As published by “The Star Valley Independent” September 22, 2011
"Fair Winds and Following Seas"
By Pat Harris

The ship’s radio bellered: Commercial shipping traffic approaching buoy 5TB… inbound… Penobscot Bay shipping channel… standing by channels one five…one six. The clarity of the message and the very professional voice sent shivers up our spines. Either he has a very strong radio or we are very close! Lorrie was plotting our position on paper charts while I was using satellite and radar navigation at the helm. Buoy 5TB and “Mr. Big Ship” were just a couple of hundred yards off our starboard side, on the portside was the “clang clang” of a buoy and the ominous sound of crashing waves against a rocky shore. To really add to the fun, visibility was less than one hundred feet, the closely spaced lobster pot buoys would appear suddenly out of the fog, causing us to travel the pattern of a snake, much like a dangerous game of high stakes of Tetris. Several times we would pick up other vessels on our radar and make evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision just to see them “ghost by” at the edge of visibility in the pea soup fog.
“We are in the big time now… I guess this is where we find if were cut out to be mariners” I said to the first mate (My wife Lorrie). We traveled on passing buoys with horns, gongs, bells, each marked on the charts with distinctly different sounds to guide the fog bound mariner away from danger and to safe harbor. A couple of hours later, Lorrie saw a flashing light that cut through the fog and was brighter with each passing moment. Perhaps we had run into the rocks, or “Mr. Big Ship” had run us over and we had perished. Was this the Archangel Michael guiding us to the Pearly gates… actually it was the “Owl Head Light house’ marking the entrance to Rockland Harbor, Maine. We now see Light houses not just for post cards, but in a completely different light, if you will!
Our journey to complete our trek from Key West Florida to Maine began where it ended, Deltaville Virginia. Last September, after our journey to the Bahamas, we put” Godspeed” (our 35’ Endeavour sloop) to bed for the winter and vowed to be back. After returning from a Wyoming winter, we spent several weeks preparing her which included: new navigation electronics, radar, state of the art solar power system provided by Peter Hatcher of Alpine Wyoming, and the usual bottom paint etc. that goes into a vessel for re-commissioning.
July 1st we slipped the dock lines in Deltaville and sailed North into the Chesapeake Bay, transited the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and into the Delaware Bay. With Delaware on the port side, Maryland on the starboard, a Nuclear power plant looming off the bow, we sailed through the Delaware Bay and into the open Atlantic Ocean to Cape May New Jersey. This leg of the trip went smoothly and we caught and feasted on several Blue fish along the way. The lust for fresh seafood began as we gorged on our all-time favorite “the Chesapeake Blue Crab”.
The next leg began in the evening as we sailed through the night along the New Jersey Coast with our new cruising friends on the sailing vessel “River Rat”. We ghosted along through the night about a half mile apart, keeping each other company on the radio and watching the lights of Atlantic City slowly appear on the bow and slip away on the stern. Shortly after sunrise, the skyline of Manhattan appeared. We set the hook (anchor) in Sandy Hook, NJ awaiting the arrival of our son Dylan.
Sailing by Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty struck an emotional chord as we traveled the same path of generations of immigrants. Manhattan seemed to rise straight up out of the water as we headed up the Hudson River. We moored close to a subway terminal where it was quick and easy to explore the city. Dylan arrived and we were New Yorkers for a week, seeing all we could. Godspeed lay on a mooring and was a great refuge to dinghy home to her when city life was overwhelming. Sailing in and out of New York Harbor is quite an experience. The volume of large vessel traffic is very intimidating for a crew from Wyoming but we pulled it off.
We watched the Big Apple disappear as we traveled through the notorious Hell Gate with its extreme currents, comparable to navigating the Snake river in a 20,000 pound sailboat, and then into Long Island Sound. Lobster pot buoys began to dot the water adding a new unwelcomed hazard to navigation. The states get kind of small around there. We realized later that we anchored in a different state five consecutive nights in a row…in a sailboat…that moves about 7 knots (8 mph).
After a couple of days seafood lust, we found clamming on the shores of Massachusetts quite rewarding, we passed through Cape Cod and sailed into Boston harbor that afternoon. Once again we had a front row seat to the city, only a five minute walk from our mooring and we were on the Wharf. “How about those Red Sox” That evening the captain rested while Lorrie and Dylan Took in an exciting game at Fenway Park. After a couple of days enjoying Boston we waived goodbye to Dylan and continued North to New Hampshire and into the cool waters of Maine.
Maine’s marine wildlife is something to behold. On our first day of sailing we had several whales around us, big Bluefin Tuna tearing the water apart and passing through the air like missiles at times while voraciously feeding close by. Dolphins were constantly checking us out, while seals surfaced and would bask and stare at Godspeed as she silently slipped by. Eastern Egg Island host the southernmost colony of the Atlantic Puffin for only a short time while they breed and have their young and then they spend their lives at sea, We sailed by to see if they were home and their bright red feet and beaks gave them away. The young were in groups on the water and the adults were having words with the sea gulls on land. We were treated to see this rare site that can only be seen from the water in a private vessel. The Ocean is alive!
If given lemons, make lemonade! After a hard day of dodging those never ending lobsterpot buoys we decided to partake on what was at the other end of the line. Anchored in Boothbay Harbor, we were directed to by locals to the dock where the lobstermen unloaded. We tied our dinghy up to the dock and watched as one crate of bugs (Lobsters) after another swing by on a crane onto pallets to be processed or shipped live all over the world. We had to time the swinging crates and make a run for the office. We walked in and ask how much for a bug?…five dollars each…great we will take four please! That was three weeks ago and every little port seems to have about the same thing going on if you just follow the incoming lobster boats. The seafood lust continues!
Bet you did not know there is mountain climbing in Maine. While touring Acadia National park we climbed Dorr Mountain (elevation 1270 feet) and lorrie got into Maine’s blue berries and has not stopped yet.
Who is the captain of the boat? Not Pat or Lorrie but the weather. Hurricane Irene was not a surprise to us as the weather report is taken with the first cup of coffee in morning and reviewed just before retiring to the cabin at night. So when she came to visit we had plan A, B, through-Z. We went with plan A and took Godspeed into a little “Hurricane Hole” which was well protected by land on 3.5 out of 4 directions. It was (Say this five times real fast) in the Penobscot Bay up Eggemoggin Reach behind the bar in the Benjamin River. Irene was losing strength and falling apart so we decided to stay onboard for the fun. Lorrie watched movies all day while I read books and was tracking conditions on the internet. The local people were fantastic, they offered us shelter in their homes and use of a car if needed and gave us fresh vegetables from their gardens. Plan B was to abandon ship which we were fully prepared to do at any time but it was not necessary. There were some rolly times in the middle of the night as Godspeed slugged it out with Irene as the winds and seas passed through the unprotected .5 direction. Snug in our Hurricane Hole it was mostly a non-event, we have weathered worse in the Bahamas and were blessed to find this sheltered haven.
We are once again back in Booth Bay Harbor, Maine awaiting favorable winds to ride south. South is not a place but just a direction!

Blue crab earings!



All U can eat blue crabs!!!



Is this right?



New navigational stuff.



Worlds problems...solved!



Chow Time



Boston, Check out Godspeeds location... sweet!


Dylan "Koolin' It"



Clam Bake tonight!



Coney Island hot dogs anyone? Yea, we had some and they were GOOD!



Central Park



Father, son, central Park, how sweet!!!



Subway! We did this every day for a week to get around. A bit different than we are used to OK considering where we were.



New York "Under Sail" if you will.



Our evening "Clam Bake"




High tide... check next picture.



Low tide! Same exact spot six hours later-12 foot tide.



victims



Ten dollar dinner! not each...total...well I did not figure in lorrie's butter...so more, lot's more!


Lobster Trap buoys everywhere along with lobster boats! No respect for channels



I see the light. Portsmouth Harbor light, New Hampshire



We saw over half of Maine's 68 lighthouses. Owl Head Light, Rockland, ME



Acadia National Park, Mount Desert, Maine

Pirate Attack!

You all said it was going to happen and it did! We arrived at Godspeed a couple of weeks later than we wanted with at least 2 weeks of work to do to her. Mainly improvements and routine vessel maintenance. It was during this period it happened! You may not know it but my favorite food "Hands Down" is the Chesapeake Blue Crab.
It was a hot day and Lorrie was at the pool while I slaved away on Godspeed. We had a dozen blue crabs in the fridge just waiting to be cracked when they came. Swashbucklers wheeling mighty swords and hoglegs demanding blue crabs. I offered money and jewels but they said the weak dollar and all... just give us the blue crabs. Harrowing to think that they will attack a vessel on land and get away with the booty! Lorrie doesn't believe me... AGAIN!
Anyway, July 1st we slipped the lines and headed for Reedville VA. It was a little scary for the first two miles as we motored out of the harbor and into the Cheasapeake Bay. We had not done this mariner thing for eight months. Crabpots everywhere and those annoying waves just keep on coming. Nerves were on edge when it suddenly happened, We chilled and did what we have done for thousands of miles, we hoisted the sails and it was all good with the world.
Reedville was a great "time machine". We stepped onto the dock and into the sixties. We had a soft crab sandwich for lunch and unfolded our new folding circus bikes and went on tour. There was a great fireworks show in the harbor that night and a parade the next day. We had homemade ice cream on main street and giggled with the locals until the fireworks started, which we took in on the dock sitting by some local families.
Life is good today!
They don't call her Godspeed for nothin'. We knocked off close to a hundred nautical miles the next day and anchored in Annapolis VA up Weems Creek, a rocks throw from the Naval Academy. Our good cruising friends Jim, Joanne, and Meagan the cat stopped their cruise there but it was great for us to see them. Loads of fun and they carried us all over shopping for provisions, etc. Thanks guys!
Oh, bye the way we had blue crabs... no pirates...dollar getting stronger I guess!
We knocked off another big day and...