Debi and Jack sailing on SV Iroquois

After Pulpit Harbor we stopped at Warren Island state park for a night before checking into Belfast. Nate came by in his little boat and took us up river which was way cool. We passed some houseboats, one of which was covered in plants. He even had peas growing up the stanchions and lifelines.

12 July 2019 | Pulpit Harbor, North Haven, Maine

Pulpit Harbor

Iroquois is afloat again! We launched Wednesday in Rockport where we stayed all day readying and organizing. We had a nice get together and dinner in Camden with our Rockport friends then yesterday we did a shakedown sail to Pulpit Bay on North Haven. There was a light wind, 8-15 kts, so we put up the [...]

27 July 2018 | Lincolnville Maine

2018 The End

Iroquois is getting the full spa treatment. Every locker, cubby, lazarette, bilge emptied and cleaned. Varnish in and out. Metal cleaned. Winches serviced. Sails washed and repaired. The engine is serviced and winterized. Even the fuel is polished! The boat is going to enjoy a well-deserved rest in a [...]

05 July 2018 | Boothbay Harbor Maine

Boothbay Harbor

Our apologies for the lack of recent posts. We hung around Portland and Handy Boat -- visiting with family and friends and trying to adjust to a more land-based existence. Lily and Anthony came up for a Saturday dinner (oysters and lobster) aboard then sailed to our mooring at Handy Boat. The next weekend Zach and Maura came and we did the same thing. It was a pleasure to have Zach aboard for the first time. Thank you Maura! Hopefully it was enough fun they will want to come again. This past weekend the Garbers came and we did some sailing around Casco Bay. Lily was a good helmsman. She and Hubbard shared the duties. There wasn't much wind, but also no accidents. We had some great food in Portland, including two excellent meals at Fore Street, which did not disappoint. In between all the family visits we caught up with Stephanie and Brian on Detour. We met them on the OCC Norway Rally in 2016. They crossed over the next winter and spent last summer in Maine. They are just getting ready to take off on their next adventure as we wrap ours up. Hopefully they will have an excellent trip wherever the winds blow them. Handy Boat was very welcoming to us. It was fun to come back and see everyone who took such good care of us before our first Atlantic crossing. We also took in a concert by the Frank Vignola Hot Jazz Trio, which was really good and a nice break in routine. Yesterday we motor sailed and motored to Boothbay Harbor. We will stay here a few days and visit with John and Ann who live here. We met in the Bahamas when Ann greeted us with a freshly baked loaf of bread. We were hungry and tired after a six day passage from St Thomas and her bread is amazing. It's hard to repay something like that. Anyway, this is our last hurrah for the season. Saturday we'll stop in Rockland. Sunday we move to Rockport and prepare to get hauled out Monday morning. Then we'll start work on the long list of deferred maintenance and repairs. We plan to be home in Wisconsin by August.

17 June 2018 | Falmouth Foreside, Maine

The Atlantic Circle is Complete

We have completed the Atlantic circle. Today we sailed from Portland to Handy Boat in Falmouth Foreside with Lily and Anthony. Almost exactly three years ago we left here on a transatlantic adventure. It's hard to imagine and even to remember all the places we've seen and all the people we've met. We [...]

14 June 2018 | Portland Maine

BacK in Maine

Jack woke me at 4:20 this morning, claiming that it was light, and we left Portsmouth harbor a little while after along with a fishing boat. It started as a slow day of dodging lobster pots. Every time I get annoyed by them I try to think about how delicious lobster is. There are so many of them, either there are a lot of lobsters or there will soon be none. Somewhere between Portsmouth and Portland we heard a sound we haven't heard for a very long time, it was the call of a loon which brought smiles to our faces. The wind did pick up and it turned into a nice sail all the way to Portland Maine. This is only the second place we've been in four years that we have actually been to before. We also stopped twice in Bergen Norway. Anyway, we have certainly seen a lot of new places and the end of the journey is a little sad. Luckily Jack bought an oyster knife and we are docked near the fish market so we can treat ourselves and enjoy the moment.

Ready, Set, Go

14 May 2016 | Inverness Scotland

The warmest weather in the UK was on the Isle of Skye this past week, so we got on a train and went there. It was actually hot in the sun. The Isle of Skye rightly deserves its reputation as a magical place---really beautiful and diverse. It would be even more beautiful if not for the clearcutting. Ikea has bought up huge tracts of trees, that are owned by Scotland, as managed national forests. We were told it's a good thing because they plant two for every one they harvest and we were shown some plantings that were a few years old. The only thing is that I don't know if the speed at which they harvest matches the speed at which trees grow. In the harbor at Kyle of Lochash there was a Swedish ship almost full of logs. I'm guessing there is one being loaded there all the time. Hopefully Scotland is being rewarded adequately. In Portree we saw a Chilean Monkey Puzzle tree brought by a sea captain more than 100 years ago. We did have a really nice time with some gorgeous walks and ate lots of seafood. We stayed in a nice B&B in Plockton and slept in a real bed. There are actually palm trees in Plockton! While waiting for the bus in Portree we were sitting in the shade because we were a little overdressed for the temperature. A woman walked by in a sundress and laughed saying, "You can tell the locals because we're all naked today!". It was true, none of the tourists had summer clothes. A lot of ice cream was consumed. A policeman even went out for an ice cream cone run from the headquarters.

We got back to Inverness Thursday afternoon and spent Friday provisioning and getting ready to sail. Today we are doing laundry and since there wasn't anything else to work on Jack is making a bench/table for our cockpit. We plan to set sail tomorrow at 8am local time for Wick (leaving on the high tide). It looks like a 12-14 hour day. But the good thing about sailing in the north in the summer is that you don't have to worry so much about arriving after dark. The days are really long. After that we think we'll head to Kirkwall in the Orkneys, depending on how the west wind holds up. Then we'll see.

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