Back in the yard

We ended up staying in Somes Harbor longer than expected as the
remnants of hurricane Ike went through, dropping our barograph to
996. Then we returned to Seal Cove on Vinalhaven for another quiet
night. The next day we departed early and picked up friends in
Rockland for the trip back to Thomaston, via Muscle Ridge and all it's
many rocks, islands and ledges.

Tomorrow we're returning to California for 10 days while the yard
finishes up the boat. There are a variety of remedial jobs, plus some
modifications based on our initial experience. We'll also get hauled
out, clean the bottom, check the prop and zincs and generally prepare
for our departure from Maine. The rough plan is to depart for
Newport, Rhode Island the second week of October, then on to Bermuda
when we get a weather window in early November.

While the weather has been clear and beautiful between the fronts, the
temperature has really dropped and it's time to head south.

Escape from Thomaston

Last Tuesday we finally escaped from Thomaston, straight into fall and a nasty stormy day. We were literally in shorts and t-shirts in the morning, and full foul weather gear in drenching rain followed by a thunderstorm five hours later and 40 degree temps in the morning. But we escaped and are now able to spend some time sailing in Maine.

We spent the first night about 20 miles (as the boat motors) away in Long Cove, not far from where we had the christening in Tenants Harbor. The wind blew and we got bounced around quite a bit since the cove is quite large and not well protected from the south. And the next morning when we raised anchor it was like raising a dredge, we had a huge scoop of Maine on our bow.

The second day we had a delightful sail to Seal Cove on Vinalhaven (is this where LPs go to die?). The boat really sailed nicely in 10-25knots of apparent wind from a close reach to hard on the wind. Seal Cove was a spectacular anchorage that we had all to ourselves with barely a ripple on the water. As there was poor weather coming our way we pushed on the next day to Somes Harbor (search for Somesville in Google Earth) at the end of Somes Sound on Mt. Desert Island. This is now our third night here as the weather has been unsettled with a mix of rain and wind. And besides, it's quiet and beautiful here. This picture was taken from the boat this morning after a lot of rain and wind last night.

We're adjacent Acadia National Park so today we took the bus to Bar Harbor (a disappointing visit as it looked like any other cruise ship stop, crammed with schlocky stores) and rented bikes. We then caught another bus which took us and our rented bikes to Acadia National Park. Within the park we road more than 20 miles along the carriage trails in the park. A really beautiful ride and it felt good to get some aerobic exercise.

Maine is incredibly scenic, though the weather is not always as beautiful as the scenery. Sometimes I think that Maine made a deal with the devil; they got the incredible scenery, but had to accept some questionable weather and those using the waterways are cursed with navigating through literally several hundred thousand lobster buoys! And though we try to avoid them, we've chopped up our fair share.

Depending on the weather our next stop will probably be Burnt Coat Harbor on Swan's Island.

Electrical diagram

I haven't had time to write a narrative, but I've posted a conceptual schematic of the electrical system.