July 19 | 14.3 Nautical Miles

As many of my readers know, my friend Tim Lackey, of Glissando fame, is busy building a house this summer, and so did not even put his boat in the water. I had mentioned that I would be happy to take him out for a sail if he wanted, and with a perfect weather forecast for Wednesday the 19th, and a bit of coersion from me, he decided to take me up on the offer.

At noon we met at PYC, grabbed some ice, and headed out to the boat. Within a few minutes beers were iced and gear was stowed, and by 1220 we were casting off the mooring and sailing out of the mooring field. The forecast had been for a relatively light northeasterly, but we found that a reasonable southwesterly seabreeze had filled in at 12 to 15 knots. What a shame!

We unfurled the jib and made a course between Basket Island and Clapboard Island towards Little Chebeague. Soon I turned the helm over to Tim so that he could enjoy sailing the boat and I could enjoy the unusual experience of riding on my boat. I went forward to take some pictures of the sails and scenery, while Tim drove us on toward Little Chebeague.

Tim suggested that we drive over the sand bar separating Chebeage and Little Chebeage, but I vetoed that option and instead we tacked for a lovely close reach towards Portland. The wind and weather were perfect—high 70s, dry air, perfect seabreeze, and just a few puffy white clouds in a bright blue sky. I sure felt like a real heel for dragging Tim away from sanding ceilings in his new house for this terrible day.

As is normal in Casco Bay on a Wednesday afternoon, there were few other boats to be seen besides a couple of lobster boats and a Coast Guard vessel which was anchored south of Clapboard Island peforming some drill or other.

We continued on our perfect close reach toward Portland, continually lamenting the horrible situation in which we found ourselves. I admit it: we were insufferably smug! But with Tim's boat out of the water, and the long parade of rainy and overly-windy days that had marked the early summer, we both were really enjoying what was finally a perfect sailing day.

As we neared Portland Harbor, we passed behind an anchored tug and barge then continued our perfect course right up the river until we were almost abeam the Maine State Pier before tacking for a lovely reach back the way we had come.

We enjoyed a beautiful beam-to-broad reach all the way back along the shores of the Diamond Islands, across the Hussey and back toward Little Chebeague, at which point we began to develop a powerful thirst. And so we gybed around and sailed back past the northern end of Clapboard. Tim remained at the helm and did an admirable job of bringing us up to the mooring with just the perfect touch for an under-sail pickup.

We were back on the mooring at 1510 and soon had icy Mt. Gay and Tonics in our hands while we enjoyed some fine cheeses at the mooring. Neither of us had any pressing engagements until evening, so we spent a couple of very enjoyable hours chatting and relaxing in the cockpit. Eventually however, we did have to pack up and call the launch, marking the end of a perfect afternoon on the water.