Casco Bay, ME

Today, I went sailing off of Portland on Casco Bay in Maine.  Joining me was Clint Chase, Boatbuilder who builds Goat Island Skiffs and cuts GIS kits for the homebuilder, amongst many other fabulous pleasure craft.  We had a delightful sail in light to an increasingly steadier sea breeze.  The pictures don't do the place justice, the water was cerulean, the sky deep blue, the clouds white... Casco Bay is amazing.  In the 60's era videos, Clint Chase Boatbuilder (yes, another shameless plug, this dude is the real deal) is skippering "I am Zinea, Pterodactylus" solo, while I took pictures from terra firma. 

Great Bay, NH

My sail is back, and apparently, it was cut just fine by Duckworks.  So now I have to figure out how to tension the lug rig right to get rid of some of those wrinkles.  An interesting rig, this lug rig.

Yesterday I did some sailing in Great Bay, a favorite sailing spot of mine.  Coincidentally, I ran into a CLC Jimmy Skiff "Life Goal #9" built in nearby Dover.  Unfortunately I left my camera at home, but "Life Goal #9" had one and took some of the first picture and video of my Goat Island Skiff putting along.

Thanks Ron!

Sail modifications

My Goat Island Skiff is now without power, since I sent the sail back to Texas to be modified.

The designer of the boat (Storer) and the sailmaker came to the conclusion that the sail has been mistakenly cut wrong.  This conclusion was reached well over a month ago while I was trying to figure out how to get rid of all those wrinkles in the sail.  See this post.  The foot needs some adjustment, and the throat-head-peak area needs to be a little fuller.  That's OK, things happen, I'm not sweating it, I still managed to get in many exciting days of sailing.  I think I'm around 20 or more now.

Duckworks has been extremely apologetic, prompt, and polite about the whole thing, and the sail should be in Texas now as I type.  I was able to send it back at my convenience, and they accommodated me on my own schedule.  Hopefully it'll be back next week, and the sailing adventures will continue!  Stay tuned!

Too bad, I'm missing out on a great day today!

Connecticut River, Long Island Sound, Connecticut River

Sailing up river from Old Saybrook to Essex, with the Baldwin Bridge (I-95) to our south:

 Sailing the mouth of the Connecticut River and into Long Island Sound for a day of beach cruising and fishing:

 Sailing up-river from Essex to Deep River, and back again:

Lunchtime

Hauling Out

I direct you to this thread for Haul-Out techniques and discussion.  The thread does not start at haul out techniques but transitions to it.  Below is my first attempt at hauling out my Goat Island Skiff to a location that will keep her off the rocks, but keep me from swimming in grassy waters or wading up to my waste in mud depending on the tides.  Basically, its a way for a voyaging sailing dinghy to access unfriendly places without undo damage to her hull.

Here I am hauled out at high tide...

...and low tide...

As you can see, I set one anchor, and to it attach a loop of line that will be secured ashore.  The skiff is tied to the loop and can be hauled in.  Again, I strongly encourage the intrepid reader to read the above linked post for more details and minutiae on this theory.

And now some VIDEO!  Goat Island Skiff Amateur Style is hitting the silver utubes screen!  This is really the epitome of dorkiness as this blog, these videos, and myself attest.  I'm a little loud initially near the camera, but then not so loud later, so have your finger on the volume button.  All taken with my little point and click camera.

Haul Out!  The Automaton Goat Island Skiff!



Haul In!



YEAH!

Isles of Shoals

From here to here and back again.  20+ kts of Westerly winds, 3-4 foot swells.  An adventure.