Debi and Jack sailing on SV Iroquois

Vessel Name: Iroquois
Vessel Make/Model: Ohlson38
Crew: Jack Markin, Debi Dennis
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21 July 2019 | Belfast Maine
12 July 2019 | Pulpit Harbor, North Haven, Maine
27 July 2018 | Lincolnville Maine
05 July 2018 | Boothbay Harbor Maine
17 June 2018 | Falmouth Foreside, Maine
14 June 2018 | Portland Maine
12 June 2018 | Portsmouth New Hampshire
10 June 2018 | Jamestown CT
07 June 2018 | New Haven CT
30 May 2018 | Port Washington New York
27 May 2018 | Brooklyn New York
25 May 2018 | Atlantic City, New Jersey
24 May 2018 | Cape May NJ
23 May 2018 | Worton Creek
21 May 2018 | Annapolis Maryland
16 May 2018 | Solomons Island Maryland
13 May 2018 | Deltaville Virginia
11 May 2018 | Cape Charles Virginia
09 May 2018 | Hampton Virginia
06 May 2018 | Hampton Virginia
Recent Blog Posts
21 July 2019 | Belfast Maine

Belfast Maine

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.

Halten

10 July 2016 | Halten Norway
Debi Dennis Jack Markin
Star Date 9-7-16 (how many blogs make the same joke) Halten Norway 64 degrees 10.2 minutes N, 09 degrees 24.7 minutes E In most blogs we try to describe the place but with Halten that will not be possible so the longitude and latitude have been noted so that Google Earth can be used to see the layout of the islands, and their location with respect to the mainland can be sort of understood. Last night we met our friends from Brittany at a place called Villa Havn which the harbor guide describes as having an end of the earth feeling. If that is the case then Halten is from another planet. There is a feeling of isolation and independence, from the mainland, but at the same time anything that is not fish must be brought from the mainland. We find this place enchanting yet sort of scary, in the sense that it is out of time and alone. At Vila Havn we tied up to the quay which meant that we had to account for the 2.5m tide change, a skill we should have acquired by now but because of anchoring and floating pontoons had not. Gilles showed us how to use long spring lines to do the trick. After sharing our version of traditional Norway (aquavit and air dried lamb) with them, they gave us crab salad and fish they had caught. It was excellent and a pleasure to have met such generous and kind people on the other side of the world. Today we sailed and motor sailed with the wind about forty miles to Halten. Halten is a collection of islands that at one time (perhaps 100 years ago) hosted a seasonal fishing community of around 1000. It would have been wall to wall buildings and people to do so. The boats were so thick that it was possible to walk between the islands on them. The fishing season was between January and March, which meant that the occupation was cold, hard, dangerous and brutal. The fishermen lived and worked 8 to a crew, the fishing shanties also had one woman who cooked and ? for the eight men. Even today the islands have no electricity, sewage or water system. Rain water is collected and stored for all uses, but not public drinking water. The locals do drink it. If this is the case now think of the conditions when 1000 people lived and worked here 80 years ago. There is no internet and our phones do not get service, although the people at the place where we ate were watching TV and using the internet, perhaps they have a booster like we have at home. As we came into this very shallow and rock strewn location a young man waved us to a pontoon where we could tie up. He invited us to look at the museum and the guest house. There are a number of descendants cottages on the islands that are now summer only homes. There is a "B&B" where we ate a meal of fish cakes (made today with Pollack), boiled potatoes, Carrots, turnip and cabbage in a cream sauce and bacon chunks. The young man is from Germany and we also met a woman who is from the Netherlands, both are now living in Norway, which seems to be in some regards a land of opportunity or at least space. Halten itself has an unworldly feeling. First of all because there are so few people, I would estimate that at this point in time there are less then 15 including ourselves. We are the only visiting boat. The pontoon is covered with Guillemots, they are related to Puffins, they are roundish, black with a white patch on their wings and they have orange/red feet, they lay their eggs on/in the rocks of the breakwater. There are also puffin nesting grounds on the island across from us. We are now too far south for the midnight sun, there will be dusk and soon even dark, both of us are sad that this enchanted time has ended for us. I think that when one sleeps during the time of never dark, always light and without dark shades that the nature of dreams change. It is as though there are dreams of sleeping in the light and dreams of sleeping in the dark. when we have internet I will see if there have been any studies done in the Nordic dream laboratories.
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