We are planning to cruise in a 25 ft powerboat from somewhere in
Penobscott Bay to the St John River, NB during the last two weeks of
July. We need some advise on where to stay along the way, and what to
watch for.

Thanks.

Richard,

We cruise out of Rockland and have been up as far as Campobello and Grand
Manan. I would be happy to give you information on places along the coast.
First get the cruising guide to the coast of Maine by the Tafts and Rinlab
(sp?).

Ansley Sawyer
SV Pacem

"richard" wrote in message
oups.com...
We are planning to cruise in a 25 ft powerboat from somewhere in
Penobscott Bay to the St John River, NB during the last two weeks of
July. We need some advise on where to stay along the way, and what to
watch for.

Thanks.


Hi, I live in Oromocto, NB and sail the Saint John River. I've got the
entire river and the Kennebecasis, Washamadoak and most of Grand Lake
plotted into routes for my GPS, something like 219 waypoints. Plus Saint
John to Digby NS. If you want them, let me know. Check here
http://www.coastguides.com/r8/r8.htm...singFalls.html
for lots of good info. Several good marinas on the river, lots of old ferry
docks (in bad shape) where you can tie up and go ashore. Lots to explore. If
I can answer any questions..ask away. Are you planning on going up the river
or turning around at Saint John?
Al

richard wrote:
We are planning to cruise in a 25 ft powerboat from somewhere in
Penobscott Bay to the St John River, NB during the last two weeks of
July. We need some advise on where to stay along the way, and what
to watch for.

First get the charts and cruising guides. Ample study will be rewarded

With a 25 footer you should be very sure to have a radar and electronic
piloting gear. If your 25 footer is an outboard, you should make your way
only in settled weather with good visibility.

The stretch over to Schoodic is well protected and there are many places
where a small power boat can hide in the event of bad weather or low
visibility. Once beyond Schoodic you are in different conditions and
essentially offshore (or at least exposed coastal), and the conditions can
become difficult very quickly. However there are many stops that are
frankly quite beautiful, though usually a bit off the direct route to Grand
Manan Passage.

Beyond the passage, you are in big tidal waters and must act accordingly.


--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://kerrydeare.home.comcast.net/

With a 25 footer you should be very sure to have a radar and
electronic
piloting gear. If your 25 footer is an outboard, you should make
your way
only in settled weather with good visibility.

Nonsense! (But, like much nonsense, good advice.)

Even with all the gadgets, your basic piloting skills should be good
enough to get around without them up here. If you can't get around in
the fog, you are going to spend a lot of time, sometimes a couple
weeks at a stretch, in port. Running in the fog is sure a lot more
interesting and satisfying than stewing at anchor.

The dangers in Maine tend to have deepwater around them so you can
usually detect them with plenty of water under your keel. Know
exactly how fast your boat goes at various RPM's and have your compass
exactly adjusted. Keep a constant update on your speed and course and
know how to adjust for current. There are convenient current speed
and direction indicators scattered all over this part of the world.
Some people call them lobster pots but they don't look anything like
any pot I ever saw.

If you plan your courses to whistles, bells, and the frequent bold
headlands, you can get around just fine with just a clock and a
compass. Have back up plans for where you will go if time runs out
and you haven't found a mark. You may well be safer with your eyes
ahead and paying close attention to what is around you than with hour
head down trying to remember which button to push on the GPS.

Above all, if you don't have a lot of piloting experience, start right
now doing it constantly in good weather when you can relate what you
are doing to what you can see around you. It will then be a lot
easier when all you see is gray.

Don't let lack of radar stop you. Unless you really train in how to
interpret it, it may actually distract you dangerously. GPS is so
cheap now that you should have it primarily so that you don't look
silly afterwards if you do get in trouble but people got around fine
without it for centuries. Treat it as a back up and just one more bit
of information.

It's a lot more rewarding to use basic chart skills and keep your eyes
and ears on what's around you than just follow the little arrow around
on the screen. When the beep tells you that the batteries just died,
you can carry on as if nothing had happend.

--

Roger Long

If this is your first time, you need to do some reading.
As a starter I recommend an old favorite "Cruising Guide to the New England
Coast".
The original copy of this book was compiled from sailors and their real
experiences.
I do not know what type of boat you have and how much fuel you need per
hour.
As a sailboat owner I had to learn to navigate with the tides and currents.
On the US side one has to navigate around the lobsters pods. Sometimes
lobsters pods are attached in pair with a toggle cable having a lead core.
In good visibility you can see these. In peas soup fog you have to slow
down and have a vigil in front of your boat. After you get to Cutler you
will enter the Grand Manan Channel. Your should enter the Grand Manan
Channel as per your calculation and timing for the Saint John reversing
falls. If you enter the channel with the tide you will benefit from a 2-3
knots current if not you will have to buck it and use more fuel and time.
You should draw your course to stay away from the Lepreau rip tides
Once in Canadian water it is a good practice to inform Fundy Coast Guard
Radio of you position. They in return will validate your position on their
radar. Then you have to make arrangement with the Canadian Custom. Your
next step is to go through the reversing falls. Your calculations to go
through the falls should be all done and proven.
As for the rest of the information needed for you trip you will have to do
the pertinent reading and get the right information from charts and sailing
directions.
In peas soup fog Radar alone is not enough. You will need a GPS and dept
sounder.
Some old timer are know to carry spare parts for their power boat.

"Armond Perretta" wrote in message
...
richard wrote:
We are planning to cruise in a 25 ft powerboat from somewhere in
Penobscott Bay to the St John River, NB during the last two weeks of
July. We need some advise on where to stay along the way, and what
to watch for.

First get the charts and cruising guides. Ample study will be rewarded

With a 25 footer you should be very sure to have a radar and electronic
piloting gear. If your 25 footer is an outboard, you should make your way
only in settled weather with good visibility.

The stretch over to Schoodic is well protected and there are many places
where a small power boat can hide in the event of bad weather or low
visibility. Once beyond Schoodic you are in different conditions and
essentially offshore (or at least exposed coastal), and the conditions can
become difficult very quickly. However there are many stops that are
frankly quite beautiful, though usually a bit off the direct route to
Grand
Manan Passage.

Beyond the passage, you are in big tidal waters and must act accordingly.


--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://kerrydeare.home.comcast.net/

Roger Long wrote:
Someone, probably me, wrote:

With a 25 footer you should be very sure to have a radar and
electronic piloting gear. If your 25 footer is an outboard, you should
make your way only in settled weather with good visibility.

Nonsense! (But, like much nonsense, good advice.)

Maybe someone else knows what this means, but I don't.

Don't let lack of radar stop you. Unless you really train in how to
interpret it, it may actually distract you dangerously ...

I used to believe that sailing the Maine coast was only for the hardy and
well prepared (piloting-wise), and by and large I still do. But these days
there is _no_ excuse for laying the onus on the lobsterman and running
without radar. If a person decides to go without radar in these waters,
what he is essentially saying is: "Hey, I'm just up here to have a good
time, so please keep your eye on your radar. While you are pulling your
traps and a hundred or so other things, stare at the radar so you don't
spoil my fun, run over me and my kids, and kill me." Strangely, many
fishermen don't take kindly to this.

The original poster who is learning the "piloting ropes" to prepare for this
expedition should also take into account the possibility that laying a GPS
course to (or cleaning out the ear wax to be able to hear) a bell buoy
involves the assumption that the bell buoy is still where you think it was 2
years ago when the chart was printed. Often this is the case.

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://kerrydeare.home.comcast.net/

I don't know what part of Maine you've been sailing in but radar is
hardly standard equipment up here.

I'll bet that there are far, far more radar sets though than there are
people trained enough in their use so that they could actually avoid
being hit by another vessel that wasn't keeping a visual watch. The
random way the lobsterboats loop around from trap to trap, even a
trained, full time, observer would have a hard time figuring out the
relative bearings.

--

Roger Long

True, however human behavior evolves for the better of worse.
Years ago I only had a compass and did the trip from Saint John to Bar
Harbor and return many time. In those days a radar cost around $5000.00 to
6000.00. People were trained to use their skills according to sound,
direction of wind, smell and many others. People on the water were on the
look out. More so they were trained to stay in port when the fog was heavy.
Today, peoples skills have changed. It became much easier to use GPS, RADAR
and other navigational aids and more people are sailing in heavy fog.
With this new breed of sailors navigating in peas soup fog you place an old
timer using only his manual skill to get home and you have an interesting
situation.
When a commercial fisherman drops his lobster cages he make sure that the
way point is recorded and programmed in the autopilot. When he comes back
to pick up the cages he sets his autopilot as per the way points. This way
only two people are required to check the cages. In practice almost no
fishermen has a vigil on the radar except to return home with his catch.
This means that at 80% of the time the fishermen will not see you while they
are picking up their cages on autopilot. As every fishermen has a license
for a well designate area they know no other fishing boat will enter their
zone. Now here come a pleasure craft entering the fishermen zone in heavy
fog without a radar. The probability that the commercial fishermen will see
you on their radar is remote.
Most claims filled with the insurance companies originate from this type of
collision.
The question is who will the insurance believe the pleasure craft that
knowingly and willingly navigated in heavy for without the proper equipment
or the commercial fishermen fully equipped with navigating in the fog?

"Armond Perretta" wrote in message
...
Roger Long wrote:
Someone, probably me, wrote:

With a 25 footer you should be very sure to have a radar and
electronic piloting gear. If your 25 footer is an outboard, you should
make your way only in settled weather with good visibility.

Nonsense! (But, like much nonsense, good advice.)

Maybe someone else knows what this means, but I don't.

Don't let lack of radar stop you. Unless you really train in how to
interpret it, it may actually distract you dangerously ...

I used to believe that sailing the Maine coast was only for the hardy and
well prepared (piloting-wise), and by and large I still do. But these
days
there is _no_ excuse for laying the onus on the lobsterman and running
without radar. If a person decides to go without radar in these waters,
what he is essentially saying is: "Hey, I'm just up here to have a good
time, so please keep your eye on your radar. While you are pulling your
traps and a hundred or so other things, stare at the radar so you don't
spoil my fun, run over me and my kids, and kill me." Strangely, many
fishermen don't take kindly to this.

The original poster who is learning the "piloting ropes" to prepare for
this
expedition should also take into account the possibility that laying a GPS
course to (or cleaning out the ear wax to be able to hear) a bell buoy
involves the assumption that the bell buoy is still where you think it was
2
years ago when the chart was printed. Often this is the case.

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://kerrydeare.home.comcast.net/

This an addendum to my earlier posting.
I have just been informed by our Yacht club that we have new rules for
boaters going to the US and Canada.

Please check: U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL
SECURITY ENHANCEMENTS FOR PLEASURE BOATERS

Press Release Date: April 21, 2005

Contact: PAO Mike Milne, Customs and Border Patrol

Phone: (206) 553-6944 Ext. 614


"Denis Marier" wrote in message
news
If this is your first time, you need to do some reading.
As a starter I recommend an old favorite "Cruising Guide to the New
England
Coast".
The original copy of this book was compiled from sailors and their real
experiences.
I do not know what type of boat you have and how much fuel you need per
hour.
As a sailboat owner I had to learn to navigate with the tides and
currents.
On the US side one has to navigate around the lobsters pods. Sometimes
lobsters pods are attached in pair with a toggle cable having a lead core.
In good visibility you can see these. In peas soup fog you have to slow
down and have a vigil in front of your boat. After you get to Cutler you
will enter the Grand Manan Channel. Your should enter the Grand Manan
Channel as per your calculation and timing for the Saint John reversing
falls. If you enter the channel with the tide you will benefit from a 2-3
knots current if not you will have to buck it and use more fuel and time.
You should draw your course to stay away from the Lepreau rip tides
Once in Canadian water it is a good practice to inform Fundy Coast Guard
Radio of you position. They in return will validate your position on
their
radar. Then you have to make arrangement with the Canadian Custom. Your
next step is to go through the reversing falls. Your calculations to go
through the falls should be all done and proven.
As for the rest of the information needed for you trip you will have to do
the pertinent reading and get the right information from charts and
sailing
directions.
In peas soup fog Radar alone is not enough. You will need a GPS and dept
sounder.
Some old timer are know to carry spare parts for their power boat.

"Armond Perretta" wrote in message
...
richard wrote:
We are planning to cruise in a 25 ft powerboat from somewhere in
Penobscott Bay to the St John River, NB during the last two weeks of
July. We need some advise on where to stay along the way, and what
to watch for.

First get the charts and cruising guides. Ample study will be rewarded

With a 25 footer you should be very sure to have a radar and electronic
piloting gear. If your 25 footer is an outboard, you should make your
way
only in settled weather with good visibility.

The stretch over to Schoodic is well protected and there are many places
where a small power boat can hide in the event of bad weather or low
visibility. Once beyond Schoodic you are in different conditions and
essentially offshore (or at least exposed coastal), and the conditions
can
become difficult very quickly. However there are many stops that are
frankly quite beautiful, though usually a bit off the direct route to
Grand
Manan Passage.

Beyond the passage, you are in big tidal waters and must act
accordingly.


--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://kerrydeare.home.comcast.net/