You're right; we didn't get out a letter in either June or July.  Sailing just took up too much time.  Given the choice we'd all prefer to be out on the water.  It's been a very pleasant season thus far;  less fog than usual, gentle breezes, and thrice daily surprises from the galley on our cruises. 

Who would have thought of alfalfa sprouts as a garnish for a platter of buckwheat pancakes?  Andy did!  The fruit and produce are locally sourced and grown where possible and appear when ripe.  I'm learning the difference between Santa Claus melon and a Tuscan cantalope.  Lobsters this summer have been embarrasingly cheap since the early arrival of new shells in June, so I've been picking out bigger ones.  On one recent trip they averaged 2 1/2 pounds a piece.   

        Our cruises are about sailing as well as the menu.  A new event before the Great Schooner Race was a crew dinghy race the evening before as the fleet lay at anchor behind the Rockland breakwater.  Our deck department, Logan, Adam, and Colin, made the whole ship's complement proud as they handily won the race despite blocking attempts and water balloons.  Racing Cappy, North Haven dinghy #27, they turned back three times to circle the rest of the fleet and still were first across the finish, appropriately attired for sailing a 100 year old boat.

Crew members Colin King, Capt. Foss, Adam Smith and Logan Sampson photo courtesy Kevin & Paula Maloney

The start, with our Roscoe, captained and crewed by Paul Woodworth  in the background Photo courtesy of Kevin & Paula Maloney

  

The next day, a miracle.  The Great Schooner Race course, initially laid out anticipating a northerly breeze, turned out to be the typical downwind drifter.  As has been often opined, "a bale of hay can sail downwind". Nonetheless the last part of the race was more spirited and on the only upwind leg we overtook a half dozen schooners.  While I can't entirely explain the workings of the much harassed race committee, we were judged first in the windward class, an honor we haven't enjoyed for some time.  A celebration followed dockside that evening with a steel band and refreshments provided by our local roller derby squad.

A month later found us hosting a troop of scouts from New York state.  Their sailing adventure included a hike on an island, swimming in our cold water, lobsters on the beach, and an evening sail in which the moon rose and the stars came out.  Two days after that twenty shipmates boarded for our cruise to New Brunswick.  The success of our international trips hangs entirely on Shary's ability in the office to make sense of the Border Protection and Transport Canada's careful yet shifting requirements that categorize the American Eagle as a cruise ship with the expected security rules.  Anyway we had a terrific time at St. Andrews, Campobello and a good look at Maine's Bold Coast beyond Cutler.

Maine's Bold Coast photo courtesy of Kathy Foss

Our 2013 schedule will be posted towards the end of September.

        On Saturday, August 18th, we just happened to anchor at North Haven village for a walk ashore, giving the breeze time to pick up for the afternoon.  To our surprise there were a lot of flags up around the yacht club -- timing is everything!  Turned out it was the 100th anniversary of the yacht club and the 125th of the North Haven dinghy, the oldest sailboat class in the United States.  Soon there were 18 dinghies racing and 20 0thers; the start was off our starboard side. 

Photos courtesy of Logan Sampson

Meanwhile, our North Haven dinghy stayed in the davits.

   

Andy's Food News 

  Aloha!

Here's a fruit you don't see every day.  These are pandamus fruits, from the Kiripati Islands.  You have to boil them  for a while, but then they're not bad.  They taste a little like lipstick.

I visited  the Kiripati (pronounced kittyposs) Islands while cooking aboard a sail training vessel.  The Islands make up the largest country on Earth,  if you measure it by the amount of time needed to traverse it from East to West.  It crosses the International dateline so it literally takes two days to go from  coast to coast.  The people are wonderfully friendly and relaxed, considering that their home will be underwater in twenty years or so.  They save their money to buy merchandise off Kwai, a sailing cargo ship from Honolulu.  It's not unusual to get a shoebox full of coins, American and Australian. 

See you aboard!

Andy

Postcards

  We'll stick to Canadian harbors with less scary names.

 Puffins have serrated tongues so they can hold one fish while catching another.  We've seen them half a dozen times this summer.