshine but you do not have to be distracted
by the sights of islands with summer houses the size of castles, mountains
with views over the sea, wildlife, and schooners with sails filled bearing
down on you. It frees you to be more introspective and to pay attention to
the numerous navigational aids that the friendly people of Maine put out in
the water for you.



The United States Coast Guard does a wonderful job of marking the major
hazards to navigation on the coast but with a decrease in available funding
the job of indicating the flow of currents has fallen to volunteers. The
lobstermen of Maine spend their lives putting little colored buoys in every
conceivable place along the coast of Maine. They help us figure out the
exact set and drift of the current by placing these beautiful little buoys
in the navigable channels. The density of the buoys seems to be related to
the amount of waterborne traffic expected in the area. The Penobscot Bay
area has so many buoys that it seems that one could walk across some
channels without getting wet. In some places from Muscongus Bay north, they
even put on small additional buoys or toggles before the main colored buoy
to help us determine the current by catching the horizontal line between the
two buoys on our propeller or rudder. Though most of our boats mount anchors
on the forward or pointy end of the vessel, these numerous lines help us
practice the age-old technique of anchoring by the rudder. We should all
thank these selfless volunteers and also try to support them by encouraging
everyone we know to buy the critters that they catch when they are moving
the navigational markers around our rocky coast.



The rocky shores of Maine are a great improvement over the sandy shores that
cover some of the rest of the planet. The sand that one brings aboard from
beaches gets into your bunk and your bilge and is impossible to get out of
either one. The rocky shore also tells you when the water is getting too
shallow to float your boat. I have run aground in many parts of the world
and I can tell you from experience that when you run aground in Maine you
will know it immediately. I have run aground in the Bahamas, Florida, and
Nantucket in such soft sand that the boat just slid to a quiet stop without
any notification to the crew. In Maine the notification of grounding is
immediate and usually relatively noisy. The noise of scraping or fracturing
of fiberglass from the forward part of the hull clearly sends the message
that the water has become too thin.



The challenges that people associate with sailing the coast of Maine are
really great gifts to all of us. Think of these gifts as lessons to be
learned and events to be experienced. The coast is a tough teacher who
thinks that you learn better when the lessons are difficult and the grading
is demanding.

I want to assure you of the friendly and benign nature of the coast of Maine
and encourage you to come up and sail with us. In few areas of the nautical
world is the combination of conditions as conducive to relaxation and
carefree cruising as the coast of Maine. Just watch out for the teacher.



Ansley Sawyer

SV Pacem