Our Summer Cruise 2016

 

Monday, September 19 - Thursday, September 29

The Colonel's Inn served a fine breakfast for us before we were on our way for the drive to Maine which was uneventful except for some tree color beginning to show as we crossed the farmland of southern Quebec to Vermont and Northern Maine. Although it was only about 330 miles from Montreal to Brooklin, it takes about 8 hours without breaks. Northern Maine doesn't seem to have a major north to south road so you end up taking a number of small road through little towns and villages ...tough to average more than 40 mph. Navigation is not easy; plug in Montreal to Brooklin in any map app and you are likely to get a different answer each time. Use three apps and they all disagree! It wasn't unusual for the car's navigation system to say "Turn Left" while Maps on the iPhone was telling us "Turn Right". Maine's license plate should say "Maine - You Can't Get There From Here!".

We did take advantage of the scenery to stop at Granite Notch State Park for lunch close to the Screw Auger Falls.

Screw Auger Falls

Darkness had fallen by the time we arrived at Atlantic Boat so we clambered up the ladder, unlocked the boat and were soon in bed ... only 8:30 pm but we were still on boat time, awake at dawn and early to bed.

The Rest of the Week, Weekend,

We worked on the boat for much of the week: machine polishing and waxing the fiberglass; cleaning and waxing stainless steel; cleaning the interior; and Judy cleaned the dinghy up. It wasn't all work although it must have seemed like it to the guys from Atlantic Boat who offered us both jobs. We did some time off and had dinner with Nick Nickerson and his wife, Mary Ann, at the Brooklin Pub (very good place to eat). Nick was the Editor of Practical Sailor, spent 10 years building his own sailboat and then circumnavigated over a ten year period. He is now Chief Measurer for the America's Cup. Another evening, we were invited for drinks by another boater, Skip, and his wife, Janet.

We also met George Knapp and his wife, Cynthi, owners of a 32' Nordic Tug they store at Atlantic Boat and joined them for dinner. Both Skip and George have houses just down the road from Atlantic right on the water with spectacular views.

Friday was a rain day so we took the opportunity to visit the famous Wooden Boat Magazine Store in Brooklin and browsed their books, clothing, and tools. Just across the drive is the also famous Wooden Boat School. We were free to tour the facility where they were building several small boats and some stitch-and-glue kayaks. They are not a year-round school and focus more on 1, 2, and 3 week classes. The Brooklin Pub hosted us for another meal and we are getting like family there and now know the owner, Chip.

 

 

With Stephen's boat in temporary storage already, we covered it in plastic to protect all his good work and, after doing some final clean up on Monday morning on ours, got it mostly covered before the guys moved us into the shed where we finished it up. Another season done!!

 

With the dinghy on the trailer, I finally found the problem with the trailer lights that has been bugging me the last couple of times I had used it - a bad connector inside the tubing of the frame. There is something about trailer wiring; it just never seems reliable. With that fixed and the dinghy hooked up to the Land Rover, we took off for home and and, after a wandering route through Maine where we got to see Moosehead Lake just at dusk' we finally found somewhere to stay in Jackman, Maine, close to the border. I swear there is nothing in this northern area of Maine, except trees. We drove 40 miles and it was kind of spooky as we didn't see a single car. If something happened to our car, they might not find us for months as cell coverage was zero for much of the route. The other concern was moose signs every mile and moose/car accident numbers - not good!

Tuesday we headed for Quebec City and the new hull was waiting for us at Boulet Lemelin Yachts. Francis, the manager, had no problems with us putting a new Keelguard (protective strip) down the center of the hull and an hour later, we had the job done. We dropped by the Yacht Club to see Andre, the manager, and JoAnne, his assistant, and bring them up to date on our travels.

Since our schedule was very tentative, we dropped by Jacques and Silvie's B&B to see if they had a room for the night; fortunately they had one room available and we joined them for lunch before heading to the Quebec Beaux Artes Museum in the Park. This turned out to be a fine museum, focusing on Canadian artists (including Inuit artists). We easily spent four hours there.

 

Tuesday night we joined Silvie and Jacques and one of their guests from Japan in a do it yourself raclette dinner .... something new for us. Very enjoyable evening trying to talk with the Japanese guest via iTranslate and Google Translate.

Wednesday we left Quebec City after breakfast and made it to Toronto around 8:00pm to spend the night at Stephen and Fran's Enjoyed catching up with them and reflecting on our trip.

Thursday, 29th, at 1:30pm we crossed from Canada to the US over the Bluewater Bridge at Port Huron and have a very quick through Customs and Immigration;

Just About in the USA Here

we made it home around 3:30pm. Our trip had truly ended now!!!

Home Sweet Home!!

 

RECAP

• We left home on May 15 and arrived at our destination, Atlantic Boat, ME, on September 10 seventeen weeks later right in line with our tentative plan when we left.
• All three boats were still together, always a good sign. We are all still friends.
• We had no significant boat problems, just minor issues we were able to take care of.
• No damage was done to the boats or ourselves, although Bob's hip problem did cause him a lot of pain and limited his mobility. Bob toughed it out and will be a new man next week when he gets his new hip.
• We traveled 2598 nm or 2989 miles for the landlubbers.
• We ran our engine for 348 hours.
• Therefore, we averaged 7.46 knots for the trip.
• The generator ran for 42 hours.
• Need to work out fuel consumption yet.
• 8 nights on a mooring ball; 5 nights on a mooring dock; 20 nights at anchor; 85 nights at a dock and 1 night where we didn't stop.