Long Island, NY to Baltimore, MD

After waiting out Hurricane Irene in Three Mile Harbor, Long Island, we had a nice sail wing and wing to Montauk on Monday, 8/29/11. We did run aground on our way through the shallow channel, but we were able to get off ourselves. On Tuesday, 8/30/11 we departed Montauk at 9:00 AM and motored all day and through the night toward Cape May. We arrived in Cape May on Wednesday evening and anchored by the Coast Guard station. On Thursday, 9/1/11 we motored through the Cape May Canal, up the Delaware Bay and through the C & D Canal, anchoring on the Bohemia River- an 80 mile day. On Friday, 9/2/11 we reached our current location of Baltimore, MD. Trilogy will spend at least the month September in her home waters of the Chesapeake Bay. Pictured: Trilogy in her slip during Hurricane Irene; Sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean; Atlantic City as seen from the ocean.

Scituate, MA to Three Mile Harbor, Long Island, NY

We returned to Trilogy early Wednesday morning, 8/17/11. Spent that day doing boat work and getting provisions. On Thursday morning we motor-sailed 3 hours to Dorchester Bay. Anchored in a mooring field- Leiby dinghied in to pick up Jerica, Jenna and Vanessa, who met us for a daysail. Sailed into Boston Harbor, back out of Boston Harbor and around the Boston Harbor islands, anchoring for a few hours at Georges Island. Leiby and the girls toured Fort Warren, which Leiby says is an incredible masonry structure. Sailed back to Dorchester Bay, dropped off the girls, and anchored there for the night. On Friday 8/19/11, we had an invigorating over 6 knot close-hauled, starboard tack sail to Cape Cod, Provincetown- an extremely colorful town with lots of different kinds of people. On Saturday we went into town and to the beach. Leiby toured the Pilgrim Monument. On Sunday 8/21/11 we had a long motor day dead into the wind through the Cape Cod Canal to the Elizabeth Islands, anchoring in Hadley Harbor. We were close-hauled all day Monday, tacking back and forth across the wind with multiple sail changes: full main, reefed main, jib sail, cutter sail- we worked hard for our destination of Block Island, anchoring just before 6:30 in Great Salt Pond. On Tuesday we took a long walk on Block Island, buying lemonade from several kids along the way. On Wednesday we sailed close-hauled on a port tack- wind was clocking around to the south. Our original destination was Montauk but we ended up at Shelter Island, anchoring in Coecles Harbor after beating into the wind all day. On Thursday we decided we needed a safe place to be for Hurricane Irene and made reservations at Gardiner's Marina in Three Mile Harbor, Long Island, NY near East Hampton. Yesterday, we motored to Three Mile Harbor and anchored. We dinghied into shore and took a long walk to East Hampton. This morning, we motored to Gardiner's Marina and completed our hurricane preparations: removing sails, canvas and clearing everything off the deck. We are as ready as possible for Hurricane Irene. Pictured: Jerica, Vanessa and Jenna on deck; The girls in Boston Harbor; the Pilgrim Monument; Underway; the southeast lighthouse on Block Island; the sky in our backyard.

Home

We had a wonderful time back home. Spent the first 3 nights as guests in Jerica and Brian's home, then 2 nights at Mom and Dad's. Leiby had some work to do while I went to Wildwood with family and friends. We are driving back to Scituate tonight with Jerica and Jenna, who are spending a few days in Boston. Plan to meet them in Boston on Thursday for a day sail. Pictured: Our gracious hosts, Jerica and Brian; our other gracious hosts, Mom and Dad; Brother Lou and Martha; Tasha and Nikki; Coral and John

East Penobscot Bay, ME to Scituate, MA

After leaving Castine, we travelled south and then east around Islboro Island. We enjoyed a nice, starboard tack sail through Gilkey Harbor to Pulpit Harbor. We anchored just off the entrance of Pulpit Harbor in a place known locally as Cabot Cove. We spent 2 nights at this anchorage, walking into town on New Haven and doing some boat work. On Saturday, 7/30/11, we had a rare NE wind and we were able to sail most of the way to Boothbay Harbor. Motored through the Townsend Gut and anchored just past the swing bridge in Hodgedon's Cove. On Sunday, we got an 8:30 AM bridge opening and motored back through the Townsend Gut to Boothbay Harbor, anchoring in Mill Cove. We were in our dingy after picking up some haddock for dinner, when Leiby spotted "Aquila" on a mooring. They already knew we were in Boothbay Harbor, as they had spoken to other boaters from the Chesapeake Bay who Leiby had met earlier in the day. We went aboard for some pre-dinner refreshments. On Tuesday 8/2/11, we left early, motored west through fog and anchored around 11:00AM at Jewell Island. On Wednesday, our friend Glen was due to join us for a few days so we anchored at Peaks Island until we heard from him that he had arrived in Portland.We then motored into Portland Harbor and Leiby rowed the dinghy to the pier, picked him up, and rowed back to Trilogy. We again anchored at Peaks Island for the night, and left early the next morning for a beautiful wing and wing and then port tack sail past the Isle of Shoals to Rockport, MA. We tied to a floating dock at the Sandy Bay Yacht Club. We left the next day around noon, anchoring in Hull Bay in the evening. On Saturday, we mostly motored SE to Scituate, MA and got a mooring at the Scituate Launch Boat Club. They were having a Heritage Day festival, and we walked through town enjoying the music and food. The boat will stay here for 12 nights while we go home for work and family functions. Missy drove half way through the night and picked us up for the ride back to Doylestown. On Monday, we attended the Leibensperger family reunion at Knoebels Grove.  Pictured: Leiby in Boothbay Harbor; Barb and Rich aboard Aquila; Glen in Portland after his long bus trip travel day; No all night parking in this area of Rockport, MA; Glen makes it to Rockport, too; Leiby and Glen on a wall in Rockport; Trilogy under sail- photo taken by Glen, who was sent adrift in our dingy, "Skippy"; Missy picks us up in Scitiuate, MA; Leiby makes friends wherever he goes; Pop and Julia on the train ride at Knoebels

Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick to East Penobscot Bay, ME

We left Grand Manan Island on Tuesday 7/19/11 and motored north on the western edge of the Bay of Fundy to Head Harbor on Campobello Island. We used the eastern limits of our charts onboard. In the 18 ft. tidal zone, knowing which way the currents are flowing is more important than the clock. We saw two magnificent bald eagles as we entered Head Harbor. We tied up to a floating platform used for storing lobster traps. Though we could hardly tell, the water rose and fell with the tide nearly 3 ft. per hour. Leiby wanted to practice sailing in the currents, so we took a daysail down the western side of Campobello Island, tacking against the 20 knot wind back and forth across the Canadian/U.S. border. We saw whales as large as our boat. We left Canada on a foggy Friday morning- less than 0.5 mile visibility- nd motored through 6-8 ft. waves to Cutler, ME. With no room to anchor, we picked up a derelict ball with no mooring line and shackled our own line to it. We called a bumbling customs officer in Lubec who insisted on driving to Cutler to "eyeball" us. Bought 4 lobsters from the the Lobster Co. for dinner. Cutler is a real working fisherman's town; there are no services geared for recreational boats, but we did manage to get some water and diesel from a fisherman's warf. Everyone we met there was very friendly. On Sunday, we left Cutler and rode the ebb down the Gulf of Maine for a nice beam reach, starboard tack sail. Motored when the wind died to the Mt. Desert area and picked up a mooring in Sorrento Harbor. Ordered raspberry muffins from a Rhode Island girl who spends her summers there- she delivered them fresh and warm at 8:30 the next morning, as promised. Motored to Bar Harbor and picked up a town mooring for a few hours. Tacked across the wind to Seal Cove but could not find room to anchor, so we motored to Northeast Harbor and picked up a mooring there. Met up with Barb and Rich of  "Aquila"- great people and a beautiful boat we know from Greenpoint Landing; it was fun sharing travel stories with them. We left Northeast Harbor early and sailed wing and wing and then on a port tack through Merchant Row and past Stonington through the Deer Island thorofare. Unfortunately, having to avoid all the lobster traps does suck much of the fun out of sailing. We are now boycotting lobsters. We finally found a place to anchor between Bold and Devil Islands. This morning, we motored to East Penobscot Bay and were pleased to find relatively few lobster traps. Had a great sail north and are currently anchored near Castine, ME. Pictured: Trilogy moored in Grand Manan; the lighthouse at Head Harbor, Campobello; a bald eagle; tied to the platform in Campobello; rowing ashore in Sorrento and the muffin girl.

Portland, ME to Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick

We left Portland at around 11:00 on Friday and set out for an overnighter toward Maine's "Down East". We sailed through the night and only had to start the engine late the next morning. Travelled east most of the day on Saturday and stopped to anchor for the night at Great Wass Island. The anchorage was literally littered with many different colors of lobster traps- it looked like a living room the day after a New Year's eve party. On Sunday, we motored most of the way up the Grand Manan Channel, then we were able to motor sail on a starboard tack. We made it to Canada by around 1:00pm on Sunday. Customs was easy- a telephone call; the officer just took the boat name and documentation number, not our personal passport information. We were able to get a free mooring at North Head on Grand Manan Island. We took a hike this morning, and then a friendly fellow boater loaned us his car for the day and we were able to explore the entire island. Pictured: the sun sets during our overnighter over Monhegan Island; Leiby on the deck; Darlene on the deck; the wall showing the water line (tidal range here is 18 feet); the fishing weirs at North Head; Leiby sitting on top of "The Hole in the Wall"; the lighthouse at North Head.

Bridgeport, CT to Portland, ME

So much has happened since our last blog. After Leiby returned to Bridgeport, we sailed with a SW wind behind us to the Thimble Islands and anchored between High and Pot Island. The Thimbles consist of many islands of rocky formation. We then motor-sailed most of the way to Mystic Harbor. We were fogged in for 2 nights, but Mystic CT is a nice town in which to be stuck. On the 4th of July, the fog cleared in the afternoon and we were able to pull anchor and sail to Point Judith Harbor of Refuge on a slow, broad reach, starboard tack. We saw a spectacular show of fireworks- individual displays 180 degrees around us. The next morning, we motored approx. 3 hours to Newport, RI. We arrived in the morning as many boats were leaving after the holiday weekend and found a nice spot to anchor in Brenton Cove. Ruefus and I celebrated our birthdays together on 7/6/11. The next day, we continued up Narragansett Bay and anchored in Greenwhich Bay. We had a nice, clear sail which then turned into a challenging, foggy motor to Cuttyhunk Island in Buzzard's Bay. We then sailed to Mattapoisett, MA where our beloved dog Ruefus passed away peacefully at the Mattapoisett Veterinary Hospital after a long, brave struggle with Degenerative Myelopathy. We love you, Ruefus. Rest in peace, you are our proud boy and we miss you like crazy. We continued up Buzzard's Bay, through the Cape Cod Canal and sailed overnight in the ocean up the coast to Portland, ME. We got a slip yesterday at South Port Marine to do get provisions and do laundry. Pictured: Darlene at Captain's Cove Seaport in Bridgeport, CT; On the bridge in Mystic, CT; The crew of Trilogy on a wall at a beach in Newport, RI; Going through the Cape Cod Canal; Our approach to the Maine Coast; Storm clouds over Portland, ME; Our beloved boy giving kisses and getting kisses.