Precious days on the Maine coast. I soaked it all in. When a huge swell came in from one of the summer off-shore hurricanes, I couldn’t help but explore the outer edge of the offshore island of Isle Au Haut. What I saw was incredible and I wish someone had been with me to see it. Pictures and video did not do it justice and I did not want to get too distracted and end up in the wrong place. There was a long 16 second period, so it was not dangerous to me and Daphne unless we were caught somewhere shallow. When the swell hit a shoal, it would rise up to something from another world! It was like the water was being sucked skyward for a moment before it crested and broke in an amazing display of natural power. I was wishing I had some friends, a safety boat and a bunch of surfboards to scout a safe and small edge of one of these monsters. It was exciting just to imagine while I stayed safely offshore with Daphne. Around the southern end of Isle Au Haut and the display continued. Here the swell was unimpeded and thankfully, there was another boat out there so the swell could really be seen. It’s still hard to tell from the video but it was quite a sight and feeling to experience.
I made it to a safe harbor far away from the huge swell and tucked far inland to see my uncle Neil, who I had not seen in years! He had also been an Outward Bound instructor and we had much to catch up on while checking out each other boats. It was wonderful to see him and one of the highlights of the voyage.
After another fantastic day of wing foiling on the south side of the Fox Island Thoroughfare, I picked up my dad for a three day cruise. Years ago, Dad had earned high honors for being the only one available to pick up Daphne from Long Island and bring her back to New England. I remember him say, in the nicest way, “Well, if you can’t find anyone, I’m available.” The chief mate job fell to him and we had a blast. I realized we shared a love of maps, non-GPS navigation and both just love being at sea. He sailed again with me to bring Daphne from Massachusetts to Maine years ago and it was time for another round.
In short, we had the BEST time! We biked around North Haven and the following day, we had a glorious 30 nautical mile sail to Monhegan Island, explored the town a bit, had an incredible dinner and then had a wild 30 mile sail back to North Haven. The tide was against the waves so they were steep and occasionally, it felt like someone was dumping 5 gallon buckets into the cockpit. Throughout the soakings, and sometimes scary waves, Dad never complained one bit. It was an adventure filled day with sail changes and strong winds. We eventually tucked into the Muscle Ridge Channel in the fog and though we could not see it’s beauty, it was wonderful to not have the dinghy surfing down the waves behind us. All too soon Pops had to go, another adventure on Daphne in the books! Thank you Chief Mate, Tommy!
With only a few days left before Daphne got hauled out, I headed to Hurricane Island, where it all began to have a walk around. It had been years and it was a wonderful influx of memories of fun times with great people.
All to soon, it was time to switch gears. Daphne was pulled, cleaned and made ready for winter hibernation. It was a scramble as from the day of the pull, I only had a week before leaving for Antarctica.
