The Angelique, too

if not a schooner
a ketch

Technically, a ketch rather than a schooner.
the Angelique a beautiful ketch

at anchor nearby
rust-colored sails
quite distinctive

yes, ketch that

everyone else went ashore in the yawl
to the boat school etc.

Brooklin

just me and the crew left aboard

someone in a white sweatshirt

jumping rope on the dock
the sound of the slapping rope
across the water
caught my attention

finally wearing my new hoodie
with its kangaroo pocket

learned that phrase yesterday

Joe bought the E.B. White democracy book while ashore
after hearing us discuss the author
(the son became a famed boat builder)

boat school temp tattoos stamped
on other passengers, crew

we’re leaving the Angelique at anchor

Fire on board

Wooden sailing vessels traditionally had only one fire onboard, the cook’s stove. I can’t imagine how cold sailors, much less passengers, were through most of the year.

Windjammers hew to that tradition.

a wooden sailing vessel
with a wood-fired cook stove
and kerosine lanterns

two iceboxes

Smoke from the cookstove goes
into a T-shaped chimney vent

don’t get too close

“Smokestack,” not “chimney”
maybe “noble Charlie”

A sense of Lake Meddybemps

Sunrise County is laced with big lakes. In fact, 21 percent of it 3,258 square miles is water, including streams of all sizes, bogs and flowages, and ponds.

The largest lake, Meddybemps, covers more than 27 square miles within four towns, reaches a maximum depth of 58 feet, is dotted with islands, and is famed for its smallmouth bass fishing.

Light on winter ice provides a unique clarity in perceiving the lake’s profile, seen in part here from State Route 214.

Hoisting the sail

perfect weather, sunny, 60s
a knot = 1.1 mph

a little more up
meaning into the wind

luffing, meaning chuffing in the sheets

no sea legs yet
wobbly

even on calm seas

bit queasy
edge of mal de mer?

slow lull

slow sun

will I feel a late-season burn?

“all on the bowline, we sing that melody
like all good sailors do when they’re faraway at sea”
a song our Dylan doesn’t know
in his impressive repertoire
a generational gap

116th Street Blues, starts out with Captain Ahab
then more nautical lines

find your own style

it’s an active experience
just relax

Time to meet her, the Louis R. French

So who was Louis Robbins French?
Father of the three sons
who built this in South Bristol, Maine

The French is docked at the left of the Mary Day in Camden, Maine.

The French is 101 feet overall, 65 feet on deck, with 19 feet of beam, as the brochure proclaims. She draws 7.5 feet with a full keel. A proven vessel in all conditions, she is a nifty and quick sailor, having won the Great Schooner Race many times. The French has also participated in recent Tall Ships gatherings in Boston. It spent part of its life based out of Lubec just south of Eastport.

The quarterboard carries the name proudly.

the French was largely stripped and gutted
and rebuilt for passengers
what’s left?

As my buddy Peter grinned at me at the end of our week:

“Your first love. You never forget.”