Gloucester, Massachusetts
31 August 2015
Captain Cheryl "Bligh" Allen.
I was crew this summer. Leaving KR bobbing quietly in Round Pond harbor, I moved aboard Evergreen (Cheryl's lovely Cape Dory 31) with my popcorn popper and requisite bread, muffin, scone and cookie baking utensils and supplies - and other, less important cruising gear like foulies etc. Off we cruised around the central Maine coast - as far as Mt. Dessert and Acadia, but mostly doing laps around Penobscot Bay.
Many cool stories from this summer will go un-chronicled in this blog due to my decision to put it on hiatus. I'll tell them often, however, and they will therefore live on (in infamy, perhaps). The stories include (but are not limited to) nighttime close encounters of the Cape Dory kind, aggressive sheep, a rail to rail sail by with a square rigged tall ship (all sails flying!), good times with old friends and new, steel pan band concerts (in Maine?), blueberries, gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, beautiful and rugged rocky coasts and foggy days with views as if from inside a ping pong ball. In other words, just your average, spectacular Maine summer cruise.
I do love cruising Maine!
As for our Captain, she proved to be capable, fun and an altogether great companion. Crew whippings were rare and only used to improve morale.
It is important to note, however, that the day we sailed up Eggemoggin Reach it would have been more accurate to call it Eggemoggin BEAT! And we did beat - all of 22 tacks. Cheryl apparently did not know that cruisers ALWAYS start the engine when the wind is forward of the beam. The crew's plaintive protestations were ignored.
As further evidence of the "Bligh" syndrome, we short tacked through the Western Way into SW Harbor with strong winds and at least a knot of foul current directly on the bow.
Hard work. Good Though!
Kidding aside, I had a wonderful summer, the highlight of which was simply that I got to spend so much time with Cheryl. She is a gracious hostess, a cool lady, a good sailor and, most importantly, an extraordinary friend.
Thank you.