Heritage, Day 5: Long Cove to Pulpit Harbor, North Haven
Ben McCanna
Alex Hardt on the foredeck.
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When the morning fog burns off, the sun shines brightly from a deep blue sky, the air is calm and hot, and the water around the Heritage is glassy still.
It’s a lazy morning: a few passengers row around Long Cove; ospreys chase bald eagles over spruce trees on the nearby shore; and Jan Czasak sits on the quarterdeck and plays an unhurried set of chanteys on his beat-up guitar.
The crew is in no rush to raise the anchor, and that suits everyone just fine. The big topic of conversation this morning is how exhausted we all feel.
It’s hard to reconcile just how strenuous sailing can be. Our exercise yesterday was moderate at best: we rowed back and forth from the lobster bake on Spectacle Island, we raised the sails, and we hauled the yawlboat, but other than that we pretty much loafed about.
Lowering the flag at sunset.
Nonetheless, we’re bushed. As easy and agreeable as it was to sail downwind yesterday, we still burned a great deal of calories by simply sitting on housetops. As the Heritage gently pitched, yawed, and rolled, each muscle in our bodies maintained the constant--yet nearly imperceptible--duty of keeping our heads on straight. After six straight hours of holding a steady equilibrium, I feel just as tired as if I’d hiked all day.
But it’s a satisfying exhaustion. It’s the kind of tiredness that makes you feel blissful, at ease, perhaps even a little high.
As the passengers and crew luxuriate in this quiet anchorage, I take a seat next to Captain Doug who’s perched on the aft cabintop of his Heritage.
If you’ve ever embarked on a home improvement project, you know the pride that comes with completion. Even if your task was as simple as repainting a room or planting a tree, there’s a good chance you sat back and admired your handiwork long into the twilight hours, and maybe even patted yourself on the back for days and weeks to come.
Now imagine if you’d designed a 95-foot coasting schooner, built it with your own hands, and made a decent living driving it around the coast of Maine.
It’s understandable then that Captain Doug Lee is proud of his vessel. And he’s quick to remind his passengers that the Heritage is the only windjammer in the Maine fleet that was designed and built by her captains.
Adam McKinlay.
Posted on Friday, August 8, 2008 in Permalink
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Reader Comments:
Hey Ben, Nice to read the blog. I don't consider myself a Heritage cultist...I haven't drank the Koolaid yet, I just like sailing on a quality schooner with some soul. I've been on other schooners and the Heritage is the one I've been on the most and I have no intention of changing that unless the Lees no longer own the boat. Oh yeah, I find myself humming Haul away Joe at the start of my shift at the hospital. As for the doubters of the authenticity of the experience, sails need to be raised and the schooner has to come about. It doesn't happen magically and based on my experience, it doesn't matter whether the schooner is 25 or 125 years old.
Ben
Am really enjoying the stories, pictures and videos. Have been sending friends and families links
Haul away Joe is still coursing through my head also. We will go again nest year on the Heritage. The Lees are wonderful and the the trip was soothing and exhilarating at the same time.