There are many reasons why we enjoy cruising in northern climates, one of which is to avoid hurricanes that are more prevalent in the southeastern USA and Caribbean. WRONG! Hurricane Lee, one of the worst this year, is bearing down on New England and Nova Scotia, and should hit us Saturday morning.
This hastened the end of our cruise, but fortunately we were near Yankee Boatyard in Yarmouth, ME, which we had fortuitously chosen for the winter. Yarmouth is several miles up the Royal River so it offers good protection from the ocean. However, it’s still concerning as the river is known to flood, causing surges in the other direction. We were able to get into Yankee earlier than planned and have been extremely impressed with the yard. The entire team came by to introduce themselves and they are working very hard to pull out all of the larger boats, including True North. We got the sails and canvas down Wednesday, and planned to empty the boat Thursday in order to be hauled out later in the day or Friday morning. Much to our surprise, early Thursday while still in pajamas, one of the yard crew came aboard wanting to decommission the boat. He didn’t know we were still living aboard. We pleaded to have a few more hours, which were reluctantly granted, and we worked our a**es off moving our life from the boat to our U-Haul van. Sails, canvas, cushions, clothing (including Sandy’s extensive wardrobe), leftover food, books, computers, guitar, etc. all had to go. Fortunately, it was high tide so the ramp from the floating dock to land was more or less horizontal, whereas at low tide, it’s a very steep climb that’s treacherous when pushing a cart full of stuff.
By noon, we had it all done and handed True North over to the capable care of Yankee Boatyard. We had some trepidation as it’s the first time she will be wintering away from Rochester, and we are entrusting her to others (Dan was used to maintaining her himself).
To add to the emotions of the day, we bid farewell to our flotilla friends, Jon and Cheri, with whom we had a nice reunion in Yarmouth Wednesday evening. But it was bittersweet, as they had to head in search of a hurricane hole to ride out the storm. We look forward to hearing about their ongoing adventure to the Bahamas and hopefully we’ll meet up again soon.
We decided to stay in the area until the storm passes to check on the boat, so we are now safely anchored in a Hampton Inn near the boatyard. We’re a little disoriented from this abrupt transition, and feel like fish out of water.
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