Figureheads & freezers

Olaf
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

Two days in Newport turned into nearly two weeks. Our first job was to fix Olaf, our new Viking figurehead, onto the end of the bowsprit, where he will watch out for us and keep us safe from marauding seamonsters.
Then our friends arrived on the ‘Bonnie Lynn’, after a wet ride down from Penobscot Bay in strong head winds. They are spending the winter here in a marina, or ‘dockside’ as they say in the US. They get free use of the neighbouring hotel’s facilities, including an indoor heated swimming pool. We joined them a couple of times for an evening dip in the deserted pool – a real treat!
We also met up with some old Topsham acquaintances, friends of the Eddingtons, (Hi Dave and Sian!), who are currently working nearby on a new-to-them yacht after their last boat got destroyed in Grenada by Hurricane Ivan.
Every day, a couple more boats around us disappeared from the anchorage – mostly heading south or to Bermuda, which seemed a sensible move as the temperature has seriously plummeted. Thank goodness for our log fire! Just when we’d decided we were ready to move on, the weather took a turn for the worse and several big low pressure systems blew through, creating sloppy waves even in the harbour.
In the meantime, we spent days agonizing over whether to install a freezer or not, and if so, which type and where should it go? No sooner had we decided not to bother than we changed our minds, ordered the thing and the components arrived by courier the following day. Then followed a major operation to take out the recently installed (but not often used) spare toilet and convert the space into an ice box.
To enable foodstuffs to stay frozen even in the tropics, you need 6” of insulation around the unit, so a reasonable size freezer eats up a huge amount of space. We spent several days measuring and fitting the bulky insulation, cursing the fact that nothing is square on a boat and piling up a great heap of mis-cuts. (Measure twice, cut once… get it wrong and start again!) That job is finally done, though the electrics and pipework remain to be finished.
The rest will have to wait as we are hoping to take advantage of a break in the weather to make a move towards New York – still three or four day hops, and another gale passing through on Saturday.

Back to Newport

Dave pulls two guys at P'town
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

In four day-hops, we came back down the coast to Massachusetts, stopping at Boothbay Harbour, the New Meadows river, Biddeford Pool and Gloucester.

We caught up with our friends again in Plymouth and heard all about their sailing adventures along the south coast of England this summer (their boat is in the Exeter Ship Canal).

They joined us for a weekend sail to Provincetown, on the tip of the Cape Cod peninsula. This is a colourful town made up of three diverse populations – fishermen, artists and a lively gay community.

Provincetown (or P'town as it's known) competes with Plymouth as the first landing place of the Mayflower - tourists flock here in season to soak up the vibrant atmosphere, laze on the long white sandy beaches and do the obligatory climb of the 'Pilgrim Monument'.

The streets are lined with colourful shops, selling a wide selection of unusual and arty products, many with end-of-season reductions.

Among our bargains were Colin’s watering can (made from an old chilli tin) and Dave’s new Viking figurehead, made out of solid wood and re-named ‘Olaf’. He has yet to be secured in the spot chosen for him at the end of the bowsprit.

Then it was back through the Cape Cod Canal, coming out the other end to experience at first hand what the pilot books describe as a ‘brutal experience’ – the prevailing SW wind is funnelled up Buzzards Bay and hits the outgoing tide to create steep waves in the narrow channel. For us, this meant 15 minutes of heavy bobbing and plenty of water on deck, but for smaller boats it would have been extremely uncomfortable.

We spent a night in Marion and met up with some former Topsham-ites (the Woolcotts), then sailed to Newport, Rhode Island the following day. We are now back to where we started in the States and from here on south will be in new territory. Next stop New York.

Heading south

sunset in Cranberry Harbour
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We are now well on our way south. We day-hopped down the coast from Eastport, keeping a good eye on Hurricane Florence offshore. We were safely inside the shelter of Penobscot Bay when it passed – still way offshore but the swell made itself felt, sadly a couple of lobstermen were lost off the coast.
We motored as far up the Penobscot River as we could go, up to the big town of Bangor. I’d been looking forward to a shopping spree but found the main shopping mall was miles out of town and all we could find was a decent hardware shop!
There was a big grocery store nearby so we decided to take advantage and stock up on heavy stuff. We filled a shopping trolley to the brim and were headed across the high street to unload on the pontoon when a wheel lock flipped down and jammed the front wheel of the trolley, stopping us going any further. We’d been caught out by a very effective ‘trolley security’, activated by bumpy pavements and designed to stop trolley theft!
The security guard was initially unsympathetic and suggested we catch a taxi, which seemed rather extravagant for 500 yards. He finally took pity on us when we explained our predicament and pointed to the boat visible at anchor. He disappeared around the back and found us a discarded trolley from another supermarket (with no wheel lock) and we were soon back on our way.
A nicer surprise was in store for us when we reached the pontoon and were greeted with hot pizza from the guy on the next yacht who was coming to the end of two years’ sailing the ‘Great Lakes Loop’ with three dogs and a cat on board!
Back down the river to our adopted home ground of Islesboro and Belfast, where we arrived in time for a fantastic free fireworks display in honour of a new pedestrian bridge across the river. We then spent a week doing woodwork (laying a new floor inside the boat), and the worst job of all - saying goodbye to all the people we’ve met who’ve given us such a warm welcome.