Wind & Current

There is a constant battle here between winds and currents. Each boat reacts differently. Boats with deeper longer keels and less super structure, i.e. sailboats and generally Carrie Rose, tend to favor the current; boats with more super structure and shallow keels, if keels at all, tend to favor the wind.

So, dealing with the multiple factors of wind strength, direction, current and tides, and numerous other things such as location, moored and anchored vessels point in different directions.

The anchor must react to these changes if the boat is going to stay in place. CR’s anchor is called a Bruce. It is a big upside down scoop with bat wings and a rounded snout. It weight 22kg (do the math) and is oversized for Carrie Rose. I have seen many boats twice our size with punier anchors. Though I cannot see what is going on, I hope that as Carrie Rose spins the anchor digs deeper and deeper.

In Maine, quite a few harbors/anchorages have moorings. They are there for the taking but of course being outsiders, we never take one unless we know whom it belongs to and whom to pay. The law, as has been explained to me, is that if a mooring is unoccupied it is there for the taking and no one, not even the owner, can kick you off for 24 hours. But, of course, being outsiders we do not push our luck. We anchor.

Now Carrie Rose is a mooring field called Warren Island State Park, which is nestled in Islesboro Island just south of the ferry dock. Islesboro Island dissects Penobscot bay into East & West. It is a long craggy jumble of rocks, other island, and channels. The ferry courses West Penobscot bay to Lincolnville every hour on the hour. It is the only way off.

Warren Island has eight moorings to choose from. The one we picked up had $20.00 and ½ ton written on it with magic marker. The ½ ton refers to the weight of the slab of granite that holds the mooring in place. It is one of Maine’s peculiarities that the moorings are not classified by length but by weight. The reference for this designation is not in wide distribution, so I am not sure how much granite should be holding us in place. Though, now that I write this I will endeavor to find out.

The fog cleared while we hike the perimeter of the island. The island has dense fern lined forest and open mosquito ridden fields. The tide was out and the island’s bedrock of sharply tilted green igneous sandstone appeared with small rounded rocks of every description scatters about. Some of the bedrock still showed the striations of the last glacial age, as did the large eccentric granite boulders lying about here and there.

A few campers populated the shore side campsites and the busy ranger kept showing up to say hi at different portions of our hike. In the early evening, the fog reappeared, and after a peaceful night, I awoke to fog even thicker fog then the evening before.

Today is a lay about day. Carrie Rose has no destination. Tomorrow she will head for Pulpit Harbor on the slice of an island called North Haven to anchor in a well protected harbor. There we will visit friends and wait out the expected heavy winds. Wind enough that I am sure will keep both sail and power boat pointed directly into it.

Pulpit Harbor, North Haven, ME