Sailing Maine - Supporting the Wonders of Acadia National Park
The office of Oceanum Vela is also the boat I live on, Acedia, a Freedom 38. After some isolation due to Covid and spring work on the boat, we scooted up to Portland, ME from our winter berth in Kittery, ME the later part of May. Since the Maine Coast has always been talked up as a highly sought cruising ground, I figured since Covid was wrecking havoc on the rest of the US and we were building business and brand to have our products Made in Maine, it only made sense to sail more north than we had ever sailed together, Acedia and I.
Soon after landing in the anchorage off East End Park, Portland, Maine, I noticed an absurd amount of floating plastic marine debris! We were in Maine! Flip flops, food wrappers, styrofoam, food wrappers, buoys, fishing gear, parts of floating docks, boat shrinkwrap, food wrappers, plastic bottles, oil rags, beer cans, food wrappers, more fishing gear. I even was able to pull a 55gal black plastic drum out of the water to keep onboard to use a collection receptacle for all this floating by the anchorage marine debris. It was quite the site and it was incredible, I was able to fill the drum up in 25 days, with just stuff I found floating through the anchorage.
After sitting in fog for what seemingly was for weeks, the weather turned and the forecast was for decent to fantastic winds from the south to make a trip northeast or down east it is called here in Maine. It had been our mission to get further down Maine when the sew shop that was taking on making race sail products for us closed down due to Covid. Our sewer, Sam, was based much further north, so we set out to get our materials up to him and start making designs and products for a few orders we had coming in. Mid July, we set out for an incredible 3 day journey to make the commute less relentless.
We took off from Portland after provisioning, filling our tanks with water, and donating our trash receptacle to the very friendly South Portland Marina who insisted they had fisherman friends who would be interested in the bait trap and barrel. After a beautiful full day on a beam reach, we first overnighted on Monhegan Island as it was a logical, yet rolly stop as the southerlies are brutal in the island’s only harbor is south exposed. The next day was really memorable as we started heading up toward the islands versus being in undisturbed offshore sailing conditions to be sure we could be back in communication; as our first day out, we had spotty cell phone reception and on Monhegan, there was no way to call in to let anyone we were safe for the night.
What a compromise from being offshore to being with phone service! We were screaming downwind north of Matinicus Island when we snagged a lobster buoy, it was inevitable in the minefield of minefields of lobster traps! Well, the boat snagged a trap and immediately wanted to round up into the wind but because the sails were so far out, it could only manage a beam reach which made Acedia go even faster as the winds were increasing this early afternoon. As a result, we were heading right toward a small island made up of mostly rocky coast; I seemingly needed to reef and sheet in and steer hard to starboard all at the same time as we were screaming toward these rocks; fast. Trying to manage to just turn the boat back from which we came to unsnag the trap was failing miserably when my brain said, crap there are no flippin’ brakes on a boat, how does one stop a boat STAT, the trap was not even beginning to slow us down! So my brain finally translated needing “breaks” into “blowing the halyards” to drop the sails and I saw we were meters from rocks and in a bit over 2 meters of water, meaning the bottom of the boat had a meter of clearance, I turned on the engine, prayed to the spaghetti gods that I wasn’t going to immediately foul the prop, and then threw the engine in reverse full throttled, which ever so gratefully, kept the boat from disaster! Well, pop, the lobster buoy untangled from the rudder and we were free. Just as we were away from disaster a kind lobsterman came full throttle to come help in the situation, or came at speed to just offer me an award of a really nice looking lobster! Four lobster bouy snags later, no dives in the blood curdlying cold water, no cutting lobster trap lines, no fouled props and no smashing the boat into rocks; I now consider myself a pro at unsnagging those traps!
This night we pulled over in the southeast corner of Isle of Haut as the winds had died and I was a bit exhausted, so we made due with a make shift anchorage. Little did I know, we had made it – we were anchored off Acadia National Park! It seemed as if it was mission accomplished that we had finally gotten Acedia to Acadia.
The next day was slow but eventful. As we pressed on toward the main park area of Mount Desert Island, we starting to see a lot of marine debris again; balloons, fishing gear, 5 gal bucket lids, etc. As we approached Crow Island, the porpoises came out to play and we saw the sweetest seal sitting out on a lone rock dancing and posing with it’s tail curled up, a very sweetest of welcomes to the inner islands toward Mount Desert Island (MDI). We spotted a few loons and the sweet smells of the islands filled the air with fragrances, grasses, blueberry bushes, beach roses and pines.
Upon landing in Northeast Harbor, MDI, Maine, home of the main lands of Acadia National Park, we came across an important organization helping to maintain this breath taking beauty we sailed into. Friends of Acadia run multiple programs to help protect and care for the park full of mountains to hike, coves and lakes to explore, trails to ride, and much more. Since Acadia has been a dream to sail to, we wanted to help support those that have helped keep its culture and beauty alive. We have donated our most loved bag, the 3DI Carbon Race Sail Racer Duffle to the help raise funds for the good work of Friends of Acadia through their Annual Benefit and silent auction held on August 8, 2020.
“Friends of Acadia preserves, protects, and promotes stewardship of the outstanding natural beauty, ecological vitality, and distinctive cultural resources of Acadia National Park and surrounding communities for the inspiration and enjoyment of current and future generations.”
Since our arrival to Great Harbor, we’ve sailed up a fjord, seen seals swimming butterfly style- imagine if they had longer arms, more loons off the boat in the morning, a bald eagle soaring the coast and then right over Acedia, more porpoises coming right up to us on a harbor tour, a cruise up the fjord for sunset dinner over looking the fjord and Somes Sound, and now look forward to the hiking and biking trails!
Written by Melissa Kalicin, Oceanum Vela Founder