July 7 -- South Freeport to Falmouth Foreside

First a good word about L.L. Bean. In 2008 we bought a pillow to accent the salon. It was made of Sunbrella fabric, the same used for the dodger and bimini -- tough, outdoor stuff. But in the last five years, it had lost its brightness to grime. "Buy a new one!"" said the Admiral, they are only $30.00". But this year the color scheme ran toward orange and I had noticed that at one of the four sides there was a seam of running stitches for half its length at the center: see left side of pillow in photo below. So I picked out those stitches, picked out the stuffing material, which was loose fluffy synthetic stuff, and after laundry, restuffing and restitching, here it is as good as new.

While I was at it, this turned into a sewing day: I whipped the ends of five lines, including the new end of the painter that attaches the dinghy to the boat. It was almost frayed through where it had been attached to the dink’s D ring. It is now a foot shorter, and still plenty long enough. And some of those whippings were for two new short lines I have been using: one to tie off the boom to one side so it does not swing back and forth while on anchor and the other to secure the wheel from spinning in such circumstances. And finally the old blue sunbrella bag that covers, sorta, the folding cockpit table when it is not being used had an open seam. All fixed!

 

Cuteness break>

Our passage today was only nine miles from South Freeport to this bay side Portland suburb. I put up the main before leaving the harbor but it was a waste of effort because the wind varied from zero to four knots, mostly at the lower end, so the sail did no appreciable work. Normally its being raised at least helps stabilize the boat against being rocked by the waves. But today: No waves! The prettiest thing we passed was this home on the side of Littlejohn Island.

It overlooks about half a mile of water -- between that island and the larger Great Chebeague Island. But everyone passes right in front of this home because there is a string of rocks extending out from the other island, right in front of it, marked by a red buoy, that narrows the passage to less than 100 yards at this point. Classic understated elegance!

Our destination was the Portland Yacht Club, with 300 members who keep their boats on moorings. They have a two year waiting list for new members, the only game in town. On one side is the municipal mooring field and on the other a field operated by the local repair place. A sailing center, 99 percent of the boats are sailboats. We had a pretty good dinner at the Club. The house is about 100 feet above sea level, with a panoramic view, to the east, overlooking the fleet. First to the left, then to the right:

The restaurant does not have a license to sell alcohol!!! So I had two free pints because the law does not prevent them from giving it away.