May 31, 2018, Day 1

Velomer floats patiently at slip H17 at Port Harbor Marina in South Portland, Maine ready to cruise.  All mechanical repairs are completed including a new starter, starting battery and cables, relay switches.  Her engine hums.  The new West Marine 8.5 foot dinghy rests on the swim platform on new weaver davits, the new 8 horsepower dinghy engine safely secured on the motor mount installed just yesterday.  She is fully stocked with ample tasty and healthy foods plus three cases of our favorite wine, Sauvignon Republic available only at Trader Joe’s, and an adequate supply of dark chocolate.  Her interior has been upgraded with new cushions, decorative pillows, new mattress, towels, and curtains.  Her fiberglass exterior shines with buffed polish.  She is now our primary and only residence.  Even the weather reports are favorable.  This is the moment we have been planning for the last several years.  In boating lingo, we are “all in.”

Our dear friend, Kath Greenleaf, picked us up earlier this morning at Autowerkes, the foreign car repair and sales business, where we drove our trusty Volvo.   We consigned our car to Autowerkes to sell on commission.  Our car was our last attachment to the “dirt.”  Kath drove us back to the marina where we said our tearful goodbyes.  Back on the dock we stood admiring our vessel.  We agreed that I would take the helm guiding Velomer out of the slip, out of the marina and into Portland Harbor.  I took my place at the helm on the flybridge, checked the gauges, and turned on and tested the bow thruster.  All was A-okay.

Bob took his place on the fordeck.  He shouted, “Bow line off” ”. This was my signal to slowly move the gear shift forward.  Bob climbed aboard Velomer while Dick, who lives aboard Merlin across the dock from Velomer, held Velomer to the dock with the breast line.  Dick passed the stern line to Bob who shouted to me, “Stern off.” He released the breast line.   Then untethered, Velomer inched forward out of the slip. I moved the bow thruster lever to port and turned the wheel to port as well.  I slowly gave her some throttle while continuing on the thruster.  Velomer glided to the left slowly easing her way out of the slip and into the fairway between H dock and G dock.  She moved effortlessly with grace and deliberation.  We were off.  I steered Velomer out of the marina, through the mooring field and entered the main channel of Portland Harbor. 

Once in the main channel, I went to engage the auto pilot and pressed the correct button.  A message came up on the screen “auto pilot data not available.”  I did what I always do in this situation.  I called Bob.  He came up to the flybridge, looked at the screen.  We have learned from past experience that the most effective approach is to troubleshoot the simple solutions first.   Sure enough when Bob went to the electric panel in the salon of the boat he found that the breaker for the auto pilot was not on.  Once the breaker was turned on, the auto pilot engaged.  However, the sounds coming from under the dashboard in the flybridge sounded more like dying dinosaurs than an auto pilot.  Not good.

The weather reports indicated seas of one to two feet with a period of nine seconds.  Not as uneventful as a flat calm, but comfortable cruising conditions.  Our general rule of thumb is to divide the period by the wave height and any quotient of two or greater is acceptable although two is marginal. So nine divided by two is 4.5, so this was a go.  Once outside Portland Harbor the weather conditions changed a bit to seas of two to three feet with periods of six seconds.  We’re now at quotients of two and three.  A little rough but nothing we can’t handle.  Plus, we figured that things would calm down once the tide changed.  The tide changed all right, but conditions never really calmed down any.  At the peak of discomfort, waves were three to four feet with periods of three to four seconds.  Wind also picked up to gusts of 20 mph to make for choppy seas.  

Moving about the boat became challenging and we found ourselves braced in our seats on the flybridge with our feet tight up against the dashboard.  The only way to describe the experience is to imagine yourself on a huge trampoline with lots of people bouncing on it and you are trying to stay upright.  We are both very fortunate in that we don’t easily get seasick. 

We arrived at Isle of Shoals protected harbor by 5:00 pm exhausted but none the worse for wear!  We were able to pick up a mooring, toast our safe arrival, witness an outstanding sunset, and throw together a dinner of leftovers.  By 9:00 pm we were snuggled in bed enjoying the comfortable gentle rocking of the boat by Mother Nature.