Enjoying Maine

We've been n Maine over a week now and it has been very eventful. We came here for a rendezvous of Island Packet yacht owners by the New England dealer for IP, Norm Pierce and his wonderful wife Mary. Norm is a legend in IP circles and a Godfather to IP owners in the Northeast. Every other year since back in the early 80's he has sponsored the rendezvous to promote the brand and help IP owners.

Norm Pierce in he lower photo and Norm helping me bend on the sails.

At the rendezvous we got to meet and chat with many other IP owners. We also got to eat a lot of lobster. But more importantly we were able to share in Norm's vast experience trove to help build our own knowledge base. Beyond that, Boothbay Harbor was a wonderful place to visit. Many people from throughout the Northeast region of the country come to Boothbay to spend a week in the summer. So we were just another tourist couple enjoying the village. We had all the excursion boats pass us 3 or 4 times a day taking loads of tourist out to see the ocean.

Yesterday (Thursday) Norm helped me tune the rig. Last Fall when we stepped the mast and set up the rig we set all the stays to factory settings using the Loos gauge. But, sailing and time cause the rig to change. On Sunday I checked all the stays and most were way off. The worst were probably the backstays but tightening them caused the mast to bend. In race boats that is common but in a boat with in-mast furling it is not good. So we examined the forestay and decided to replace the tangs that held the furler to the deck fitting. The ones on the boat were 8" and we replaced them with 7" ones. That gave us more room to work the other fittings. After numerous adjustments we finally got the rig where all the stays were giving us good readings and the rig was tuned.

Today when we sailed to our current berth the boat sailed well and the rigging felt good. The wind was very light but we saved a few gallons of diesel and enjoyed the sea as we always do. When we turned up into the bay tat led to the St George River we popped the spinnaker and slowly sailed through the ocean of lobster pots as thick as fleas on a dog. Are there really that many lobsters or is every lobster fisherman in town trying to keep the others from catching the one lobster down there?

On the way we caught up with one of our friends from the rendezvous, Jim and Carla from Denver in their IP 380 Shadowfax and we did a photo shoot of each other's boat.

Well the end to another day of enjoying this beautiful country and the sea. If it weren't so cold we might stay here longer.