
Driving backwards, and some hiking
We all slept in after a late night of cocktails, Cutthroat Euchre, and Frustration (both excellent card games!) Except Cecelia. She got up and made herself a bowl of cereal since we were all still snoozing.
Thank goodness for another nice day! We weighed anchor (there were no lines on it this time!) and headed out of the cove to the west. We turned south around the corner, threading our way down between Ram Islands and Sawyer Island to a lovely anchorage at Indiantown Island. Patrick had read that the north half of the island is a Boothbay Region Land Trust nature preserve and there’s a dinghy float right by the anchorage with access to trails on the island. Seemed like a good place for an afternoon hike!

In the nice open and calm cove, Patrick helped me practice driving Oestara backwards, which is an essential skill for setting the anchor properly. (I usually drive when we’re picking up a mooring or anchoring.) Countering the prop walk, which pushes us to starboard when in reverse, with prop wash (a big rush of water over the rudder to get the boat to move one way or the other), and steering the boat while looking at the stern definitely requires some concentration and practice. Eventually we’ll perfect our anchoring technique!


photo: driving backwards
Before lunch, Phil was volun-told to go up the rig to fix our loose wind instrument (it has been wonky since we left Rye–some bird must have knocked it loose). He was quick about it too!


Everyone had lunch, and then Phil, Patrick and Cecelia left to go hiking at the nature preserve. I opted to stay on the boat for a little solo time to clean up the boat and write up some blog posts. It’s nice to have windows of time like that with no distractions! Well, maybe one distraction–they stopped and hollered at me from the shoreline while they were hiking. (It was a request to put beers on ice for their return, which I had already done, so yay for that.)



Later that afternoon, we moved the boat back to the Derecktor marina in Robinhood, as we intended to drive into Bath on Friday to explore and we’d need Phil’s car for that. We picked up the same mooring we had the other night, and settled in for sundowners, dinner, and more card playing in the evening. All in all, a great day!
Hey Melissa,
We enjoy reading your posts. We have crossed the Vänern Lake in Sweden in the last few days. Today continuing on to the Trolhättan canal and Gothenburg.
I am curious, what is the line on the top of the photo going from the top of the mast to somewhere?
How do you go to the top of the boat??????