Kennebunk River, Maine
New England sailing is easy for those who want to grab a mooring every night; our harbors are plentiful and well-spaced for day trips of 25 to 40 miles. That was our strategy when my partner, John, and I sailed my Catalina 25, Esmeralda, about 700 miles round-trip between Providence, Rhode Island, and Bar Harbor, Maine, last summer—and it worked beautifully under the prevailing summer southwesterlies pushing us north. However, coming back was an issue, as the wind was on the nose and our window of good weather had shut.
When we left Portland, we slogged into the wind for hours, keeping a direct path south as bigger boats taunted us by, but they were sailing rather than motoring at the blistering speed of 5 knots, all my small outboard could manage. My little boat just didn’t handle the chop the way the bigger boats do, so tacking was fruitless. We buckled down, intent on making the Kennebunk River before dark, as John had located a $25-a-night municipal mooring there. We’d hole up for the weekend and wait out the looming bad weather.
