By Bob Rainey

Early September is a great time of year to sail the coast of Maine, as the mosquitos and black flies have been taken care of by the colder nights. We were looking forward to boarding our boats on Saturday around noon, so many of us started the drive from New Jersey on Friday and stopped to see family or friends along the way. Some of us stopped at the L. L. Bean flagship store in Freeport, Maine to browse the isles and ponder whether we would need any of the gear glaring at us from the shelves. We did not all get away empty handed.

Six of the twelve crew spent the night at a small motel in Brunswick, Maine. The Traveller’s Inn was only a short distance off
I-95, had a complimentary breakfast, and Rockland was only about an hour east for the morning’s drive. Reading the brochures at the motel front desk, Mary Ann found Seadog Brewing Company in the next town over. Mia, Mary Ann, Linda, and Bob enjoyed a seafood dinner with an enjoyable sampling of craft beers. We recognized a familiar car in the motel parking lot when we returned, aided by the New Jersey plates, and discovered that Don and Ilene had arrived in our absence.

We got a relaxed start on Saturday morning to finish the journey east to Johanson Boat Works at their new location in Journey’s End Marina North. This is a very small “marina” surrounded by commercial fishing operations that made it hard to find, even when only 100 yards away from it. I am sure many of us called the Johanson office and spoke with one of the Johanson family members to get guided in for the last minute of the drive. We arrived to find our two boats being washed and checked prior to our boarding.

The classic boats were a beautiful sight. Sojourner, a Pearson 43 of 1969 vintage and Elusive, a C&C 40 of 1980 vintage, started their lives as the Johanson family’s cruising and racing boats. The woodwork above and below decks on both boats was painstakingly maintained. We loaded our gear and provisions and got the boat checkout tour from one of the Johanson nephews. All of the boats are kept on moorings about a mile from the dock and just brought in for cleaning and loading. Once we explained that we had no plans to start our voyage to an unknown anchorage at 3 p.m., we were permitted to stay at the dock for the night. Shore power lines were connected to provide heat, microwaves, and device charging. We knew going into this trip that a lot has changed in boat design between the 1970s and 2014. Many of us knew the narrow stern of the earlier designs was going to limit stowage space. Aboard Elusive this was highlighted when we actually started to figure out how we were going to get everything on board and still have the berths available to use for sleeping. It was a cozy fit. Sojourner’s layout offered more storage space and less of a challenge.

Some of us walked up to a local seafood shack and had lobster rolls to hold us over until diner. Life is good. On our way back one of the locals suggested where the preferred parking spots were. We must have looked puzzled because he went on to explain that boats unloading at the commercial fish packing plant attract thousands of seagulls. We now understood that the preferred parking was as far away from the plant as one could get to avoid coming back from a week of sailing to find a white car. We heeded his advice and had no problems.

Sojourner and Elusive fired up their engine driven refrigeration systems to help cool down the newly loaded food. During Elusive’s checkout we were informed never to run the compressor for more than thirty minutes at a time, at this time of year once a day was all that was usually needed. The compressor made a funny rattle when first engaged but settled down after a couple of minutes and by thirty minutes the cooling plate had a nice layer of ice on it. Things were looking good. After stowing some additional items and relaxing in the cockpits we discussed dinner possibilities. Don and Ilene had been researching this and suggested a small restaurant in Rockland; both boats agreed and reservations were made. We arrived at Café Miranda to see the open kitchen and a menu with about a hundred entrees. Everything was cooked to order from very fresh ingredients. How they handled such an extensive menu in such a small kitchen was a topic of discussion. They pulled it off, and I would definitely visit them again. We went back to the boats to prepare for an exciting day of sailing on Sunday morning.

Sunday’s sail was to one of the less visited areas of Acadia National Park. We kept Vinalhaven to our port and continued on to Duck Harbor on Isle au Haut. This is a very small harbor with room for about four boats to anchor. Although a ferry regularly visits the dock in the harbor, across the entrance for about a half mile off shore lay a minefield of lobster trap markers. First Sojourner picked her way through, watching the bottom rise up and the traps get denser. They thinned out beyond the dock, but so did the water. This is one of the reasons we did not want to sail here late on a Saturday; our chances of finding our way in and finding the harbor empty were much better on a Sunday evening in September than a Saturday night. Even so, Sojourner’s skipper and crew despaired of finding enough space to anchor between the ferry dock, the lobster pot minefield that seeped into the harbor, and the shallows. Elusive took a turn, gingerly poking her bow in adjacent to the dock and beyond the last of the lobster hazards. Watching the depth gauge they puttered around the likely anchorage area, then dropped the hook. Encouraged, Sojourner followed suit, ending up rafted to Elusive with a lobster trap just astern.

Once anchored, a party decided to head ashore to walk some of the trails of Acadia. Those left on board promised to have appetizers ready when they returned. The last ferry of the day arrived to pick up the last of the park day visitors. It was very peaceful at this small harbor with only two boats in addition to ours. Appetizers were made, but the hikers -- Mary Ann, Linda, Don, Ilene, Kathy, Merrill, and Henry -- did not return. It’s an island… how can they get too lost? Rather than let the appetizers get cold, those on-board ate, but did save some stuffed mushrooms for the wayward hikers. After three hours they returned and it was hard to get a straight answer from them, but somewhere along the way they made a wrong turn and doubled back to make their walk longer than expected. No harm, and a fine dinner was had by all.

Monday continued with fair weather and a brisk wind from the southeast. We had a long sail ahead of us to Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island (pronounced dessert by the locals). We originally had dock reservations at the Bar Harbor Municipal Pier but inconsistent information about showers caused us to change our reservations to the very elegant Harborside Hotel and Marina. More on this later. We got away from the peaceful harbor and ate breakfast under power while the refrigerator compressors worked their magic. Elusive was about a mile off shore when copious amounts of blue smoke started pouring out of the cabin. The engine was shut down and inspected to find the compressor had seized. Apparently the two minute rattle at the start of its cycle was a death rattle. Attempts were made to contact Johanson but we did not have reliable cell service and there was no answer on the VHF. We pressed on and had a great sail east with Elusive holding its own with the longer Sojourner. That is until the close reach became a beat, at which point Elusive had a fair amount of leeward slip. We were informed during checkout that the centerboard on Elusive was now fixed and there was no adjustment. It only dawned on us now that it was fixed in the fully up position. Fortunately this was the only hard beat of the trip and Elusive had to motor sail to Bar Harbor in Sojourner’s wake. Well that is an exaggeration since we could barely see Sojourner on the horizon; we just assume there was a wake. Once we obtained cell service, Elusive got a call in to Johanson. The owner, Peter, was surprised we had trouble with the compressor because it had seized and he thought it had been removed from the boat. He had the new one in his office. He did offer to pay for any ice we needed to buy. We were fortunate that this time of year the ice we bought at Bar Harbor lasted the rest of the trip. Elusive did not suffer and beer remained cold while ice for drinks abounded without technology. This does point out some shortcomings on Elusive’s preventative maintenance. It seems that over the years, if something broke and was not essential, it was removed from the boat. These items included the second fuel tank, leaving just one twenty gallon tank suitable for racing but quite small for cruising. The bow water tank and autohelm were also removed for similar reasons. This left Elusive in a trim that was close to its original IOR racer/cruiser concept. Sojourner did not have these issues and was truly a fantastic classic yacht.

The approach to Bar Harbor’s Harborside Hotel and Marina was during low tide and the tidal range was about thirteen feet. The charts did not show an excess of water but it was possible to find a path to the dock. What the charts did not show was the silt that had built up astern of the docked whale watcher super cats with newly installed jet pump drives. Elusive’s centerboard fully up position came in handy for the approach to Harborside. Sojourner’s deeper keel did not, and she scraped once while astern of the super cats and once again right at the end of the dock. Once docked, shorelines attached, and registration taken care of, we had the run of the place. This included two pools, two hot tubs, tennis courts, luxurious showers, and plenty of grounds to walk about without actually visiting Bar Harbor. Dinner was on board since during planning we didn’t know what time we would arrive.

Tuesday was a lay day. Some walked about Bar Harbor, some rode bicycles. Mia, Helen, and Bob took on the task of finding a dozen live lobsters for the following evening’s dinner. We found a place about a mile out of town and started walking. Mia called to confirm they were open and the proprietress gave her clear directions, sounding hesitant about our visit. Then she said that she’d give us a ride back to the marina after we made our purchase. With our bags of live seafood we accepted her offer rather than make the trudge back. The owner put a small sign up: “Be back in a minute,” and proceeded to drive us back to the boats. The traffic in Bar Harbor is a little crowded when a cruise ship is moored so the round trip took much more than a minute.

I now know that when keeping live lobsters on ice, one must be very careful to keep the lobsters on the ice and nowhere near water so they can breathe. The coolers were rigged with empty cans and both boats had success in keeping the lobsters fresh and feisty for dinner the next evening. We hadn’t noticed any fuel signs on our way in on Monday and after asking around we learned that the Harbor Master also owns the whale watcher super-cats and the fueling facility. A phone call to him confirmed that fueling could not occur when the launches were loading passengers to take to the cruise ships due to safety regulations. The fuel dock was used for many purposes, including the whale watcher fleet. We were told that the last launch would load around 4 p.m. so to wait for his call when it was time to come over to get fuel. Of course we were approaching low tide and had to pass near the super-cats once again. Sojourner skipped the project, having a larger fuel tank. Elusive had no problem making the round trip. Tuesday night was dinner ashore and we walked in the opposite direction to the cruise ship dock to find a very nice restaurant, The Side Street Café.

Wednesday morning we left our resort early to get underway to Buck’s Harbor, Cape Rosier. It was a great day of sailing with beam reaches. As they sailed up Eggemoggin Reach, the crew of Sojourner set up the stern-mounted grill and had a lunch of hamburgers with toasted buns and all the trimmings. Both boats made the long trip in good time and with little fuel use, other than for the propane grill.

Buck’s Harbor is a popular spot and the charts show most of it is private moorings with a small protected area for anchoring. We discovered that the moorings have multiplied and there really isn’t any place to anchor. Fortunately mid-week in the off season there were moorings available. We picked up two owned by Buck’s Harbor Marine. Dinner was on board and consisted of lobster. It was quite a feast. After dinner some volunteers took the dinghys ashore to Buck’s Harbor Marine to dispose of the remains from dinner. During this trip to shore it was discovered that Buck’s Harbor Marine has sailboats to charter. This might be a place to investigate for a future trip. The harbor was secure and picturesque.

Thursday morning we watched the passengers from a schooner row their launch to the dock under the direction of two young crew. They did not appear to appreciate Mia’s shouted “Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!” as they passed by. Timing it to avoid the schooner launch, Sojourner dropped the mooring and went over to the dock to top off the fuel tank while Elusive’s crew made ready to sail.

Both boats enjoyed a relaxed sail to Belfast, one of the shorter legs of the trip. The wind was blowing about twenty-five knots from the north. As we cleared Turtle Head off of Islesboro Island, the clouds won and we had some heavy rain during an exhilarating ride to Belfast. We docked at Belfast Municipal Landing and the facilities were quite a comfort after the short wet sail. There was a bit of excitement at the landing as right before we arrived a boat being hauled on a trailer somehow ended up submerged in about fifteen feet of water. The water was very clear so we had a good view of the sunken treasure.

Belfast is the home of Past Commodore Cecile McKenzie and she invited crews to come up to her place and take showers. Some took her up on the offer but the Municipal Landing facilities were very nice and capable of handling a bigger crowd. Clean and dry we met with Cecile at Weathervane Seafood Restaurant and had a great dinner catching up on old times.

Friday morning met us with the realization that our sailing voyage in Maine only had twenty-four hours remaining. We sailed to Cradle Cove on Seven Hundred Acre Island. It was a great sail and we found moorings provided by a yacht club some distance away. We were prepared to pay should we be asked. We had a perfect sunset to enjoy our cockpit cocktails.

Saturday morning was an early one as we needed to get back to Rockland and unload the boats as most of us were driving home that day. The wind was mostly from the north and we had a nice broad reach to bring us home. Johansen surprised us by having us return to the moorings about a mile from the dock. It took several launch trips per boat to get everything ashore. Once ashore we said our goodbyes and headed back home with thoughts that the October trip was not that far away.