Maine Windjammer Blog

Go Big, Go Windjammin’

Capt. Barry — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:14:37 +0000

Good afternoon everybody. So as you can see I have a new toy, a GoPro camera so get yourselves ready for some new perspectives on windjamming. The 170 degree field of view is fun and certainly gives folks the big picture. The movie mode is awesome. Don’t think you won’t be seeing some cool footage from the bow while we are out sailing. Of course there are quite a few pixels in this tiny little box so it will take some gezhuntering to get it right. It is fun to see the world through the lens of a new camera. As Jim Dugan always preaches on our Nature/Photography Cruises some of the coolest pictures are those that are taken from perspectives from which we do not normally see life. And isn’t that just a great message for the day, eh?

Enjoy these. The smiling glasses gal is Morgan, deckhand extraordinaire aboard Mary Day this summer. The figure head would be Brendan who is helping fit-out the Lewis R French. And Amber is hanging cat like on the cat head painting that cute little star. Nice touch!

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Heartbreak Hill

Capt. Barry — Sun, 06 May 2012 11:32:01 +0000

Good morning everyone. The Boston marathon has one famous hill that seems to challenge runners the most, Heartbreak Hill. Odd thing is Heartbreak Hill is only 4/10s of a mile long and only gains about 88 feet in elevation. As pure numbers this famous hill isn’t all that big. The challenge of Heartbreak Hill lies in where it is encountered in the course. By the time runners get to the bottom of the hill they are facing “the wall”. Muscle energy is at a minimum and runners “hit the wall.”

Fitting out a schooner is not all that different. With 14 days before we board guests we are challenged with the same wall. It is sometime difficult to see the finish line from where we are. It may even feel like an uphill climb. But a “second wind” is a wonderful energizer to see us through to the finish.

Sailing early has its rewards but free time is not one of them. I can “taste” the bay. We will be one of the few sailing vessels out there and the spring wildlife always makes my heart stir. Winter ducks like the pintail (old squaw) ducks are still in the outer harbor. With just a few more days of painting the hull in front of us we will then turn to sprucing up the accommodations. By next weekend cabins will be made, small boats launched, and we will be bending on sail. It will all be a blur but with the amazing people we have working with us I have no doubts that we will be ready on time.
Here are a few shots from our latest haul out at the ship yard.

Have a great day. Be well Do good.

Jim and Nadie pushing seam cement into the bottom of Mary Day and still smiling!

Uncovered

Capt. Barry — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:02:40 +0000

A calm morning to begin taking the winter cover off

Good morning everyone. Today a storm is ripping its way up the East coast bringing some much needed rain to Maine and the rest of New England. It has been drier than a boot around these parts. It has been so dry that the waterfall in Camden has been running at a slow trickle these past few weeks.

The first piece gets cut away letting in fresh air and sunlight.

Taking the winter cover off

As you can see the crew took the cover off on Friday and Saturday was devoted to rigging, hanging blocks aloft, end for ending and rigging halyards and restoring the main boom to it summer position in her quarter lifts. We also took advantage of Saturday morning’s calm and spun the schooner so she is headed bow out. I lost count of the number of times I came aboard and started for the wrong end being so used to winter bow in configuration.

Rigging the main throat block at the mast head

The Wayback Machine

Capt. Barry — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:21:54 +0000

Harvey Gamage aboard Mary Day alongside the recently launched Shenandoah, 1964

Good morning everyone. I took a trip in the wayback machine this weekend. All winter I have been planing to go visit Havilah Hawkins, Jr., son of Havilah Hawkins Sr. who designed Mary Day. Finally I went down to the Hawkins family house in Sedgewick Saturday to visit. We spent 4 hours pouring through dozens and dozens of photographs from the early days of the schooner. I wished I had a tape recorder running. Just the same, I have a lot to share. Jen and I are scanning like crazy with dueling scanners going in two rooms. I am not certain what will become of all of this. Our goal for now is to get it scanned so that it is at least preserved and available for folks to pick through.

I know I am projecting but Harvey Gamage appears to be a lean, strong man. The year is 1964 and Shenandoah has recently been launched and her masts are stepped. The Hawkins and Bob Douglas were already dear friends. Buds sailed Mary Day from Camden to the Gamage Shipyard at South Bristol just for the occasion. Note that Mary Day is all white. She has lost the black bulwarks of 1962 and the black sheer stripe of 1963.

Mary-Day-alongside-Shenandoah at the Gamage Shipyard, 1964

Do you have any old photos out there? We would love to see them.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Hoops in Space

Capt. Barry — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:51:23 +0000

Good morning everyone. Its hump day and we have been hard at it this week. Katie, the varnish queen, hasn’t left the loft of the barn in days. Spreading varnish like a mad woman she is. She took the camera up there a few days ago and this is what she saw. It is like a whole new galaxy in space with planets floating everywhere. (OK, that is what I see. Like a Rorschach ink blot, maybe you see something different?) It really is a shame that these go 80 – 100 feet up in the air and no one ever sees the perfection of finish that Katie has applied. Katie tells me she is incredibly happy with the knowledge that her perfection is not always visible to the rest of the universe. Hmmmmm…

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Escape to the Islands, Ayuh

Capt. Barry — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 11:33:47 +0000

Good morning everyone. The hot weather of this past week has finally broken as a weak cold front passed over the state of Maine last night. Thankfully the temperature this morning is a much more comfortable 43 degrees so I can type without breaking a sweat. Every window in the house is wide open. We are still trying to cool off.

Escape the Heat

So my question to both of the people reading this is, if it is this hot now how are you ever going to cool off this summer? I have the same answer the big cruise ships advertise. Escape to the islands. The islands of Maine that is. When I drove in to the boat yesterday I was hit by a wall of cool air as I crested the hill just a few blocks from the harbor. The temperature must have dropped a good 20 degrees and the relief was palpable, still t-shirt and shorts weather as far as I am concerned. Of course, it is 43 degrees with all the windows open so take that from whence it comes. All the same, I think it is going to be a barn burner this summer so pack your duffle bags and escape to the islands of Maine. But don’t expect the natives to say “Ya mahn”, just “ayuh”.

By the away, how hot did it get this week where you live? I know we set some records here in Maine. How about your town?

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Home Made Maple Syrup- Part II

Capt. Barry — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 11:29:16 +0000

Good morning everyone. Here is the second (and final) installment of “Home Made Maple Syrup” from the global headquarters of Dog Slobber Productions. Here is a link to the first one, Tapping Maples, just in case you missed it or you can’t sleep. We had fun doing this off-the-cuff video about how we make syrup. Look ma, no script! It just goes to prove that even a windjammer captain can be taught to do simple tasks. Thanks to staff cinematographers Jen and Katie. Thanks to the beautiful weather, in particular the cold nights and warm days that make the sap run and give us all the warm feeling of hope that gets us through mud season. Rest assured that no maples were irreparably harmed in the making of these videos.

Our home made sap boiler.

Disclaimer 1: There other ways to collect and cook down your maple sap. This just happens to be how one highly untrained hack who can’t even perform his own stunts does it while his poor, long suffering wife and kids watch in head-shaking wonder.

Disclaimer B: Please, don’t don’t take his word for it. Go out there and give it a whack yourself and let the world know how you did.

Final Disclaimer: The management, staff and underwriters at the global headquarters of Dog Slobber Productions take no responsibility for the images and opinions expressed here or how good your maple syrup tastes nor should anything Capt. Barry King says or does be taken seriously. He is not a trained professional and should probably not be allowed to appear in public, let alone this cheap, no budget, home spun production that he insists has some feeble relationship to humor.

Well enjoy this video. Better yet come sailing and enjoy the real thing!

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Push away from the desk…

Capt. Barry — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:20:00 +0000

Good morning everyone. We have been pounding away in the office trying to recover from computer upgrades. That was a real big setback in our world but we think we getting the better of it all. During a break in the action I told Jen she ought to get out and take the camera to capture a little bit of the beautiful day we had. Spring was definitely in the air yesterday but as we New Englanders know from experience, spring comes in fleeting, bashful moments when it first arrives. Here are just a few of the cool shots she took. So my message to all you today, push away from the desk and no one will get hurt! Get out and ramble around for just a few moments. Take a camera as an excuse to try to really notice the gently unfolding signs of spring. I think if I have taken anything away from one of our Nature/Photography cruises it is that a camera is a great tool for looking more closely at the natural world that we can so easily walk right by.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Maple Tappin’ Time

Capt. Barry — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 12:33:39 +0000

Good morning everyone. Spring is beginning to claw its way into mid-coast Maine and the urge to tap our maples became overwhelming yesterday afternoon. We must have picked the right day because the sap was immediately flowing from the holes we drilled. Last night was quite cool and today’s temperatures are supposed to be in the low 40s; perfect conditions for the sap to flow vigorously. We store the sap in trash cans buried in a snow bank and start to boil when we get 40 gallons. That amount should yield a gallon of the sweetest syrup to greet our taste buds. Pancakes anyone? We can’t wait!

Peekie boo!

Old Timey Pictures

Capt. Barry — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:55:36 +0000

Good morning everyone. We are indebted to Nancy Asin who sailed in Mary Day with Capt. Hawkins back in 19??.

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.