Sailing in Maine #
a Cruiser’s Paradise
#
Story and photos by Craig Ligibel
##Students from the Wooden Boat School sail the 11-meter friendship sloop, Gladiator. Photo courtesy of the Wooden Boat School
##Little Cranberry Island dock.
##Lobsters ready on deck.
Take your time, and don’t let the clock dictate your itinerary…
F
ew places in the world offer the cruising sailor the diversity of on-water experiences combined with hundreds of picturesque villages for on-land exploration as does the rocky coast of Maine. In fact, many veteran Maine cruisers call the area around Penobscot Bay “the greatest cruising ground in the world.”
Maine’s coastline runs 320 miles from north to south and encompasses more than 3500 miles of tidal shoreline with more than 5000 coves, bays, and backwaters. In contemplating a Maine cruising vacation, Chesapeake Bay sailors have a number of options before them:
Take your own boat. For those of you who itch to take your own boat to Maine, there are a number of resources to guide you in your planning. Chesapeake Bay sailor Paul Cammaroto who has made the trip more than a half-dozen times recommends Hank and Jan Taft’s “A Cruising Guide to the Maine SpinSheet.com June 2020 41