Day 79 – Portland… We Made It!

We left Harpswell in thick fog and went through the maze of Casco Bay Islands, lobster traps and increasing vessel traffic as we approached the city.

In the movies, when a sailboat arrives after completing a circumnavigation or winning a major offshore race, she’s greeted by a parade of well-wishers, with fireworks, cheering and blasting horns, while the crew squirts champagne all over each other.

Well our arrival was somewhat anticlimactic. First of all, we crossed the Portland harbor in fog so thick that we couldn’t even see the town. Visibility was so bad, we had a close encounter with David Geffen’s 454 ft (138 m) yacht, Rising Sun, which was tied up just outside the marina we were approaching and appeared out of the fog about 50 yards in front of us. Nobody knew we were arriving so there was no welcome fleet. And who wants champagne at 11:00 in the morning?

But for us, the arrival was an important moment as it capped off a great adventure and we arrived feeling proud, yet somewhat sad that it was coming to an end.

We enjoyed an afternoon wandering around Portland’s waterfront and old town. We had a very enjoyable evening with Larry and Elisabeth, a couple of Great Lakes sailors who plan to do the Down East Circle Route next year and who had contacted us a while back to share best practices. They were visiting Maine by land to scope it out for their upcoming cruise. Delicious lobster rolls (the best yet) were enjoyed by all around at Luke’s Lobster. They are a very nice couple and we thought they were more than ready to take on the challenge.

We have one more day in Portland before we move True North to Yankee Boatyard in Yarmouth, ME. There we will get her ready to haul-out. There’s quite a lot to do. For example, we have to remove the sails and canvas, service the engine and the dinghy outboard, treat the fuel, remove our personal belongings and remaining supplies. All of the fresh water systems need to be winterized, but only after she’s up on land and we’re not sure exactly when that will occur.

We’ve rented a U-Haul van to get everything back to Rochester.

We also need to prepare for Hurricane Lee, which is forecast to pass right over Yarmouth on Saturday. It will lose some of its bite by then, but we could encounter winds up to 60 knots. Yikes!