Saturday, August 25 – Sunday, September 2, 2018
This week brought more family and friends aboard KATIE MACK. One day, my high school friend Carol, and her husband Nick were staying their friends Lynn and Dave on Little Deer Isle. We made arrangements to meet in Bass Harbor, and then we took them over to Black Island for a picnic aboard and a walk among the old quarry stones ashore. Bald eagles and fish farm pens. A lovely cruise. The next few days were spent readying ourselves for the passage down to Massachusetts.
On Saturday the 31st, it was time to start heading south. We cast off at 12:40 for the short cruise out the Western Way, across the bar at Bass Harbor Head Light, through Casco Passage, and partway up Eggemoggin Reach to Center Harbor.
You can see Brooklin Boatyard in the background. Founded in 1960 by writer EB White’s son, Joel, it continues to thrive under Joel’s son, Steven. So many beautiful boats in this harbor, so we rowed around to “oooh and ahhh” after our walk up to the Brooklin General Store for iced tea and an ice cream bar.
KATIE MACK
Later that evening, Bill Mayher, who often works with Benjamin Mendlowitz, the photographer for the WoodenBoat Calendar, rowed over from his classic Concordia yawl for a chat. Bill suggested we call Benjamin, which we did, and arranged for him to come by at 7:00 the next morning. The water was flat calm and the morning light was lovely. What a pleasure to see Benjamin at work, taking photographs from his sweet little ABACO. These calendars have graced our homes (including this one!) for as long as I can remember. No promises, but it would be awesome to find KATIE MACK in the 2020 calendar.
Speaking of Concordia yawls (photo), I saw my first one way back before Hugh and I were married, in Padanaram (South Dartmouth, MA) at the Concordia Co. yard where we kept and worked on Hugh’s first sailboat, TUKEY. There were 103 Concordia built between 1938 and 1966 — the first 4 were built at the Concordia yard, and the rest (mostly 39′ but twenty-six were 41′), were built by Abeking and Rasmussen in Germany. 102 of the 103 built are still sailing today, many in Maine. My heart sings every time I see one!
Next, we made our way back around to Blue Hill, where we anchored out at Hugh’s sister-in-law’s family place. She and Hugh’s brother came aboard for a dinner of BBQ ribs. We set up the folding table and chairs in the pilot house for the first time, and it helped to bear out a friend’s saying about the ideal RV: it sleeps 2, feeds 4, and entertains 6-8. The next day, we all drove over to the Blue Hill Fair and thoroughly enjoyed the sheep dog trials, fried dough, and cherry pie after lunch. More pie followed our lobster feast on the back porch, and then . . . then we went for the “pie-fecta”: pie for breakfast!