Well I am just guessing but the varnished hatch slides for the main companionway let me know it is well before 1977 when a fire in the main cabin scorched that area. In the picture below I am also not seeing davits for the peapods that were towed behind the schooner or “hipped” clear of the water at the main shrouds in the early days. The fore sheet is well eased and the riffled water shows just a slight breeze.

In this picture we see what I am guessing may be the original wheel. (I think Mary Day is presently on her third wheel.) The steel folding chairs like the one next to the wheel were used for seating in the main cabin early on instead of the current day wooden stools.

The one thing that remains unchanged are the great smiles on everyones faces. The fun, relaxation and camaraderie of a windjammer cruise are timeless and will never go away.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Click here to answer some of life's burning questions.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/marydaysurvey

Good morning everyone,

You would think that after 50 years we would have some sense of what makes Mary Day so special to all of you. But that very question recently came up and we really didn’t have a good answer. We’ve never been guests on our own boat. What do we know? So we need your precious time and expertise to answer this riddle. As a token of our appreciation, anyone who completes the survey gets a free tin of Jen’s homemade beeswax hand salve OR a genuine stainless steel and virgin recycled plastic Mary Day travel mug. Bring the mug on a cruise and we’ll fill it with coffee and show you how to tie one of those cool turks head thingys around it. Jen’s hand salve is made with bees wax, coconut and olive oils, lavender and the healing powers of love. Which one you pick will be the toughest question in the survey. Thanks for you time and help.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

We were pretty excited to see mention of Mary Day’s 50th birthday in the latest Maine Windjammer Association Newsletter. I had been interviewed for the article but did not know exactly when it would be coming out. The more I talk about Mary Day’s 50th the more I understand her place in the fleet. The fleet of windjammers here in Maine is really what gives her context. I know we wouldn’t be here without the captains and crews that charted the waters of this business before us. Maintaining these vessels has huge financial challenges but in a day and age when not-for-profit vessels are struggling to stay afloat we are excited that this fleet of commercial sailing vessels here in Maine still holds there own.  It really is a remarkable story and we are proud that Mary Day is another chapter in the history of this fleet.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

50 years ago today Mary Day slid out of the shed at the Harvey F. Gamage

Shipyard in South Bristol, Maine marking the beginning of a whole new chapter in the history of the windjammer fleet. The Gamage yard had not launched a schooner since 1933 and Mary Day was the first commercial coasting schooner launched since 1938. That also makes her the first commercial coasting schooner launched in the second half of the 20th century and the first schooner ever launched for the windjammer passenger trade. There may be a few more firsts in there but that doesn’t really matter.

Happy Monday! Today’s Maine Maven is Captain Barry King, co-captain of the beautiful schooner Mary Day in Camden with his wife Captain Jennifer Martin.

Barry and Jen are both Coast Guard licensed masters and have extensive sailing and educational backgrounds. Barry has voyaged to Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, and along the Canadian maritimes to Newfoundland. Jen’s sailing career took her to Florida and the Bahamas before becoming captain of Figaro IV, a classic ocean racing yacht, here on the Maine coast.

Barry is a Registered Maine Guide, and a Nationally Registered Wilderness EMT. He also sails as an officer aboard the 1877 barque Elissa. Jen is a nationally certified Wilderness First Responder.

Jen and Barry met as students with the Audubon Society’s Expedition Institute while earning master degrees in experiential environmental education. This program gave them in-depth experience in a diversity of human and natural communities ranging from a sub-artic fishing village in Labrador to the native American desert southwest.

Captains Barry and Jen with their children Sawyer and Courtney aboard the schooner Mary Day

Barry and Jen were married aboard Mary Day and live year round in Maine with their children Sawyer and Courtney.

Combining their enthusiasm for people, wilderness, and beautiful traditional sailing vessels, Barry, Jen, Sawyer and Courtney will be happy to welcome you aboard.

1.) Barry, what differentiates Mary Day from other schooners in Maine?

Celebrating her 50th anniversary this year Mary Day was the first schooner built for the windjammer trade. She was built by people, for people and and has never done anything else.

With graduate degrees in education, our passion is to see our guests get involved to whatever extent they feel comfortable.

The cabins were built with passenger comfort in mind and feature skylights, 9′ of head room and a unique wood-fired heating system that keeps the accommodations warm and dry on those occasionally chilly evenings late in the sailing season. The main cabin features a fireplace and a 19th century parlor organ.

On deck Mary Day has large uncluttered decks with plenty of places to relax and cabin houses for laying in the sun with a good book. Unique to Mary Day is the big rocking chair back by the wheel which has become her symbol of the relaxation and comfort that we hope all guests find while they are aboard.

2.) What have you found is the largest obstacle to marketing schooner vacation trips and how do you address it?

The schooner Mary Day. Photo credit to Shannon Gallagher.

Unfortunately we are one of Maine’s best kept secrets.

In this day and age, an all -inclusive overnight adventure vacation like this is competing against the media hype surrounding large cruise ships, theme parks and well known shopping experiences with advertising budgets that we can only dream of.

Word of mouth advertising is our largest source of new guests and our highest compliment from the many returning guests we see every year.

New guests often wonder why they hadn’t heard of us sooner when they realize that there is this incredibly personal vacation aboard a historic schooner with the breathtaking scenery of the Maine coast only a short drive from several major population centers.

Like a good camping trip, we get people away from their cars and cares ashore back to a simpler way of life well off the beaten path but with some nice creature comforts, great home cooked meals and no leaky tent!

3.) What marketing tools do you utilize to spread the word about Mary Day? Does social media play a role in your work?

Frankly, we are living these dual lives with feet in two different centuries a hundred years apart.

Advertising through social media seems foreign to us when you consider that we spend a fair amount of our year on a 19th century sailing vessel. We are coming to realize that in order to compete with all of the other vacation opportunities out there that we have to let people know we exist through whatever outlets have our guests’ attention.

I started a blog back in 2007, the first year of which is still online, that gives a wonderful view into the lives of our family, our business, and the kind of experience we provide. At the time I didn’t know how to turn that into an advertising mechanism. It was mostly a chance to stay in touch with the guests we already had.

By opening ourselves up to today’s opportunities we can share our lives with our guests and they can share it with their friends who can pass it along to others.

We still don’t know how to make the most of the internet but that is why we work with Nancy Marshall and her talented staff. We have tried pay-per-click advertising and paying for links. Those certainly seem to have some rewards.

It seems odd that we, in a business that is all about sharing with people, haven’t embraced social media opportunities sooner that seem to need more creative attention than big wads of cash. You can find us on Facebook.

Unfortunately, we are just Mom and Pop raising two beautiful children and taking care of a historic schooner. Maintaining a balance is akin to the spinning plates in the Chinese circus. We run to the plate that seems to be wobbling the most and give it a whir before we run to the next one. We have found a whole new meaning for the word “breathtaking.”

Thanks so much to Nancy Marshall and her talented staff.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

If you haven’t seen this check it out! Alabama Ed has done a wonderful job putting together some compelling images and fun music. Thank you Ed! It has been a while since I have seen this and I forgot how much I enjoy it especially from the dead of winter.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Jen, Sawyer, Courtney and I wish you all the best in the year ahead. Of course tomorrow will not
be any different than today really but I like the the idea of starting anew with resolutions firmly in mind. Every new day is really the same. Don’t you think? I don’t know why I wait for December 31st to make my resolutions. So here is my resolution: To treat everyday like December 31st, all year long. Oh yeah, if you don’t mind me saying, I also resolve to go sailing as much as possible next summer. How about you? Anyone else up for a cruise? As my Dad always said,”it ain’t a dress rehearsal here folks.”

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

During one of our 6 day cruises in July 2010 I was up early one morning and caught a neat reflection of this good looking schooner in Great Cove off Brooklin, Maine. It is one of the loveliest schooners with a graceful sweeping sheer that goes on forever and lovely douglas fir spars that receive a good scraping and slushing every fall. I am a sucker for a beautiful windjammer.

OK, you schooner experts out there. Which windjammer is it?

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Be well. Do good.