Once our boat was officially ours, Kevin and I looked at each other and asked “now what?”
It was pretty daunting to suddenly be owners of a 44′ sailboat, especially for our first one. Kevin and I don’t jerk around in life, so we did what we do best…jumped right in! We sailed, and we sailed and we sailed some more. Each time out, we’d learn something new, and sometimes we’d get caught with our pants down and find ourselves a wee bit over our heads. We’d just keep telling ourselves, this is how we learn, so we’d learn from our mistakes and try again. We were thankful to have some experienced sailing friends who were able to come out with us here and there to give us tips, and thankfully, Kevin knew his way around a boat. Between Kevin and our friends, we managed pretty well.
We found it exciting to explore Casco Bay in a way we’ve never explored before. We started our first sailing weekend away by heading to the Goslings in Harpswell. It wasn’t an easy first sail since we had to tack approximately 25 times in the 12nm to get there, but we did it, and checked off “tacking” on our list of “competencies”. From the Goslings, we’d try the Dolphin Marina, then Sebasco, and back to the Goslings again, exploring Jewell Island and everywhere in between. When we weren’t away, we were daysailing. We were pretty much on the boat whenever we could get a chance. I was determined to end our first sailing season in a much more competent way than the way I started. I may have been a tad obsessed…
Not only were we learning, but the kids were learning, too. They were just as involved as Kevin and I, excited to learn new things. They all learned how to hoist the mainsail, trim the main, unzip the sailbag, drop the main, and so on and so forth. The kids got excited to learn how to run the dinghy or to fish from the boat. And our learning curve didn’t stop at just sailing for me, it was how to run an outboard engine, too. It was learn, learn, learn!
We enjoyed taking friends and family out on our boat whenever we could as it forced us to go outside our comfort zone just a bit. Kids were excited to have their own friends on board, too. Having bought our boat a year early had given us the opportunity to learn and practice whenever we wanted in a more familiar environment. Sailing in Casco Bay isn’t the easiest either, lots of islands, inconsistent winds, unforecasted fog banks, lobster buoy galore and hidden unforgiving shoals to name a few. Many people say if you can sail here, you can sail almost anywhere, but man, is it beautifully rewarding.
Once our season has ended, we will put our girl on the hard at a marina for her first Maine winter, and when it’s time to splash her next spring, it will all be about preparing for her next big adventure. We will spend most of next summer continuing to learn and prepare with hopes to leave the Maine coast and head south sometime in September 2018. From this point on, it’s all about learning as much as we possibly can before it’s show time!