Late Summer 2020

For several good reasons, including the Covid disaster, Jenny and the dogs were not able to join Albert on an “almost Fall” cruise of the nearby Maine coast for 4 days in early September.  It was probably just as well, as it turned out.

It didn't take a lot to provision Magus at the mooring in Freeport Harbor.  After a noon start, the first night was spent on a (free/ contribution) mooring at Seguin Island. Even got a little non-motorized sailing time later in the day on the way there.  

 

Seguin is a great spot, fairly remote and wild, for being so close. The non-profit organization Friends of Seguin Island does a great job to keep things maintained and updated.    

    

   

The next morning, I did projects and waited for the tide to start upstream on the Kennebec River before dropping the mooring. As soon as I did, I discovered that there was no steering--- none.  Fortunately, conditions were calm (with a swell, of course), so I hopped in the dinghy and rowed over to the nearest mooring with a long line, and got re-secured.  I was really hoping I would not have to use the emergency tiller to limp back to Freeport, but that was always an option.  I will spare the details, but one of the 49 year old hydraulic hoses for the autopilot steering pump had failed. With some ingenuity, I was able to seal off the failed hose, and restore the steering system, getting covered in hydraulic fluid as part of the process that took several hours. No autopilot for the reminder of the trip, however.  [Back in Freeport, two new hoses were installed, so all the steering hoses have been replaced since 2016, when both rudder steering cylinders were also rebuilt.]   

By the time I could drop the mooring the second time, it was after noon and I was late for the advantageous current in the Kennebec River, but it was not fully against me, either. Which is good, because it can run 4 knots at mid-tide. I arrived at the city float in Bath at 4:30 or so.  Sophi, Travis, and their kids came down for dinner on the boat, and that was a nice visit. They also lent me their car the next morning, so I could buy new hydraulic hoses for the steering system, to be installed later.  A great project ongoing in Bath is Maine's First Ship, but the museum and shop were closed while I was there. 

                                                  

The next part of the trip was something I have wanted to do since I first learned about it over 30 years ago: the Sasanoa River, an inside passage between the Kennebec River near Bath to the Sheepscot River. From there it is easy to continue on to Boothbay Harbor through Townsend Gut separating Southport Island from the mainland, but I just went south on the Sheepscot.  From the Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast by Curtis Rindlaub et al (an excellent reference and good reading), this part of the Maine coast “is the land of the geographical cul-de-sac. Long, narrow bays and salty fingers cut between chains of ledges and mountains running north and south. Rivers great and small run down to the ocean in a complex pattern of coves, estuaries, marshes, and back channels and swirl around large island offshore.” The inside passage is “one of the great adventures of the Maine coast.  Like marriage, it is not to be entered into lightly, but advisedly.. and soberly. The current in two of the stretches, Upper and Lower Hell Gates, can be awesome for those of us not accustomed to running whitewater rivers in deep-keeled boats.”  I checked the tidal current predictions in some detail, but things are never completely as predicted.  In Upper Hell Gate, I should have had a favorable current, but it was against me at 3 or 4 knots for a short stretch.  At Lower Hell Gate, it had changed to be favorable earlier than predicted, so all was good.  

That made the passage down the Sheepscot River fairly fast, and I arrived at Cape Harbor on the southern end of Southport Island on the east side of the river at 3:30 or so. I picked up a mooring from the Newagen Resort, which had a nice heated pool, among other amenities.  The bar even had live music that night, but I did not feel compelled to check it out.  I was able to visit with my friend Jay Pinkham (following the recommended distancing guidelines), and enjoyed his wife's muffins the next morning.  Jay is the retired harbormaster from Freeport, so I worked with him during the 13 years I was the Town Engineer in Freeport.

The next day had light winds from the west, so it was a motoring experience that went fairly quickly.  I passed Sequin to the south, making a sort of circumnavigation of the island, and I was back home on the Freeport mooring by 3:00 pm.  It was a short four days.

Early Summer 2020

Yes, Covid Summer. We didn’t go anywhere far, but we brought the boat into the Freeport town dock a few times to get M’Ocean, our German Shepard dog, somewhat comfortable on the boat.  Once we realized we could do things with reasonable precautions, in late July we decided to take a mini-vacation to Peaks Island for a few days, with the dogs. We tied up to the dock at Jones Landing, took long walks, went swimming, and ran into old friends.  Only a few photos, though.

 

 

In August, we were happy to loan Magus to daughter Sophi and her husband and their two kids and their dog for a few days of Casco Bay cruising.  I should note that Sophi and Travis are accomplished cruisers, but they were feeling a bit rusty. [In 2012, before kids, they sailed from Portland to Prince Edward Island on their Downeaster 32 that they no longer own.]  So, I don’t want to mention that after anchoring the third night, they were backing down on the anchor chain, and caught the dinghy painter, wrapping it enough to pull the inflatable under the hull and stalling the engine.  They had the wherewithal and initiative to spend over an hour diving in the cold water and unwrapping the line before giving me a call to confess.  Then they made a good start on patching the leaks and continued on their cruise.  Those things happen, and the one time I did it, the wrap was not so bad.  Jenny and I were completely happy that they could enjoy Magus and show their young kids a taste of the cruising life. They all had a great time, I understand, as documented on their many Facebook posts.

 

Since Magus didn’t come out of the water last winter, some attention to the bottom was needed. About the time I was thinking that, the timing was good on August 27 to dry the boat out against the bulkhead at the Freeport Town Wharf.  Meaning, a high tide early in the morning, low around noon, and high tide in the evening. After tying up to the bulkhead and the tide was receding, I realized that the boat was leaning away from the wharf.  I called my friend Carter, who came to the rescue with some empty bait barrels to fill with water and weight the wharf side of the boat, and a ratchet strap to pull Magus against the wharf to be extra safe.  There was a relatively relaxing wait for the tide to go down, then a frantic effort to get some work done before the tide came back up. Jenny helped a lot, and we got all of the most important things done: the bottom cleaned, bottom paint applied to the top 6-12” of the bottom below the boot stripe, the propeller cleaned and painted, and the zinc anode replaced on the propeller shaft.  Then, a relaxing wait for the tide to come back up, and Magus is ready for another year. When the tide was down, things were so busy we never got a photo, but this one shows the cleaned propeller and bottom.

The rest of 2019

 We went for some daysails over the summer, but mostly we did things around Bliss Woods Farm.  We took some Air BNB guests out for short sails, also.  We really enjoyed the visit by Ray and Alicia Alba and their two children.  Check out their activities on a great website, Albaadventures.com.    Here is an almost tragic ending to a drone video attempt they made.  Look for the seal.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=426612117950303&extid=PgY7vtRSqRxb7Z3N

 In October, Echo and Chris came up from Baltimore for a visit and to go to a wedding on Peaks Island.   Albert sailed them to Peaks, where they stayed on the boat at Jones Landing Marina-- thanks, Robin!  We actually were able to sail part of the way there:

Magus spent the winter in the water at Strout’s Point Marina, here in Freeport.  It was a fairly mild winter, so there was no drama.  The boat was winterized on the mooring, and then moved to the dock on December 1.  For no good reason, I never took any photos of the few times that it snowed, when I would go down and remove some of the heavy stuff.  The marina had a photo that I copied, though.  All of a sudden, the winter was over!  Magus went back on the mooring on April 1, 2020.

Photo from Strouts Wharf Company