End of season 2022

 Blueberry pie

The quiet, sunny and practically windless morning provided an opportunity to swim. It also provided a chance for David and Peter to make a blueberry pie. We had plenty of berries left over, so David devised a brilliant plan to eat them all. The oven on the boat is not nearly as powerful as the oven at home, so it took quite a bit of time, which David used to go for a swim.

Margot and Mabry took the dinghy around the cove, Irina unsuccessfully tried to fish while chatting with Alla. When the pie was ready, we ate it for lunch. 

Jewell Island

Despite the promise of wind inside the cove and discernible wind along a narrow passage toward the open water, Poseidon went on a long break 5 minutes after we turned the engine off. We even swapped the genoa to code-0 to see if the boat speed would go up, but at 1.5 knots there was no way we could cover the  6 miles to our destination in a reasonable time. So we had to motor again.

We dropped the anchor at low tide, so David took Irina and Alla to Little Jewell to search for mussels. The rest of the crew got ready for a walk to the bunker and making fire. With enough mussels in a bucket, Irina and I set out to the island in search of a fire pit. There was a large group of boys with adult chaperons, so we couldn’t use the closest fire pit, but when I discovered that I forgot a lighter, they lent us one to start the fire.

One of the things we wanted to do was to burn a birch log that Irina bought when we still had the old boat to have a romantic fire somewhere on a shoreline. After 6 hours of salty drying, the log finally was used the way it was intended. It took a while to get it started, but ultimately when the flames started breaking through the slits in the middle it was fun to watch.

I looked periodically at the rising tide and realised that the dinghy was by now floating. It was tied to a big rock, so it couldn’t go anywhere, but the shape of the shore (a flat beach that abruptly ends with a steep rock) meant that I’d have to wade in water to get it. Indeed the water was above my knees, but at least I didn’t have to swim.

Mark and the kids were in the first party. It was dark and the fog set in. The first significant fog in almost a a month of cruising Maine! Salty Ginger did not have any lights on, and nothing aboard was reflecting our light, but when we got closer we saw an eerie outline of the hull and the standing rigging which was getting crisper and clearer as we approached the boat. When we got back again with Irina, Alla and David the masthead light and the lights in the cabin provided a very different look, but made it a lot easier to find the boat.

Mark cooked a black bean Mexican-inspired soup, and even though we weren’t that hungry all of it was eaten before we headed to bed.

Good bye, Salty Ginger

All adventures have to come to an end. And in order to have a good start to next season, Salty Ginger needed to get cleaned up for the winter on the hard. We left the cove at 8. Irina and Alla prepared breakfast while we were motoring towards Maine Yacht Center in Portland. After a fumbled attempt at pulling into the slip, which was saved by the owner of the neighbouring boat (thank you, Stephen!), we quickly ate and set to work. In the next 5 hours a lot of things happened: sheets and towels got washed, the sails got taken down, dinghy washed and folded, hydrogenerator and wind vane taken down, everything inside got washed, water system prepared for winterisation, and so on. Needless to say, we will be grateful at the beginning of next season that the boat is in such a clean state!

The most painful pat of this exercise was Irina getting stung by a wasp on her foot. A few of them were circling the boat and Irina accidentally stepped onto one that flew into the cabin.

Much later than desired, we pulled into the driveway of Irina’s brother’s house. Sergey and Masha prepared a feast which we complimented with the seafood that Irina harvested in the previous 2 days.

It’s a bittersweet moment, stepping off the boat after it served as such a wonderful means of enabling us to explore the coast. We all learned something, we all disliked some things and loved many other things. We made mistakes and yet did most planning right. I had a fulfilling vacation, having completely forgotten about work and most everything that is happening in Zurich. What sort of cruising we can do next year? Time will tell…