MeInMaine Blog

Tag: sailboats in maine

  • Sailboating In Maine | Getting Started Buying A Sail Boat Cheap!

    Sailboating In Maine | Getting Started Buying A Sail Boat Cheap!

    Sailing a boat in Maine capturing the prevailing winds using one or a series of multi shaped and sized sails.

    It’s one more method to travel using the waterways of Vacationland. But when someone mentions Maine, sailing. Just two words. What pops into your gray matter behind your eyes, between your ears? Expensive? Elite? A US President or a movie star with huge yachts no one uses but parked like landscape candy ready ad waiting in front of palatial Maine oceanfront estates?

    Or no thank you. Just no interest in hoisting the canvas sail, messing with learning rope knots and lowering the keel centerboard. Because your version of boating is the 14 foot aluminum craft kind. With a can of worms, a thermos of hot coffee or cooler of cold barley pop. The electric trolling motor hung off the back doing its back and forth plying the water. Parked next to the 8 horsepower Mercury or Johnson boat motor that pushes you around inland fresh water lakes with more determination. Maybe out into salt water bays and inlets for deep sea fishing for something beyond brook trout and land locked salmon or bass fish. The boat and assorted hardware and safety gear application designed for Maine fishing. Or larger powered boats or personal watercraft jet skis for tubing, for water skiing round and round a Maine lake.

    Maine Lake Island, Explore The Shores.
    No Man, Woman Is An Island. But For A Time Just Makes Sense. Ever Sailed In A Boat?

    But sailing in Maine.

    SSssshhhhhh. Listen. Hear that? It’s quiet and you can hear yourself think. Back to the blog post topic and staying on task with today’s hunt and peck exercise. That often is to learn along with the reader about a subject that I am not so knowledgeable about from first hand experiences. Exploring the fun in sailing a sloop with whatever size beam or required amount of water draft. Climb aboard and help me figure out what a roller furling is on the oversized dodger.

    Growing up I had a friend Mark McNutt who’s Dad loved boats of all kinds. Tri hull fiberglass pontoon boats that were faster than the typical aluminum ones. Rubber rafts with motors. Paddle boats modified with roof awnings and a four horsepower motor. And O’Day sailing boats. (Just read in researching this Maine blog posts O’Day Boats went out of business in 1989). All used on a Maine lake, not the ocean playground marine setting. The sail boater taught the basics of how to harness the wind in a small waterfront contained setting.

    In Uncle Henry’s buy sell swap guide you see lots of small day sailing boats… like a laser or Hobie Cat sail boat. Simple, basic but the way to start out to see if sailing a boat is for you.

    Laser sunfish sail boats are the simple one or two person entry level boats to hoist the sail and begin the addiction.

    You can buy these small sail boats for little money and kids have fun learning the joy of tapping the breeze to propel the boat. I have seen them offered for free or for a token $400 and that includes the boat, the gear, the trailer to haul it home to your place. But would you use it or dump it in ten years from being tired of looking at it in your space like the last sail boat owner?

    Maine Harbor Scene In Cutler ME
    Float Your Boat To Maine. Get Here Anyway You Have Available. Cutler Maine Pictured, Downeast.

    How to get proficient at jibing and tacking are two basics tasks with say your Hobie cat sailboat to master first when you are a beginner sailor. But if you are doing it with other crew mates especially, the boat locations have to be learned. Port side is the left. Starboard is on the right. The front of the boat is the bow. The rear end is the aft. You learn that quickly on a cruise ship to get around and have your sea leg bearings.

    Everyone has to be using the same sail boating terminology to avoid confusion.

    Learning the parts of the boat locations makes the instructions on sailing easier to follow. Plus you get a taste of sea life, being the boat captain and a bit of pirate all rolled up into one experience as a land lubber matey.

    Nautical terms of sailing, what else comes with the instructions on how to open up or use your sailboat in Maine.

    Hopefully, you skipper and all the crew won’t have to use the one about abandon ship. Not sure if there is a plank to walk if the crew does decide to mutiny either. What are the keel, ketch, sloop, cutter and yawl? Parts of the sailboat vessel.

    Had a real estate farm for sale owner who bought a yawl that was not in the best of shape but that the couple restored. Making their own hand sewn sails, refinishing the mahogany, updating electrical and restoring the mechanical systems to make it ship shape. Using the yatch to sail back and forth to Halifax Nova Scotia. And taking turns for the night watch. One night the boat almost hitting a floating dead whale. The name of the over 40 long yawl boat was Heart Strings. Because the owner’s sweat, tears, love for it tugged on their heart strings. They sold it to a man who knew nothing about boating but who had a fat wallet. He changed the name on the aft to “Mustang”.

    Maine Geocaching.
    Geocaches in Maine, Have You After Uncovered, Stumbled On To One? Used GPS To Find Them? Can You Read Nautical Marine Charts To Navigate A Sail Boat?

    Another couple that bought a property lived on a boat full time for a couple years. It is interesting hearing about adventures many of the real estate buyers and sellers share. The boyfriend pretty mechanically inclined and buying a sail boat / house boat with a very systematic approach. They drew a circle of so many miles around their home in Boston Massachusetts. And began the search for boatyard marinas in that circle.

    The mission to locate a sailboat yacht in storage for many years.

    With the bill for the storage high enough for the boatyard to want to get rid of it. Or the owners of the boat suddenly elderly or widowed and wanting to dump it for little cash. Because their stash of cash was a small one requiring major league stretching to make this living on a boat dream a reality.
    Beginners luck. They found the sailboat the very first call, the beginning of “let your fingers do the walking” through the boat yard search list.

    They moved around like floating gypsies on their sailboat house boat.

    Taking the required coast guard courses to comply with the rules of the nautical highway life on the high seas. The rules are so so different for boats under 26 feet in length. What licenses, regulations for recreational sailing are required? Well, first and foremost, navigation, nautical charts is pretty important before you raise anchor and remove the dock mooring ropes.

    I remember being on a blue fish trip off South Harpswell ME and suddenly a fog wrapped around the boat like pea soup. Our skipper grew up in Ellsworth ME and had lots of experience with the ocean. Something living in Aroostook County does not prepare you for so he calmly dug out the nautical map sealed in plastic laminate. And from our current location using the compass predicted we would be hearing and then seeing a green floating buoy off the starboard side of our modest fishing boat. We did, and then glancing at the chart as he steered the outboard motor from the back corner of the boat reported we should be seeing a red buoy on the port side…. which we heard first and then watched it appear in from out of the blanket of mist.

    Maine Has Over 60 Lighthouses.
    A Mile Off The Tip Of Southport Maine Is The Cuckholds Lighthouse. Fun To Sail Boat Or Sea Kayak To On Vacation Or Long Weekend.

    Our crew arrived back on the shores of Catalina Island and enjoyed a feast of fresh dug mussels steamed, dipped in Houlton Farms Dairy melted butter that was to die for delicious. Catalina Island has lots of World War Two abandoned bunker armaments that were cool to explore. Hurricane Hugo happened during our weekend camping trip to fish for the blues and in a tent, it was an adventure to remember.

    Anytime I see a sailboat for sale in my travels or on craigslist or Uncle Henry’s it is dirt cheap.

    Probably because the owner had their fun, it is one of many boats hanging around their property unused and neglected. Just get it off my lawn and out of my barn or garage low priced. No motor helps keep the sticker price for the third and fourth time around sail boat affordable too. If you visit Kennebunkport or the Beaches Region of Maine, like say in Wells or Moody Beach that all changes. Along with the higher priced waterfront properties, the cost of the floating toys increases in value and swankiness. Many lakes, ocean front groups have regattas and take their sailing boat races very seriously.

    I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

    207.532.6573 |  info@mooersrealty.com  | 

    MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730 USA

  • The 41 Foot Long Sail Boat’s Name Was “Heart String”.

    The owners of the long, sleek boat called Heart String both worked in education.

    Maine Harbor Boats Parked, Waiting, Anchored.
    Safe In Harbor, Maine Boats Anchored, The Crew Take The Dingy Ashore To Stretch Their Sea Legs.
    And not flush with money but long, deep with desire, work ethic. To have a vessel to ply the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. To know the peaceful feeling that floods the insides of a person when all alone out on the open sea.

    But instead of mortgaging their soul, over extending their financial resources, the boat was not bought with a brand new smell.

    No sticker shock or rapid depreciation on this floating toy. Liquid asset. No no. Bought as a basket case with graceful lines but many loose ends.

    The husband handy, a self taught magician with tools. And like his wife not one to sit on the edge of a couch or sunk in a recliner. Killing time unplugged, absorbed on the boop tube.

    Instead the boat parked side saddle to the garage with the pair usually inside nursing it back to health.

    With refinishing, replacement, improvements better than the original elements one by one added to the old boat. To return her to glory days. (Cue up, hit the Bruce Springsteen song.)

    Maine Coast Line Harbor Towns.
    Maine Highways, Not The Only Access Route, Option. Float Your Boat. To A Safe Harbor Visit.
    Better than original with new advancements in electronics, appointments.

    And when school vacation for summer fun arrived, the boat was one of the first in line. To be backed into, floated off, released at the public landing in Newburyport MA. To launch, heading to Nova Scotia Canada.

    The cost to repair canvas sails prohibitive on the education pay both socked away.

    So sewing, making their own alterations happened. Like other areas bleeding out. In the boat displaying black and blue ten foot pole marks, it was do it yourself time. No other option. Not a case of just stepping out to hire it all done.

    Rolling up the sleeves. Doing the research on line, in books and asking around. Chewing the fat. Posing questions for other boat owners. Folks addicted to salt air too. Harbor sounds and blue green water that are fixtures. Always hanging around the marina.

    To learn how to cross another item off the long to do list.

    Of the needed attention to replace the lack of TLC the last boat owner showed the pleasure boat. The one powered mostly by the wind. No motor to holler over or drown out the sounds of the sea.

    The owner said the tranquil inner feeling that is like no other when its just you, your wife and the wide open sea surrounding you is hard to describe. But more rewarding due to the fact that leading into the sea cruises, it was working all the spare time. Investing it into making the boat seaworthy, fully functional.

    Maine Coastal Harbor Town Photo
    Floating Parking Spaces, Used To Come Ashore, Sample Unique Maine Harbor Town Lifestyles.

    For the much anticipated nautical trips when the classroom bell rang for the last time. Until school resumed in the fall. When leaf color deviated from standard issue green. The air got crisp, days cooler on each end. The sun eased back on its spotlighting the good Earth.

    You’ve seen the sporting group that must have just stepped out of LL Bean’s Freeport outlet.

    Loaded down with the latest and greatest in neat high tech all weather gear. With price tags still waving in the wind that were missed getting dressed. Heavily armed with the newest sporting doo dads.

    But help signal here is someone that jumped into the endeavor hook, line and sinker. With plastic swipes and caught up in the moment. Suddenly deciding to go whole hog in one and only direction. For now. Looking for instant gratification that only retail therapy and a large credit limit can cause. For awhile.

    But the guy who’s rain gear was his Dad’s. Passed down. Like the tools his grandfather picked up over the years. Or a neighbor who had no kids. And treated you like you were adopted for the spot. Without saying so publicly, for the record.

    But ending up gratefully leaving what he had to fill the hole in his life of an empty nest.

    Putting your name on the here comes more tools, collectibles to add to what’s already in your workshop. You the appointed one who shared, lighten up his life. Was remembered when he woke up dead one day.

    The sweetest things in life are waited for, built over time with sacrifice. Making the passion grow hotter, glow brighter. Enriching the experience because you did it. Slowly. With blood, sweat and tears invested.

    Not everything done perfectly but by doggedly sticking on task. Driven to complete the self inflicted challenge just the same. And if lucky enough to have a first mate, co-captain, partner in the crime of passion. Then it’s a shared adventure.

    The best kind where together you make the experience from nothing but a dream.

    Maine Sea Coast Boats Habored, Anchored.
    Refreshing Maine Water, Does Your Involve Boats?
    Something pulling on your heart strings. Creatively constructed to enhance your life. To make living it more than just skimming the surface.

    And never having to find yourself on a nursing or elderly boarding home open porch rocking. Looking back with regrets on missed opportunities. That are too late to take now and play catch up. You had your chance. Realizing it too late.

    The boat was one of two floating hobbies projects. For seven years the back and forth to Nova Scotia, back to New England criss cross happened. Before ending while now still owning an Indian Class boat. But moving on to other hobbies to add to the depth of their life experiences. Life is to be enjoyed, lived, experienced.

    What happened to Heart String?

    After all that work, almost hitting head on a dead whale. In the middle of the night while clipping right along with a strong head wind. Almost swallowing up, sending the boat to a watery grave. The vessel that turned heads, dropped jaws. Interrupted many a conversation when it slid into harbors?

    Heart String was sold to a fellow who changed the name to Maverick. And he and his wife shortly afterwards were divorced. Untied the sailor’s matrimony half hitch knot. Both sadly realized there was lots in life each was missing, searching for but just not together. Not on the bridge, at the wheel of same boat. Not on the same nautical chart page compass position, or living in the same set of dream landscapes.

    Maine is a good place to find those extra curricular activities. Offers the settings, provides the neat people in small Maine towns to go with the outdoor fun. That somehow almost always involves Maine water.

    I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
    207.532.6573
    info@mooersrealty.com