Portland Maine.

Splash Tango
Piers Lennox-King
Tue 13 Aug 2013 19:20

 

Haganes – Portland Maine . 

 

After having arrived in Freeport Bahamas on 15th April, the ongoing process of getting the old girl ready for the journey north and the side scan sonar project beyond that, seemed to take forever. Ready we eventually were though, minus the original engineer and cook (john and carol) and plus the inimitable bob from California. We had had the sonar crew out and tested the gear in the waters off Freeport and all went well so the plan was to meet them up in Portland Maine and 4 of us, self, ray, bob and Cecil the young Bahamian chap who’d joined us in Freeport as deck hand. We’d go without a cook. I precooked a bunch of meals which I put in the freezer, bought plenty of wrap and sandwich makings and cereal for breakfast and granola bars for snacks, a la sailing passage. What more could you need. On the day young Cecil turned up with his bag. He’d been AWOL the last few days so I hadn’t thought he was coming, but there he was keen as mustard – until his father who dropped him off asked me if I had organised his visa into the U.S. I said ‘he told me he had dual citizenship”. His father said no, his mother is a us citizen but he’s not. Turns out all he needed to have done was go to the police station and get a certificate saying he wasn’t a convicted felon and he could travel. Cost $5.00 and about 20 minutes. Anyway, it was Saturday and I said I wasn’t waiting until Monday for him to do that, so poor old C.J. had to stand on the dock with his suitcase and watch the remaining 3 of us disappear into the distance.

 

Email to the owners : cast off yesterday 0900hrs (sat 22nd June). One or 2 minor glitches but all under control. Sea moderate with 20 kts out of the ESE but a very lumpy swell giving this old girl the perfect opportunity to show off her ability to roll! 210nm last 24 hrs. All well aboard.

 

The trip north to Portland was uneventful to the point where we didn’t even catch a fish until we were out of the warm gulf stream, where you’d expect to catch them, and into cold green water off long island. That was a nice mahi-mahi which vindicated rays exorbitant expenditure on fishing lures prior to leaving.

 

Arrived Portland Friday 28th June 2013 at 0900hrs in thick fog and wove our way through a minefield of lobster pots in the channel. We were unable to get into Portland yacht services, the marina I had sourced as being the best for us, so we stayed instead at spring point marina in south Portland until Tuesday. A good marina but more expensive and no repair or work facilities there. We cleared customs after they came aboard and were fairly bullish in their determination that we were not allowed to work out of there. In any event we would have to clear in and out each departure and arrival.

 

Email to owners : you will be pleased to know we have arrived safely with a storm nipping at our heels. You will also be pleased to know that you captain has pulled one out of the bag. Utilising extraordinary skills in diplomacy and negotiation we are not only cleared in but can come and go on our survey work as we please without the need to clear in and out each time.

 

All well. Weather lousy.

 

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A couple of the gaffers that take people out on the harbour every day. With fort gorgeous in the background (named after Fernando gorgeous, a prominent American of the 17 hundreds).

 

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The ubiquitous lobster boat in the back ground. Mention lobster pots, everyone just says “welcome to Maine”.

 

 

We attracted quite a bit of attention here in Portland. My story to customs that the owners have been chartered by another operation to locate and identify a couple of ww2 wrecks off the coast, has been repeated to curious passers-by who are now convinced it is something to do with their beloved liberty ships (which were built here). As a result we started receiving excited enquiries from passers-by and a somewhat celebrity status. Although  becoming increasingly vague in the hope that interest would wain before the local media turns up for a local colour story, it was not to be. I spent some days looking over my shoulder dodging a very determined cardigan wearing editor of a local paper, who would come regularly to the boat looking for the captain, to get her scoop. At one point I had to tell her myself the captain was ashore for the time being. “He’s a New Zealander isn’t he?” She asked. “Yes ma’am he is”,  I said in my best southern drawl.

 

 

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Amistad – one of the square riggers moored alongside us in Portland Yacht Services marina.

 

 

 

Portland is a great place, very friendly people, an olde worlde atmosphere, some nice portside bars and restaurants and lousy weather. They say if you don’t like the weather in Maine, wait 5 minutes. I’ve heard that said in a lot of places, but none more true than in Portland Maine. A lot of old boats up here too, square riggers and old wooden yachts in immaculate condition. It’s probably why we attract a bit of attention here too, unlike a place like Ft. Lauderdale which is wall to wall “white” super yachts.

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Prowess – built in 1941 in Chicago. One of the yachts maintained by PYS. (Note the little fold out scuppers.)

 

 

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A cute little Hereshoff day sailer.

 

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Even the dinghies are cute.

 

The following Tuesday the sonar guys arrived and started sorting their kit. By the end of the week I had employed a local deck hand, living on his yacht at the marina and working with ‘sail Maine’ in Portland, and a cook by way of “Craig’s list”.  The later a young guy doing an economics degree with experience cooking buy not on a boat. In spite of my misgivings he convinced me he could do it and so far he is doing a great job, even if he does have a habit of disappearing when we get back to the dock.

 

So come the following Saturday we were provisioned fully crewed and ready to go in search of fame and fortune. We left the dock at 1200hrs and headed out into the Atlantic to defy logic and common sense by towing a bunch of very expensive electronic devises under the water, something most electronic devises have an aversion to.