Letter from Atlantia September 2005

The weather in Maine at the moment is very similar to that which we remember of Scotland! Wet and windy! Hurricane Ophelia is passing by a hundred miles South and is causing mists and winds up to 25 knots at Camden, where we are resting prior to our voyage back to the Caribbean for the winter. Fortunately Ophelia has turned into a tropical storm and has only a minor effect on us here.

There was no such wet and windy weather in Scotland when we returned for a month in August. We were pleased to catch up with family and friends and disappointed that we couldn’t see everyone in our short and rather hectic time at home. We did manage to attend Stewart and Karen’s wedding in Castle Douglas however,

and were kindly hosted by Zandra, Vicky and Tony, James and Olivia and Richard and Julie in Edinburgh before joining Margaret’s parents in Lochgair and Glasgow. It was great to see our son, Stephen, Margaret’s Mum and Dad, Sister Alison and daughter Sarah, Margaret’s brother Iain, Pauline, Olivia and David. We thoroughly enjoyed our busmans holiday on Assegai, (Magaret’s Dad’s boat) through the Crinan Canal,

sailing to Eilan Mhor, before reaching Tayvallich.

Clive and Tina invited us fishing at Dalguise, where Will has been fishing for eleven years without any success. Margaret caught a three pound sea trout which tasted delicious, and broke the Rudd duck here.

Our flights to and from Boston went very smoothly with Air Lingus, although we were surprised to find ourselves booking through U.S. immigration in Shannon (Ireland) on the way back! The outposts of the modern empire!

With Seth Dillingham’s advice we found the train out of Boston and back to Old Lyme on the Connecticut River where Atlantia has been at a mooring for the previous month. Seth kindly took us to the supermarket before we rowed out to Atlantia in the dark. He shone his headlights on the boat until we reached her, which was most helpful.

Scotland is a wonderful place for a holiday! The sun shines and the people are warm and hospitable. The heather was starting to bloom during our visit and the hills, lochs and rivers were as always looking dramatic. We could even see them, most of the time we were there, since the weather was so good! If you haven’t had time to see Scotland through a stranger’s eyes we suggest you try it sometime. It is a beautiful place, if a little chilly!

Our start at Old Lyme had its good and bad points. Firstly the yard had done nothing effective for us during the time we were gone. It was disappointing to find that yards associated with sailing seem to be the same the world over. One has to be there to chivvy them along, to get anything done! The good points however, were that we made a new friend of Richard Rhatigan who had a catamaran moored next door to us, and who will be in the Caribbean this winter aboard ‘The Rhat Cat’.

We were also invited to dinner at Lowell and Claudia Weicker’s house in Essex. You will remember he was the ex Senator, Governor, Mayor who we met before we left Old Lyme. They are gracious hosts and both are excellent cooks!

We sailed to Newport, Rhode Island and this time arrived in beautiful sunshine, and no fog. We spent the morning ashore buying some inexpensive fittings for the boat and a new Tilley hat for Will, since he had lost the last one in the straits of Gibraltar, whilst reefing the main in half a gale. Newport is a wonderful place for any yachtsman to visit. There are half a dozen twelve metres there which race regularly. Endeavour, the J class was there.

There were some beautiful wooden boats in the harbour, both power and sail. The whole place seems to revolve around yachts, with its numerous docks and converted wooden warehouses and sail lofts. Newport appears like an old fashioned sea port with mostly wooden buildings, but one or two brick and stone buildings also. One of the churches had a burnished gold spire, a feature we haven’t seen much since Kiev in the Ukraine with its golden onion domes. Kiev is unlikely to feature in our letters for a few years yet but no doubt will take up many pages when we get there!

We nearly ran into a twelve metre yacht on our way out , but luckily just missed it! We made our way up to the Cape Cod Canal, past New Bedford where most of the American whaling ships were built. The area is very sheltered as far as waves are concerned, but we had a thrilling sail up to the start of the canal. The canal itself has no locks and is about 100 metres wide and fifteen miles long. The ubiquitous fishermen line the banks. The bridges are 120 metres over our heads and as with everything on the Eastern Seaboard it is large! There was an American football game going on close to the canal as we passed, and everyone seemed to be cheering. The commentator was speaking unintelligibly through his loudspeakers.

Having passed gently through the canal, we thought we would be hitting a severe headwind if we headed for Boston to the North East. It turned out to be a close fetch past Plymouth, where the Pilgrim Fathers landed early in the seventeenth century. We also had to pass numerous fish pots, which were quite tricky to see, and as annoying as some of the flies which seem to inhabit everywhere north of Cape Cod. We anchored late at night at Hull, which is a small town just south of Boston, in amongst the numerous bays, coves and islands that make up this scenic area.

We anchored close to Windmill Point, which sprouts the one example of alternative energy generation we have seen in the State; one enormous windmill which powers the coastguard station nearby. An article in the New York Times says that if an area the size of New York was covered in photosensitive cells, then New York could be self sufficient in clean energy. The oil barons seem to be too powerful to let that happen here however, despite petrol (gas, in the U.S.!) now costing three dollars a gallon. (It was two dollars a year ago).

We moored at the Waterboat Marina in Boston. It is right in the middle of the city, next to the Aquarium and very convenient, despite all the ferries which ply their way to and from the adjacent docks. We collected Tony and Vicky from the airport and returned to the boat via bus and train. The only problem was that we didn’t realise that there were two routes for the buses round the airport, and we visited all the terminals twice before changing to the right bus to get to the underground station; and we thought we were seasoned travellers! That night we visited the restaurant Fire and Ice, an inexpensive self serve restaurant where they cook your selected meal in front of you, not to be missed, if you are in Boston.

We set off the next day to the Isles of Shoals. These islands are tiny, even by Scottish standards, and each is smaller than Inchmarnock on the Forth. Even so, there is a large rather awkward timber conference centre on one island, owned by a church foundation. There is an enormous phallic monument to a minister who died in 1872 extolling the man’s virtues. In 1876 the islanders burned down the church. We didn’t find a connection between the two written down in the history of the place!

On an adjacent island there had been a ropewalk and a brewery, but how it had been fitted onto that place was a miracle. It is rumoured that they were paid for by discovered buried treasure. The islands were named after shoals of Cod that were incredibly numerous there, and were caught, dried and shipped off to England in colonial days. We had to admit to the feeling of spirits in the area. The islands had once been host to Blackbeard and had suffered a massacre by Indians. All were killed except for one woman who hid in a cave with her two infants. She had to kill them with a knife to stop them crying with fear of the Indians. A young lady school teacher had been swept off the rocks here last century whilst reading a book. The stone where she last sat was called ‘Miss Underhill’s Chair’. No wonder yachtsmen aren’t allowed to land on the island after dusk, they would probably be scared to death! A swift gin and tonic was called for, on board, to save breaking the curfew!

Jewell Island some forty miles further north at Casco bay is beautiful, and reminiscent of the islands at the head of Loch Sween, but covered in large pine trees as well as rocks. It was used in world war two to look out for German submarines, and had a gun that could lob a shell 26 miles. We explored ashore and can report that some of the buildings are still there, although the timber ones are collapsing with the years. The trees and bays are sweeping and dramatic however, as well as the autumn roses and hips.

Our next stop was Booth Bay where we were to rendezvous with Alastair and Sandy Dunn and their magnificent Ketch, ‘Victoria of Strathearn’. She is 130 feet long and 128 tonnes and has a permanent crew of five. All of them delightful people from Britain and the Antipodes where Victoria was built. If you ever have the urge to charter a superyacht this is no doubt the one for you. She is at the pinnacle of yacht creation in our opinion. She is based at Antigua during the winter, so no doubt we will see her again.

We helped crew her in the two races of the Shipyard Cup. This is an invitation event for yachts over 70 feet long. There were fourteen of them at the event, which was quite staggering. Tony and Will were allowed to operate the running backstays on their hydraulic winches, whilst Margaret and Vicky reclined in the sofas on deck and watched the myriad of spectator boats scatter as we made for the line at 13 ½ knots! It is no mean feat to cross the line on the gun in a boat 130 feet long, but our racing helmsman from Newport, Rhode Island, Hank, made it look easy. Very impressive. The races were of the pursuit variety so the tactics were not too taxing and we finished a creditable half way down the fleet. The races were really too short for such yachts but were nonetheless most enjoyable, as were the clambakes, with two lobsters each, and the parties after racing. We were royally entertained by Alastair and Sandy.

Our final trip with Vicky and Tony was to Penobscott Bay. This is another archipelago of beautiful wooded islands and bays which seem to hide a host of small yachts and lobster boats, not to mention the two million lobster pots and their floats that litter the area.

Camden was our final destination. We were extremely surprised, whilst browsing in a wine shop to bump into Sue and Frank Martin from the Royal Forth Yacht Club, with their friend Pam from Philadelphia.

Camden is a lovely harbour with a really friendly and extremely helpful yacht club. Paul Rogers of the yacht Canty had sailed to Ireland last year on the Cruise which we had attended. We met him at the club and were grateful to him for showing us some of the surrounding countryside. On our entry to the harbour we saw no less than five two masted schooners and one three masted affair. These schooners go out for a week at a time with outward bound students. They are the original trading schooners and look dramatic with the backdrop of trees and rocks.

A great deal of concentration is required when navigating these islands, not only in avoiding all the lobster floats, but also in avoiding the shoals and skerries. So far Atlantia has managed both! Keep your fingers crossed for the next two weeks whilst we are still in the land of the lobster float.

We were sad to see our guests leave on the bus from Camden, it seemed such a short time since we had picked them up in Boston. The bus was Trailways owned, since the famous Greyhound doesn’t seem to exist in these parts anymore. They will have had an exciting ride through the trees, inlets and hills of New England, a very accurate name although there are certainly parts of Scandinavia and Scotland here.

Susan has sadly left us for her return to Glasgow. Her exact employment seems a little uncertain at the moment, but she has applied for a Phd at Strathclyde university. She is working part time as an office junior at Will’s old Glasgow office, where Stephen continues to do well at his job as a civil and structural engineer. The upshot of Susan’s leaving is that there will be no more Susan’s snaps! Margaret has taken over the role and we hope you like the photographs. Another upshot is that it takes us at least two days to put our letter on the blog to you, instead of a few hours! We will persevere however. Keep happy, Love Atlantia.