Our friends Brian and Meredith had strongly encouraged us to do a trip they had done, which was a cruise on an old schooner, or 'windjammer', in Maine.
We were persuaded, and signed up for the Schooner Ladona, a one hundred year old wooden gaff schooner.
Ladona
Fifteen passengers and five crew. Excellent weather. Fascinating cruising ground out of Rockland in the Penobscot Bay part of the Gulf of Maine.
Consider ramping up the quality of this YouTube with the cog setting bottom right.
This was the first time I have flown a drone from a moving boat. Jared helped me retrieve it.
We had a nice sail on the final day. Jared, the second mate, helped me get some video footage to give a feel of the boat slicing through the waves.
This area of Maine is famous for lobsters. Nice to eat, for sure. But picture hundreds of thousands of lobster pots strewn across the seascape trying to find a way to get around a propeller!
But we enjoyed perfect weather, a pleasant groups of people to sail with, and an excellent crew.
Here are a few photos.
Rockland
Americans like their things to be bigger!
Leaving Rockland
Sisters Laurie and Beth in the fog
Alice
Cook Anna and skipper JR.
Anna in her galley
With sistership Bowdoin
Kathy
Helmsman
Geese
Jared
Captain JR
Captain JR
Preparing a lobster bake on the beach
Lobster cook-up on the beach
Laurie
Laurie
Levi & Jared hoisting a sail
Levi pulling in a sheet
Levi, Jared & JR
Levi
Marcia
Cliffs on Monhegan Island
Pheasant
Ronnie & Sheryl
In general we noticed a lot more poverty in the US than we see in Australia. But there were some pretty flash houses in Castine.
Lovely photos Dave. Looks like yachtie heaven.
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