{"id":11802,"date":"2021-07-28T12:37:31","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T17:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=11802"},"modified":"2021-07-28T12:39:04","modified_gmt":"2021-07-28T17:39:04","slug":"wow-we-had-a-good-time-on-the-down-east-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=11802","title":{"rendered":"Wow, we had a good time on the Down East Rally!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, it’s over.\u00a0 \u00a0After months of preparation and my moving from “sure, I’ll do the Down East Rally” to becoming Rally Director and all the details that that position suggests.\u00a0 Months of preparation and endless discussions with local businesses as I tried to find a way to arrange events at a time when the virus was raging and nobody was comfortable in committing to anything.\u00a0 When I was doing all of the planning, the vaccine wasn’t even available and every social interaction was viewed as far to risky to even consider.\u00a0 In spite of my assurance to everyone that any plans we made were tentative it wasn’t until literally days into the rally, that many of the events finally came together.<\/p>\n

For months I had worked closely with Ryan the harbor master in Rockland on the idea of applying to the Harbor Commission and City Council to consider our arrival in Rockland as an “event” verses a marina visit.\u00a0 This seemingly minor distinction changed things a lot and allowed us to cram 22 boats on the city docks at a rate of approximately $100 per boat, regardless of size, for the full three days.\u00a0 I doubt that the city had ever seen that many boats packed into one place and they were shocked when they realized that our average boat was nearly 50′ long.\u00a0 \u00a0As a result of our being able to be viewed as an “event” the rate to dock was reduced substantially from $2.50\/ft\/day to less than the cost of a mooring.<\/p>\n

The view of the full docks was impressive and this view only captures about half of the fleet. \"\"All of the captains and crew were thrilled as you can see from this group shot.\u00a0 To see so many enjoying the result of the work that went into the rally by so many was very rewarding.\u00a0 Note the couple on the far right, front row.\u00a0 That’s Ruth and Herb of MV Ancient Mariners who visited us to join in the fun.\u00a0 \u00a0 They were not a part of the rally but made a point of coming to Rockland to be with us.\u00a0\"\"Here they are together on their boat aptly named Ancient Mariners.\u00a0 Ruth is the “younger woman” at 95 and Herb is a very impressive 102.\u00a0 \u00a0To be out and about in Maine aboard their boat is a testament to the importance of staying active and I expect good genes helped as well.\u00a0 Lucky them.<\/p>\n

By the power (sort of) invested in me as a board member of SDSA and Rally Director, I gave them a rally flag and declared them “honorary Salty Dawgs”.\u00a0\u00a0\"\"When my friend George of SV Peace and Plenty, and I were doing our events in Essex a few years back, Ruth and Herb, both VERY long term cruisers, showed up aboard their boat to the delight of everyone.\u00a0 And here they are, years later, still going strong.<\/p>\n

These days they keep their boat in Maine year round and winter at their home in Boca Raton, FL.\u00a0 Good for them.\u00a0 And good for us to have them with the fleet in Rockland where they had booked space for several weeks.\u00a0 Craig and I had a lovely visit aboard their boat for a glass of wine.\u00a0 Sadly, we had to cut our visit short as “duty called” and we had to rush off to yet another event.<\/p>\n

After three days on the docks in Rockland and lots of fun, the fleet headed to nearby Pulpit Harbor, a favorite of mine.\u00a0 It was nice to see the fleet filling the harbor.\u00a0 At least a few of the locals, seeing their harbor jammed with boats, must have wondered who we were.\u00a0 \u00a0 One of the other captains took this lovely shot of Pandora with the harbor’s namesake, the Pulpit, in the distance. \"\"That evening one couple on the trip opened up their boat for a cocktail party.\u00a0 No wonder cruising cats have become so popular.\u00a0 \u00a0Loads of room up on the bow. \"\"And in the cockpit.\u00a0 \u00a0I was told that there were 35 aboard.\u00a0 And it wasn’t all that crowded.\u00a0\"\"From there we headed to Buck’s Harbor and the marina run by John Buck (no relation) and his wife Jessica along with their three children.\u00a0 \u00a0John, it seems, purchased the marina so he could have his family in Maine for the summers.\u00a0 In his “real life” he owns a successful medical supply company.\u00a0 Nicely done John.<\/p>\n

Their children seem to be pretty happy to be there with the older ones helping out in the marina and the youngest having a grand old time, repeatedly jumping into the water, unconcerned about the cold waters. \"\"At the marina we had a “DYI lobster boil”.\u00a0 John “boiled” and everyone brought along their own potatoes, corn and whatever else they wanted to include.<\/p>\n

I had mentioned to the fleet that they should visit Hamilton Marine in Rockland and purchase bait bags to cook their potatoes and corn in.\u00a0 I later learned that once the fleet descended on Hamilton the manager quickly set up a display of bibs, towels, crackers and of course bait bags.\u00a0 \u00a0It’s nice to know that the local merchants noticed an uptick in business with the Dawgs in town.<\/p>\n

Lobsters are selling at an all time high this summer and yet, John offered them at a very reasonable price of $18 so everyone was able to get a generous 1.5lb lobster, cooked and ready to eat.\u00a0 \u00a0Interestingly, John carefully removed all of the rubber bands,\u00a0 before cooking them, declaring that if you left them on they would leach into the water and give the lobsters a funny taste.\u00a0 \u00a0Also, he recommends steaming them but not submerging them into boiling water.\u00a0 Who knew? \"\"The group seemed to have a great time.\u00a0 \"\"When the heavens opened up with a late evening cloudburst, everyone just strolled into the office until things let up. \"\"If you ever have an opportunity to visit Buck’s Harbor, do it.\u00a0 It’s a wonderful spot.\u00a0 However, be prepared to live a bit more “off the grid” as the cell reception is very weak.\u00a0 \u00a0Actually, that’s probably a good thing given our obsession with being connected all the time, present company included.\u00a0 Oh yeah, they have outdoor showers.\u00a0 \u00a0I generally shower aboard Pandora but could not resist doing so in the great outdoors with a view of the harbor.\u00a0 \u00a0 It was in the high 50s and I can say that the experience of being out in the chilly air and under a steaming shower was singular.\u00a0 \u00a0 \"\"After Buck’s we all headed to Belfast for a final event, a tour of Front Street Shipyard followed by a happy hour on their deck overlooking the harbor.<\/p>\n

The Shipyard is a very impressive spot and while there’s lots to tell, I think that I will stop here and reserve all that for my next post in a few days.\u00a0 It’s sufficient to say that the Shipyard and all of the huge yachts that they service was an amazing spot.\u00a0 \u00a0Perhaps I’ll tease you with this.\u00a0 They have a machine that using nothing but high pressure water, can cut through 9″ of stainless steel.<\/p>\n

I saw that in action.\u00a0 Amazing and that was only one stop along the way.<\/p>\n

Being in Maine again was such a treat and I can’t wait to head back up with Brenda, Chris and Melody in a few weeks for some more cruising.<\/p>\n

Wow, that’s about all I can say about the experience of being in Maine again and \u00a0it was great fun to do the rally with so many others that were as enthusiastic about being there as I was.\u00a0 \u00a0I can’t wait to go back.<\/p>\n

With the Down East Rally history, I can now turn my attention to the Salty Dawg Rally to Antigua.\u00a0 \u00a0No rest for the weary…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, it’s over.\u00a0 \u00a0After months of preparation and my moving from “sure, I’ll do the Down East Rally” to becoming Rally Director and all the details that that position suggests.\u00a0 Months of preparation and endless discussions with local businesses as I tried to find a way to arrange events at a time when the virus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11802"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11838,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11802\/revisions\/11838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}