"Ansley W. Sawyer" wrote in message
...
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



The real beauty of places like Nova Scotia and I'm sure..Maine, is the
abundance of bays, harbours etc around every corner for exploring, anchoring
for a night or two or just visiting remote fishing villages for a glimpse of
a simplier life.
SV Pacem