October sunrise in Burnt Coat Harbor, Swan's Island

 

Schooner American Eagle Newsletter

October 2015 

 
In This Issue
Cruise News
Crew's News
From the Galley
Postcards from Away

Vanishing Point by Shawn Payment
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Season 30 has just wrapped up with plenty of breeze and just enough time and weather to allow us to put the American Eagle to bed for the winter.  

 

The crew have fall plans and so do I; mine involve a bunch of projects on board, on the tug, the shipyard, and even at home.  We'll be ready for you come next May!

 

Crews News
photo courtesy of Shary Fellows

You can tell this was the last day of the season; the robands along the foot of the mainsail are untucked, ready for taking the sail off a few hours later.  Where were they, the 2015 team afloat? Angela, Hannah, Christa, Eric, and Andy were busy while I got to steer.  Everybody got a trip or two off, except Angela and me.  And Shary, our invaluable shore component, even came for our last adventure of the season.  Sailing 120 days we went from Campobello to Cape Cod and saw whales at both ends of the range.  It's wonderful to see new places even though our usual cruising ground is hard to beat.

Cruise News

The 2016 schedule is figured out and somewhat responded to, with interest in most of the trips already.  Should you have any thoughts about chartering the American Eagle or of organizing a group of friends, let us know pretty soon.  

Leaving Valley Cove, Somes Sound
photo courtesy of John R. Smith

As you have perhaps read or seen or heard in the news, 2016 is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the National Parks system.  There's a celebration scheduled for the July 31 cruise to sail in company up Somes Sound in Mt. Desert to recognize Acadia National Park, the biggest seasonal draw in Maine.  Combining that event afloat and ashore up the Sound with our return to the Swan's Island Music Festival will make that quite a week!

Contests and awards

There were no responses to the last lighthouse/ sea birds identification challenge, even though the answers were Mt. Desert Rock and greater shearwaters, so I guess I'll award myself a hat this time and won't bore you with any more contests, unless a good one comes along.  

Speaking of awards, Captains Douglas and Linda Lee and I were given an award by the USS Constitution Museum this month for historic preservation, over forty years as the North End Shipyard.  

photo courtesy of Kathy Foss


Between the three of us we received two very nice half models of one of the Constitution's gigs.  It's a wonderful museum and displays a lot of history relevant to our nation's senior navy ship.


From the galley
 
No more meals until next May.  Here's one of my favorites. The parsnip gets center billing.

photo courtesy of Ralph Smith


Postcards and pictures from Away

 

 

This could be the crew scraping the deck in the spring, minus the bottle of wine and I couldn't resist adding another picture of the replica Columbia, taken from the American Eagle.

 

photo courtesy of Jon Johansen

 

Perhaps this is why people come to the Maine shore for a sailing vacation.

 



Last call for entries for the annual Association photography contest, and closing with a fall sunset.

  

John and the crew


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 Schooner American Eagle
P O Box 482 
Rockland, ME  04841
(800) 648-4544