Unplugging With Mellow Maine Sailing

It’s hard to beat sailing in Maine in the summer. Our annual family reunion trip to Maine always reminds us of how sailing became so deeply embedded in our DNA. Despite a very short season and unreliable weather, Maine has a deeply rooted waterfront and sailing culture. With a coastline as long as California’s but comprising endless islands, inlets, coves, peninsulas and other coastal features, it would take a lifetime to explore it all. We don’t even try. Our sailing in Maine is mostly the simple, short sails in an Ensign or Rhodes 19 that make for a pleasant afternoon or evening. No foiling, no racing, and nothing really edgy at all unless a thunderstorm happens to pass through.

Maine has had a particularly wet, foggy summer, so we felt fortunate to have a couple of mostly sunny weeks punctuated by a couple of cracking thunderstorms. We also swam a lot in water that was frighteningly warm. The swimming was pleasant but left us worrying about the planet. There was also no eelgrass, or mussels in the usual places, and very few lobster buoys for us to dodge this year. There didn’t appear to be a shortage of lobsters, but the condition of the water felt like the trends we’ve been watching continue in disturbing ways.

We always slow down a bit while in Maine and try to unplug for a while, which, this year, was greatly aided by a failing computer and a failing Comcast cable line. It forced us offline more than usual, though, as our production manager Soren said to us, “Perhaps ‘Vacationland’ is telling you something.” We thought Starlink might make some sense but then thought we’d rather go sailing again.

Boats are typically in the water from Memorial Day to Labor Day, or even less. It’s brief but beautiful. Maine is a long way north if you’re cruising up the East Coast from the Caribbean, but if you can fit in a summer cruise on the coast of Maine you’ll be glad you did. There are thousands of islands to visit, boatyards and boat builders still busily practicing their craft, and a pace of life that still feels quaint in the hustle of modern living.