One more from the road (oops—out of order!)

I’m coming down the home stretch now, literally.

I just turned the corner around Matinicus Rock, starting to head up Penobscot Bay. Roughly 4 hours to go. (Since it’s midnight as I draft this, that’s a 4am arrival.)

It’s still very foggy, so visibility is poor. I know these waters, but am watching my progress on the digital chart moment by moment. Plus, on the same screen, I have a separate RADAR image. Both zoomed way in to 1.5-2.0 no resolution so I don’t miss anything.

It’s cold and wet on deck. After 5 mins up there a short time ago, my hands were numb and my hair soaked (and glasses fogged).

Needless to say, there’ll be no more sleep until I’m tied up in Camden. But I’m well rested, so no problem.

Last thing worthy of note: Remember those fishing vessels I wrote about in the last post? Well, four of them were congregating over one small bank along my route. Each going a different way, then turning and taking a new angle across the bank.

Unfortunately for me, even sailboats have to give way to fishing vessels. (Though, since I was motorsailing, I was an even lower priority “power-driven vessel.”) Anyway, figuring out how to give way took a lot of concentration and some fancy manouvering. Especially since, at the time, I was running wing and wing with the jib and mainsail on opposite sides of the boat. Let’s just say I’m glad I had a preventer rigged to avoid an inadvertent gybe.

All for now; back to staring at the navigation screens!