Homeward Bound on Deer Isle

Well, it has come time to wrap up circumnavigating Deer Isle in Maine. We were tired from two days of sailing, and the decision had been made to sail to the causeway at the very north end of the island. Mary's house where we keep our sailboat is only a quarter mile or so from the causeway. The winds were light and variable, which might have been frustrating if we had pushed on around Little Deer Isle. But I drank my last Ballantine and soldiered on, lightly sculling with the rudder.
Sometimes when the wind is very light, we will use our paddle briefly to gain some direction, and it does make the Wayfarer coast along for a few dozen feet, even when you only throw a few strokes in. It was like that this day. The coastline here on the NW side of Deer Isle looks very much like Acadia National Park, but with a bit more development.


I could write a whole post about the tides in Maine. You have to be careful with shorelines. If you beach the boat on a lowering tide, she can be stranded in just fifteen minutes. But I decided after talking it over with Jennifer that we could retrieve the trailer from Mary's house and load Juliet on the trailer by hand. After that, the boat would be left high and dry on the trailer. Then we would have most of the low tide through nightfall to figure out how to get Juliet and the trailer up the long sandy/gravelly beach. The causeway beach is the very first place you come to when you drive to the island, and there were a few vehicles and waders, sunbathers and children playing. We sailed straight up to the beach and jumped ashore with our "fun bag", which has a bunch of necessities for in or out of Juliet (the boat.) I threw a few totes and some gear on the beach. Then I tossed the lunch hook as far out as I could, so as to hold her of the gravel while I hiked for our car/trailer combination. This is how she looks at anchor on the Causeway Beach :
All that was left to do was get her out of the water and home. So Jennifer kicked back on the beach and took some pictures and sorted gear, and I jogged back to Mary's and retrieved the car/trailer. I unhooked the trailer and walked it down the beach to submerge it near Juliet. I slid a couple of long plywood strips under her wheels to keep them from miring in the sand. Then I pulled the anchor and centered her on the trailer and cranked her in. I rolled her and the trailer up the plywood planks and checked her as she sat for centeredness (new word?) The Wayfarer is a very light boat. A very nice man named Ed took interest in the whole operation and offered to help roll her up the beach. I said "I think I'll just tie a line to the car from where she sits and pull her from afar up the beach." He replied "I have my truck." "Man, I wouldn't drive my car down there." And he said "It'll probably be fine." So, he pulled his little 4X4 down to the waters edge and hooked me up, dragged Juliet up to our little wagon, and the boat was out for the winter. Jennifer and I had completely circumnavigated Deer Isle. It really seemed like a longer sail in concept than practice.