[Rhodes22-list] Our first Bareboat Experience
Rik Sandberg
racerrik@rea-alp.com
Tue, 17 Sep 2002 00:35:00 -0500
Bill,
All in all it sounds like it was an excellent adventure.
Rik
At 12:32 AM 9/17/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>All right, I give.
>
>Ladies and gentleman, children of all ages, pasted below is the text of
>the tale of derring do of Carol Klein and Bill Berner chartering for the
>very first time.
>
>Warning - it's long. You be the judge of whether it's worth the effort.
>The delete key is always close at hand.
>
>Bill and Carol’s Excellent Adventure
>
>Day one: Pick up the boat in Bucks Harbor, Maine on the Penobscot Bay.
>The harbor is beautiful but crowded.
>
> The boat, a 1980’ish 30’ Columbia Sloop is very=
pretty.
>Appears to be very well maintained. Lots of varnished teak.
>Very comfortable for 2.
>
> We Need to travel around 15 miles south to Stonington on
>Deer Island. Wind 25- 30 and waves in our teeth with
>4-6’ seas the entire way. Never raised sail. Motored the
>entire way. Only able to make 3.5 4 knots in the waves.
>Carol (the Admiral) VERY unhappy. Depth sounder reads
>around 125’ pretty much the whole way. When the
>waves get to six get to 6’ she gets out life jacket.
>
> We Arrive Stonington around 3 ½ hours later. Admiral stinks
>with dock lines, knots and fenders. I come in too close. 4’
>scratch in the paint where starboard hull kisses the dock.
>
>Day two: The low point. Storms predicted. Decide to sit tight and
>hang out in Stonington. Dock boy tells us we can move to a
>more comfortable slip that is more protected and has shore
>power.
> Admiral stinks with dock lines, knots and fenders. I come
>in too close. 1’ scratch in the paint where port side hull
>kisses dock.
> Carol goes to shower.
> I start to make coffee. Boat has alcohol stove. I am
>unable to bring pressure up to 20-30 PSI as req’d. Decide
>to try to light stove with only 12 PSI. Stove Primes no
>problem. Reopen valve to start boiling water. Step outside
>for a minute or two. Go back into cabin. See flames in
>oven compartment and all over stove. Close valve, Throw water
>(actually the correct thing for alcohol fire), Fire
>still burning. Notice liquid on floor near cabin sole. It
>ignites. Alcohol obviously still pooling around.
>Grab fire extinguisher. Put out fire with four short blasts,
>one on stove top, one in oven, one on cabin stove, one behind
>stove (it’s gimballed). Start to clean up. It smells.
>Dry Chem fire extinguisher. Stuff in air everywhere.
>Big bummer all around. Get a bunch of it cleaned up. Open
>cabinet under sink to throw away paper towels, etc. Small fire
>burning under sink. There are aerosol cans under there. Put
>out fire with water. Fire has been fed with garbage bag and
>plastic cap which has melted everywhere, from aerosol can.
>Hose from water tank to sink and sink drain hoses damaged but
>still working.Very annoyed. Clean everything up. Explain
>myself to Admiral, who arrives back from shower as I am cleaning
>up. No coffee anywhere.
>
> Dinghy 10 15 minutes into town for coffee in inflatable.
>Decent ride but a little wet and rough presumably due to weather
>that is supposed to materialize. Have coffee, shop for dinner.
>Dinghy back wetter and rougher.
>
> Go to Marina store and buy dog clips for fender whips so
>Carol won’t have to tie clove hitch or bowline to attach
>fenders to lifelines. We expect to do more docking. I vow
>to leave more room.
>
> Call Charter company to complain about stove (or pump for
>tank anyway). Guy says, gee it ought to work. Don’t tell
>him about the fire. Don’t want to deal with it. A
>mistake. Tells me he has account at boat yard and has me ask
>them to check it out. They don’t want to bother - real work
>to do. It appears that the valve on the pump hose is
>too worn to get a good seal, and pressure leaks out on
>pump backstroke. I go in search of a new valve. No luck.
>
> Storms finally roll in late afternoon and last several
>hours. We can’t cook because stove n/g and don’t want
>to grill in rain or dinghy in rain to town. We snack on
>cheese and crackers and get drunk.
>
> Slip very protected. All in all we sleep quite well.
>
>Day 3 - Oh what a beautiful morning. Great weather predicted for
>next 3 days. 10-15 kn winds from E- NE. Settle up and get the hell out
>of there. Motor some through waters incredibly thick with lobster pot
>buoys. Never seen anything like it. You could just about use them as
>stepping stones. Thread the needle for quite a while and finally raise
>sails when the pots thin out some. Go to McGlathery Island. Anchor.
>Wait to see if we drag. Everything okay. Dinghy into beach. Have
>lunch. Sun bathe. Explore a little. I swim. Water temp 58 degrees.
>Seem to have the entire island to our selves. Pretty great. Head
>back to boat.
>
>Haul anchor and head for Swans Island where we expect to moor for the
>night in Burnt Coat Harbor. Into another forest of lobster pots.
>Decide to sail through them. Wind calms down quite a bit. Run over a
>buoy without enough speed to clear it. The boat stops. Look over the
>transom to find the pot warp has jammed in the 1” wide slot between for
>the forward side of the rudder and the piece of steel designed to guide
>pot warps past the rudder.
>
>I drop the main and attempt to furl the genoa to take the strain off of
>the jammed warp. Notice that somehow the halyard has eased and is now
>wrapped several times around the furling tube making it impossible to:
>a) fully furl the genoa, (b) lower the genoa to unwrap the halyard, and
>c) raise the genoa re retension the luff. I curse the Gods, furl as
>much as I can and let the rest of it luff.
>
>Down the swim ladder I go with the boat hook to try and clear the line.
>Don’t let go of the ladder. 58°. Poke and poke. Every time I push
>hard, the ladder of course swings up and away from the transom (Physics
>anyone?). Stuck fast, and can’t get enough leverage because of the
>swinging ladder. I consider putting a loop on the end of a line tied
>off to the boat and free diving to try and resolve the issue. Decide
>against it. Even with the sails down I am not enamored with the idea of
>being in 125’ of water without a life jacket once I free the boat with
>only the Admiral and her limited skills aboard.
>
>Get on the radio and place a Pan. Talk to the Coast Guard in
>Stonington. Give them lots of info: Lat/Lon, describe boat, tell them
>we are wearing life jackets (Lying). They tell me to take a hike. Too
>busy looking for terrorists. Harbor diver cuts into conversation saying
>he can be to us in 20 minutes. Salvation. Guy arrives in big skiff in
>wetsuit. Throws on dive belt clears jam in about 15 seconds. Charges
>150.00 USD.
>
>I raise the main. It jams. I finally find that it’s halyard has
>wrapped around an idiotically placed useless tang halfway up the mast
>while boat was bobbing with sail down and inadequate tension on halyard.
>I imagine going aloft. Manage to clear it with a couple of good flicks
>of the wrist. See a pieces of large monofilament hanging down into the
>cockpit. Boat is equipped with “Dutchman” system that flakes the main=
as
>you lower it. Trying to raise it while jammed has caused the monofil to
>pull out of the disk mounted near the foot of the sail.
>
>Unfurl the genoa. The wrap on its halyard prevents it from fully
>unfurling. The head is also about 9” down from where it should be.
>Unfurled genoa resembles dirty laundry.
>
>Never the less we actually sail pretty nicely and comfortably to the
>entrance of Burnt Coat Harbor. If earlier pots were a forest, we are
>now in a primordial rain forest. The channel is utterly packed with
>them. We douse the sails and carefully pick our way through. We get to
>the inner harbor where things open up a bunch and pick up one of the few
>remaining rental moorings. It is incredibly beautiful. Some pleasure
>craft. Lots of lobster boats (what a surprise). No town to speak of.
>Just docks and fishing shacks.
>
>The owner of the moorings, who of course is a lobsterman, comes out in
>his skiff a little later. Welcomes us, takes a twenty, and offers to
>deliver us lobster dinners with steamers, chowder, and blue berry pie
>for a song. Our mouths water, We still have yesterdays steak to grill
>though, so we decline. We mention the lobster pot warp adventure, and
>he says, “Happens all the time. That must’ve been the Greek. You were
>ripped off. The going rate for pleasure boaters is 75.00.” Now I feel
>real good about myself.
>
>I get to work. Fix the Dutchman system. No big deal, just needs some
>tinkering. I go to work on the genny. Remove the sheets and completely
>unwrap it by hand, manage to pull it down to the deck, clear the halyard
>wrap, and raise it again, making sure the halyard is very well secured.
>
>Hor Douevres, wine, dinner. We dinghy to the shore and take a walk. It
>is incredibly beautiful. Also a beautiful evening and sunset.
>
>Resolve that despite problems (150 USD) it has been a good day. Discuss
>plans for following day. Waters totally calm. Boat steady as a rock.
>Go to bed. Pass out.
>
>Day 4 - 4:30 AM Awoken by sound of departing lobster boats. Boat
>pitches around in the wake. Happens off and on for the next hour or so,
>but we keep falling right back to sleep. Get up around 8:00. Need cash
>(yesterdays 150 USD). Mooring guy has told is there is a general store
>with cash machine a ways down the road in the “town” on the other side
>of the harbor. He’s pointed out where to land the dinghy for the
>shortest walk. We head out around 8:45 figuring every one gets an early
>start. Get to the store. Door locked. Woman inside looks at us. We
>make please and praying gestures with our hands (a couple of atheistic
>Jews). She comes to the door, cracks it, and says, “I open at 10:00,”
>and shuts it in our faces and relocks it. We go for a walk. I go
>back to tend to the dinghy on a rising tide (10’ range). Carol waits at
>store.
>
>We finally get back to the boat and prepare to head out. We’ve decided
>that this harbor is, so pretty and calm, and quiet (despite
>lobster boats), that we’ll day sail out of here and come back again for
>the night. Not to mention the lobster dinner delivered to the boat.
>Also, no docking req’d. Refer to day one above.
>
>The island has, by the way 350 year round residents. Swells to around
>1,100 during summer. It is not small, and is the south of Mt. Desert
>Island (Acadia Nat’l Park). We’ve abandoned plans to go to Mt. Desert.
>Why go to a crowded touristy, albeit beautiful place, when we can stay
>in uncrowded beautiful places?
>
>We head for Frenchboro, which is the only development on the farthest
>most island in the chain. Remembering Day One, Carol is fearful
>because south of us will be only open sea. It’s a beautiful day, calm
>seas, fair winds at 10-15. We have a beautiful sail to Frenchboro,
>which is even more beautiful than Burnt Coat. Pick up a mooring in the
>non-town in Lunts Harbor, and dingy to the visitors dock.
>
>The residents, all 45 of the year rounders, are making an effort to
>attract tourists. There is a picnic table type restaurant at the dock,
>and a public rest room. I think it’s owned by the Lunts. We’ve made
>lunch, and head out to explore. We take a short hike across the island
>to the ocean side, through the pine forest. The ground under foot is
>spongy from all the layers of fallen needles and moss and find ourselves
>all alone on a huge shore of massive granite rocks. We picnic, read,
>sunbathe, and watch the ocean with the inevitable lobster men in their
>boats working their pots. Pretty darn fabulous.
>
>On our way back to the boat, we stop at the “museum”. Clearly the
>residents are really trying. It’s very cute. Sort of everybody’s=
attic
>opened up for inspection. Family photo albums, old records (vinyl, not
>paper) , furniture, and clothes. Stuff like that. We see a picture and
>newspaper clipping about a guy in 1958 who caught a 75 pound lobster.
>It’s about 4 ½’ long. I think his name was Lunt. We look at the=
war
>memorial plaque. Pretty much everyone’s name is Lunt. We over hear the
>curatress telling someone that there is a one room schoolhouse,
>currently with 2 students, though there is a third on the way. People
>must move off island when their children reach high school age.
>
>We have a fabulous sail back to Burnt Coat on Swans. It’s much less
>full than yesterday, so we pick a mooring that hopefully will be a
>little less exposed to the morning commute. Kevin, the lobsterman,
>mooring owner, restauranteur, comes out. We pay him and order our
>dinner for around 7:00. Next we dinghy to the other side of the harbor
>and go off in search a fresh water quarry pond we’ve read about. Find
>it and have a lovely swim.
>
>Kevin brings dinner. It’s fabulous.
>
>After dinner we dinghy ashore again to get rid of trash, and walk
>through more beautiful pine forest to the abandoned light house which
>has been converted by the islanders into a park. We watch a glorious
>sunset, the light glinting off all the lobster buoys, and head back.
>
>In all, a fabulous day.
>
>Day 5 - 4:30 AM. Once again awoken by noise and pitching and rolling
>from the morning rush hour. Begin to suspect that they enjoy doing
>this to the pleasure boaters.
>
>Up around 8:00 again. It’s time to start working our way back towards
>Bucks Harbor. The plan is to stop at the “Wooden Boat School” to look
>around and moor a little further up the Eggemoggin Reach for the night.
>
>We decide to top off the fuel tank, especially since the fuel gauge
>doesn’t work and the charter owner shrugged when I asked him about fuel
>consumption rate.
>
>As we approach the fuel dock, I go back over the handling of dock lines
>with the Admiral and she readies the fenders to starboard.
>
>The fuel dock is pretty busy so we do a couple of donuts. Each time we
>pull away, another local pulls in. I decide stay close, backing and
>filling, to make my intentions very clear. We finally get an opening.
>
>I pull up to the dock with the wind blowing off of it. Looking good.
>Carol tosses a line guy who’s been packing lobsters on the dock.
>Unfortunately she’s thrown it over all of the lifelines instead of
>under. As she sorts it out the stern starts moving away from the dock.
>I’ve previously noticed that I have not been able to walk the boat to
>starboard in reverse at all, so I grab the stern line and make a world
>record standing broad jump to the dock and tie off. No transfer of
>paint. We fuel up, and head out.
>
>We’re motoring through the channel slowly, dodging pot warps left and
>right. There is nice breeze and clear skies. Suddenly the engine
>starts to wind down, I try to throttle up and am unable to. Bad fuel?
>Vapor lock? Against Carol’s protest I quickly unfurl the genoa and
>continue to sail through the maze. Just as suddenly the motor regains
>rpm’s, and we motor sail out of the harbor.
>
>We have a spectacular sail up to the mainland. We anchor for lunch, and
>go ashore on Hog Island just off the coast. Beautiful horse shoe shaped
>cove with combo sand and granite beach. We share it with a few kayakers.
>We walk the beach discovering a bleached dead but standing pine draped
>with lobster buoys. It looks like something out of “Blair Witch
>Project. Lunch. Carol reads. I explore. Less than 5 minutes though
>the pine forest I am on the other side of the island on an equally
>beautiful sand beach facing the shore.
>
>We head out and sail to Wooden Boat. We wander around the grounds
>looking in on some classes. As far as we can tell it’s kind of a
>Tanglewood Festival for sailors.
>
>We need some groceries for dinner so we hitch (well walk actually) a ½
>hour to the general store. We successfully hitch a ride back to Wooden
>Boat almost immediately from the store, dinghy out to the boat, and head
>out.
>
>Another lovely short sail a ways up the Eggemoggin Reach to Benjamin
>River for a mooring. We expect little out of the location. The
>cruising guide doesn’t have much to say and there are no services. We
>are, however, very pleasantly surprised. The river is actually very
>short with the mooring area near the head of it. The shoreline is
>lovely and peaceful, and there are not many boats moored. Very few with
>anyone aboard. & NO LOBSTER BOATS.
>
>Dinner, a bottle of wine, another beautiful sunset and lovely evening
>
>DAY 6 - Up and out by around 9:30. Not quite as nice a day, but
>certainly nothing to complain about.
>
>We head up the Eggemoggin Reach broad reaching on alternate tacks and
>sometimes running wing on wing.
>
>Pull into Bucks Harbor around 2 ½ hours later, and dock. Another
>Olympic class leap from the boat to tie off. Admiral really has to
>learn to move faster.
>
>Checking out the boat with the owner, who is none to pleased about the
>paint, I look below the water line and lo and behold there is a piece of
>a pot warp on the rudder shaft. Guess that explains the shaky exit from
>Burnt Coat a couple of days ago. I can only guess that the extra speed
>and force of getting wind in the genny snapped the line. The owners
>assistant says, don’t worry about it, happens all the time. The owner
>doesn’t look so casual, however. I suggest to him that he better check
>out the stove, because the pump is not right. He acts surprised that
>the guys in Stonington wouldn’t fix it, but instead of apologizing,
>remarks incredously, “how did you cook”.
>
>
>Carol and I agree it has been a great trip despite the mishaps. She
>says it wasn’t particularly relaxing, but was a lot of fun and an
>adventure. She thinks maybe next summer we should do the Chesapeke. I
>wonder if she’ll be any quicker at the dock.
>
>
>
>Bill Berner
>191 South Broadway
>Hastings on Hudson, NY 10706
>
>v 914 478 2896
>f 914 478 3856
>
>
>
>
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