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At this time, my partner Captain John Beebe-Center is aboard Pride of Baltimore II, and I am living "the life ashore." Regular hours, regular bed, regular commute, a bit of time off to get re-acquainted with living in my "new" house rather than a rental. For those of you that do not know, my wife Leslie and I bought a house early last year. So far I have lived in it about half the time Leslie has. But what is strange for me is coming to terms with the understanding that care for this house of ours is our responsibility. I am so used to renting that it takes me some time and concentration to grasp what most of you probably know instinctively about the care and maintenance of one's own home, i.e. nothing is going to happen unless we make it happen. Just like Pride of Baltimore II, my house is steadily aging as I live in it. While it is aging more slowly than Pride II, it is aging and has been doing so since 1960 and there has not been a crew of twelve at home dedicated to the care of the house like there is aboard the Pride. Leslie and I not only have ideas of how to adjust things, but it is just we two that have the responsibility of maintenance that comes with a 44 year dwelling. Nothing new to many of you, I am sure. But since this is the first home I have ever owned, I am struck by my old habit of coming home and plopping myself down for a good rest while Leslie takes care of the place (like the crew and I take care of Pride II.) I sure hope the adage that old dogs can't learn new tricks is not true. I need to learn to get involved with the care of this house!

I left you with the pending departure of Pride II from Shelburne, Nova Scotia, bound for Yarmouth some 95 miles away - as a boat may go. The complex weather pattern I referred to in the last log did not turn out to be threatening but rather provided some fair and moderate winds for sailing out of Shelburne. So we wowed our dock-gawkers by sailing off the dock. This is much easier than sailing onto a dock, let me assure you. In this particular demonstration of traditional, pre-engine vessel handling, it was only a matter of letting go dock lines and letting the wind take the ship out into the harbor. As simple and uncomplicated as this was, it pleased the audience greatly and we were applauded as Pride II slipped ever so quietly away.

The crew made sail rapidly. By early evening, Pride II was gliding along the coast of Nova Scotia with light winds from the north. By late evening the wind was westerly and Pride II was strapped in for going to windward. I juggled in my mind the probabilities of sailing the whole way or making port with motor assist. But my assessment that the Cape Sable currents would be helpful rather than a hindrance proved correct and we sailed the whole way through the foggy night. We even took a short cut across the banks of Cape Sable. It was a great relief to the crew to be able to sail Pride II and not do any motoring.

Yarmouth is important in the history of Nova Scotia because of its proximity to the United States. This and its size offer protection to sizable vessels. Even so, it is only big enough to handle moderate sized vessels of about 400-500 feet. But that is not its main asset. Its chief importance is its relatively easy access to the United States. Second is as a fishing community that can take advantage of the transportation hub the harbor offers for their catch. Today there are two ferries that use Yarmouth in their service of transporting trucks, cars, and people between Canada and the USA. The more dramatic ferry is The Cat. It is a large catamaran that can carry some 300 vehicles and upwards of 900 persons while still traveling at 45 knots between Bar Harbor, Maine, and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, twice a day. The other ferry is a traditional ship that moves between Portland and Yarmouth once every other day as it takes about 12 hours one way.

Our reception in Yarmouth was very warm as people from miles around came to see the fleet of tallships arrive in their harbor.

I hope the looking was satisfying as there is a 12-15 foot tide in Yarmouth which prevented many of the visiting vessels from welcoming the public aboard except at high water. In Pride II's case, we could only keep the gangway open about 2 hours during high water.

We had what must have been the best sail of the Canadian Tall Ships event between Yarmouth and Meteghan. Meteghan, Nova Scotia, is located about 35 nautical miles north along the Gulf of Maine from Yarmouth and is an Acadian town. Acadians are Canadians with French origins. The small tallship fleet sailing around Nova Scotia this year was assembled to help celebrate 400 years since the French first came to North America. Meteghan is not large enough to accept the whole visiting fleet, so half of the fleet went on to Digby. I had concerns about Pride II being in Meteghan as this harbor is vulnerable to swell from the north and northeast. While it has enough dockside depth at low water, it does not have enough depth in the entrance channel for Pride II to get in an out at low water. But with moderate to light summer winds from south and southwest, it seemed feasible to go and so Pride II went.

Here the tides are 18 feet as Meteghan is on the Gulf of Maine but further away from the Atlantic. Water from the Gulf of Maine drains into the Atlantic at low tide and Meteghan gets a mighty rush when the water drains out. The Acadian hospitality was terrific as this was the first time ever in the modern age that tallships had come to visit. Hence their enthusiasm was great, so the problem of when and for how long we could let the public aboard was just as great. As it turned out, we could get the public aboard for about 3 hours during high water as the dock was not as high at high water as it had been in Yarmouth. But let me say, when it was low water, we sometimes had to take to the ship's small boat to get ashore. The southerly wind blowing while we were in Meteghan blew Pride II off the dock and it was occasionally difficult to pull her back into the dock against the wind. This would not normally be a problem with lesser tidal ranges. But 18 feet required really long leads on all dock lines. With dock lines stretched out at low water, Pride II could get pretty far from the dock during times of higher water. At night when a wind was holding the ship off the dock and when there was no reason to pull Pride II into the dock and set the gangway for open house visitors, it was simpler to use the rubber boat than it was to haul the ship against the wind to the dock. At low water the ship was less affected by the wind since she was hanging on her lines and thus held closer to the dock as a result. With a long built-in ladder on the dock, all hands could go ashore and return at will.

From Meteghan, the fleet sailed across the Bay of Fundy to St. John, New Brunswick. Sadly there was not much sailing as it was thick fog and light winds. In fact the fog for arrival in St. John was the thickest of the our experience in 2004. The Parade of Sail was canceled as we could not see the dock till we were within 200 feet of it. But the weather ashore was fair so the crowds were out trying to look at the ships. St. John has 20 foot tides but they were not a problem for Pride II this time as a barge had been provided to lay up against.

St. John has a proud history of wooden ship building. Not hard to understand when one takes into account the virgin forests that would have been around back then. The St. John area was also important to the local Indians long before any Europeans turned up. St. John gets its name in honor of John the Baptist. Today St. John is suffering a change from its previous marine-focused industry to something else; it is not yet clear to what.

Certainly there is tourism and recreation. There is a significant river valley with its mouth at St. John. Just behind the entrance to the river is a reversing fall. During normal ebb, the water must pass through a narrow spot that also sports a shoal. Hence the water at full ebb cascades as a falls. Interestingly the same thing happens on the flood when the high water from the Bay of Fundy arrives and tries to refill the river.

My last week of sailing aboard Pride II was spent getting her down to Martha's Vineyard. This meant getting out of the Bay of Fundy and crossing the length of the Gulf of Maine. For those that have read about the Fundy currents, everything you have read is true. There are strong currents that smaller vessels will most likely not want to ignore, especially in rough weather. This became a possibility when tropical depression Charley became a potential threat while we were in St. John. But that threat dissipated and the tallship fleet departed St. John on Monday, August 16, on schedule. The wind was nearly still and the water virtually flat, so we made for Eastport, Maine, to gain US Customs clearance. In the back of my mind was the possibility that afterwards we could stop in at Penobscot Bay, where Rockland, ME, is located as we made our way down to Massachusetts. (Rockland is the home of the Maine windjammer fleet,)

Eastport, ME, is just about the easternmost town in the United States. It has the greatest tides on the East Coast running the same as St. John's at around 20 feet. As a US Customs port, it is convenient - more so than Bar Harbor, ME. Since we motored into the port after 1800 hours, we anchored for the night to await clearance in the morning. At 0800 sharp, we tied up as Customs came aboard. After all formalities were taken care of, I gave the ship's company time to roam ashore till 1300 when the currents would be favorable for departure. Eastport is not booming as has been the case in the past. There is hope this will improve. A sign that it may is the schooner Sylvia Beal that does windjammer cruises out of Eastport.

Once everyone had their ice cream ashore, Pride II took off for the Gulf of Maine. The weather pattern was forming to make it impractical to stop in at Penobscot Bay and see the Maine windjammer fleet. It was in fact forming in a way to prevent a full sail down to Cape Cod since it was promising to come up out of the SW between 10 and 20 knots - the very direction we had to head for. So we motored all Tuesday evening and into Wednesday till right after lunch. Then, in spite of the wind direction still being on the bow, the crew set sail and we sailed the rest of the distance to the Cape Cod Canal, arriving there in the middle of the ebb current cycle at 0400 Thursday morning.

I chose to continue motoring that morning on out of the Canal to an anchorage behind Naushon Island in the Elizabeth Islands of Buzzard Bay and Vineyard Sound. With the wind out of the south and southwest, I chose Kettle Cove to anchor in. It is a bit of an open roadstead, but it worked for us. The crew was able to get some significant maintenance done while we remained at anchor.

Friday we sailed away from the anchorage and made our way under sail in the limited fog/haze visibility through Quick's Hole and up Vineyard Sound. Along the way we were joined by the schooner Shenandoah making her way home from a week of sailing among the Massachusetts islands.

Shenandoah is the oldest square topsail schooner in the county. That is not very old as she was built in 1964. But she is the first modern-era traditional topsail schooner in the county. She is longer than Pride II and is a very well sailed vessel. Which is reasonable considering Robert S. Douglas is the captain/owner and had the vessel built. There is a lot of knowledge aboard that vessel. She has spent her life as a passenger carrier doing week-long summertime cruises on the Massachusetts waters of Buzzards Bay, Vineyard Sound, and Nantucket Sound. Thirty years ago when I was just starting out in the passenger schooner trade, I got to know Bob Douglas and the Shenandoah fairly well. For 6 years I sailed on another well known schooner, the Brilliant from Mystic Seaport Museum, and often our travels found us sailing along with Shenandoah. Much of the tactics and sail evolutions we practice aboard Pride II are borrowed from my observations of Shenandoah as she sailed from the anchor or up to the anchor or tacked or jibed.

As both vessels made their way into Vineyard Haven harbor on Martha's Vineyard, we tacked in unison, Pride II following closely behind until Shenandoah anchored just outside the harbor breakwater. Pride II jibed away and took in some sail because of the afternoon rising wind, then tacked back into the harbor.

I was looking to sail all the way into the harbor. This is not easy to do with the wind smack on the bow. But years ago I had done this and I was seeing if I could do it again. But this time the wind strength was up and rising and becoming too much for the crew to handle in the decreasing space available. I decided we needed to reduce sail some more and bore away off the wind to help the crew get the foresail in. With only the jib, staysail, mainsail, and foretopsail set, the crew tacked Pride II up to the mouth of the breakwater. Not as close in as we had gotten back in 1995 but pretty close considering the wind direction and strength.

After the intense sailing, I learned that some of the crew were at first a little dismayed at all the sailing, but later they became rather pleased with it. This is not a new phenomenon. The physical effort of sailing 185 tons of traditional vessel is never easy. Battling it against the wind in a small area is even harder. The stronger the wind, the harder it is on the crew. There are lessons to be learned by the crew when they work a sail vessel in stronger wind than they learned in lighter winds. In tight areas, the rapid sequence of sail evolutions going from tack to tack with an occasional jibe thrown in teaches new things as well, especially when the rapid evolutions occur in strong winds. Summertime sailing often brings gentle winds. So the crew can become complacent without realizing it. Then when the captain suddenly puts everyone to work for no apparent reason, the first reaction to the incredibly hard and constant work is a rebellious one. This resentment increases throughout the period of hard work. After the hard work and some time to settle down has passed, the crew discuss what happened among themselves and they become aware of who enjoyed it and who did not and why. Fortunately, almost always what was learned about the differences in how things went as compared to what was normally the experience provides growth in understanding and leads to a sense of personal accomplishment. The fact that the captain was happy with everything contributes to the evaluation process. Ultimately, everyone aboard finds that it was not boring and with the stress and effort ended, life goes back to normal, which is comforting. Then it is onward to the next thing - like what's for dinner, when will we be able to go ashore, or to sleep, or just plain relax? It's funny how we humans react to changing circumstances.

After getting Pride II to Martha's Vineyard safely, my tour aboard Pride II for this summer came to an end. I will be back aboard after the Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race and I will close out the season getting Pride II winterized and under winter cover. The foremast must be removed this year for some work. We will be taking the fore-rig chain-plates off to gain access to the forward channels. I am suspicious that there is water coming in from behind the channels. It will also be an opportunity to check the condition of the hull planking behind the chain-plates. We will be removing the bowsprit and the jibboom as well so that the head-rig can be inspected. It has not been apart since 2000.

Cheers,

Captain Miles