Moving Downeast, the Old-Fashioned Way B y A n d r e w B r e e c e , D e v e lo pm e n t D i r e c to r
It feels just shy of a minor miracle to be writing this from my desk at the Maine Island Trail Association’s office in Portland. A little over a month ago, I was sitting at a different desk, one located in Mystic, Connecticut, trying to coordinate a move that would take me back to my home state and to a job I have long coveted: Development Director at MITA. Getting from there to here proved nearly as challenging as that old New England saying would have you believe. But in the end, I did get here! I have collected a car, a sailboat, and an above-average amount of “stuff” throughout my post-college years. So naturally, the two biggest questions facing me when I learned about my new job at MITA were, “What’s going to Portland?” and “How’s it getting there?” After sitting down and creating a moving priority list, I decided that the top three things to be moved were: 1. sailboat, 2. clothes, and 3. some personal items, including a computer and a few pieces of art. I realized I could work with this—and thus was born the notion of moving to my new home in Portland by boat.
An Unconventional Move
With only three days to sail my 1982 Shannon 38 cutter, Grace, from Connecticut to Maine, I knew that this would be no lazy pleasure cruise. After studying the charts, my route became apparent rather quickly: Day 1, Mystic, CT to Marion, MA; Day 2: Marion through the Cape Cod Canal to Gloucester, MA; and Day 3: Gloucester to our new home in Portland. “Okay,” I thought, “let’s do this!” Given the daunting stuff-to-space ratio, I had to get pretty creative with packing: favorite artwork in the quarter berth, suitcases of clothes in the sail lockers, and my ukulele stored in the v-berth. The day before departure, Thursday, September 5 to be exact, I filled both the diesel and water tanks, and fell asleep in the v-berth next to the ukulele. I drifted 14
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off feeling a kinship with the explorer Christopher Columbus—both of us would be voyaging to our new worlds by sail.
The Voyage Begins
The first two legs of the voyage went beautifully. From Mystic to Marion, the weather was perfect but the wind was light. Every time the boat would consistently drop below four knots, I would crank up the old diesel to keep boat speed up. A good friend lent me a mooring for the night in Marion, and by 6:30 the next morning, we were already underway. Following the advice of many wellseasoned sailors, I timed the tide and my transit of the Cape Cod Canal very carefully and managed to get it just right. Had I mistimed it, the Canal’s six-knot current would have perfectly counteracted Grace’s six-knot motoring speed, trapping me in the canal and greatly delaying my passage.
I drifted off feeling a kinship with the explorer Christopher Columbus — both of us would be voyaging to our new worlds by sail. Once out of the canal, with a beautiful 12- to 15-knot breeze out of the southwest, Grace was under full sail galloping closer to our final destination of Portland. At that point it dawned on me that I should probably check the weather. So with the VHF radio tuned into NOAA, I listened with mounting dread to the following day’s forecast: small craft advisory, winds 20 to 25 knots, with gusts to 30 knots, seas four to six feet. Very different from our current sailing conditions! I think it was Mark Twain who once said, “If you don’t like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes.” I learned on this voyage that the reverse is just as true!
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With knowledge of the deteriorating weather ahead, I decided to take advantage of the favorable conditions and sail past Gloucester. We pushed on another 25 miles to the Isles of Shoals and picked up a mooring off Smuttynose – appropriately the southernmost island on the Trail. We passed Gloucester at 8 p.m., and pulled into Smuttynose just after 11:00 p.m., having spent 16 hours underway. The v-berth never felt so comfortable!
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My White Squall Moment
Day 3, our final and shortest-distance day, was supposed to be our easiest day. Up and underway at 8 a.m., the conditions were somewhat surprising— no wind and flat calm seas. With the mainsail up, Grace and I were motoring peacefully towards Portland when, just like a scene out of the movie White Squall, the wind went from nothing to 25 knots off the beam. We made the most of the changing conditions: with the jib out, a reef in the main, and the engine off, we were making just shy of eight knots towards Portland, and the GPS had us getting to Cape Elizabeth by mid-afternoon—well ahead of schedule. All good things come to an end, however. And sure enough, the building winds slowly clocked around from the northwest to the north—the exact direction I was heading. The waves, too, shifted from four feet off the beam to six feet off the bow. With Grace sailing close hauled and pounding into these steep breaking waves, the ride became uncomfortable and our speed went from just shy of eight knots to just over two knots. My heart sank, and Portland now seemed like an increasingly distant destination.
Marking a Milestone
Grace’s 31-year-old, 40-horsepower Perkins 4.108 diesel engine, while reliable, is at this point too tired to push the 20,000 pound boat directly into high winds and steep waves.
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Wish List
Caring for the wild islands of the
The author aboard Grace transiting the Cape Cod Canal.
Trail can be tough work, and MITA is always thankful for the generosity of our friends in helping us get it done. Below is a current list of items we could use for our boats, in our office, or out on the islands. Please contact us if you’d like to donate any of the following. As always, thank you for your support!
Our only option was to sail–just like they did in the old days. I was forced to take very shallow tacks, causing our “distance made good”—that is, the distance in the direction of our final destination—to drop considerably. We were sailing northeast by east, and for every mile over the ground we sailed, we were getting closer to Portland by only 0.3 miles.
much more significant milestone than I originally had expected: not only did I successfully battle high winds and seas, but Grace and I finally arrived at our final destination, our new world, our new home.
Andrew now lives in the East End of
• Hand tools: clippers, loppers, foldable pruning saws
As they say, persistence pays off. And by 9 p.m.—six hours later than the GPS originally indicated—I rounded Cape Elizabeth and sailed to the entrance of Portland Harbor. Our arrival was a
exploring Casco Bay aboard Grace, he can
• Cookware for the island caretaker
FOR our boats
• Gaff/boat hook
• Throwable buoyant cushions
• Boat fenders suitable for skiffs
FOR THE trail
• Weed wrench or root talon
Portland. When not at his desk at MITA or
be found reading WoodenBoat magazine, alpine skiing, or applying a never ending
amount of varnish to Grace’s brightwork.
• Landscaping tools: leaf rake, flathead rake, spade shovel
FOR THE office
• Small/handheld vacuum
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