Friday morning we sailed for Portsmouth. We chose to get an early start so we could catch what little breeze was forecast for the day, and sailing out past Beverly was beautiful. We sailed past little rocky islands that looked like what we imagined Maine would be like, past Hospital Point Lighthouse and Bakers Island Light Station and out toward Cape Ann. The wind picked up the farther out we got, to the point where we reefed first the jib and then the main as we started to see gusts into the high 20s. We had a super fast sail and didn’t need to motor except for the last few miles as we passed the Isles of Shoals. We kept a lookout for whales, and we did see one from a distance – or at least its spout (I saw a fin through my camera lens, kind of).
We had a mooring reserved at the Portsmouth Yacht Club, and we were excited that our spot was right in front of the Coast Guard station and UNH research dock where two visiting tall ships were docked. We walked part way to town so we could get enough cell service to get an Uber, and we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering Portsmouth. It’s a cool little town with some nice restaurants, cute shops, and a fair amount going on. The architecture is very old town New England – old brick warehouses/storehouses converted into shops, restaurants and housing, along with Victorian homes. We found a little art shop and I picked up a learn to paint book and some paints since it’s something I’ve been threatening to try for a while now. This was part easy stop between Salem and Portland and part scouting mission, as we’re considering renting a place in the area while Windara is up for her refit this winter. We got ice cream and stopped for a drink and some oysters at the River House.
The Piscataqua River, which runs through Portsmouth, has one of the fastest currents of the US rivers, and it gets its name from the Abenaki word meaning “a river with a strong current.” It wasn’t an issue for us, even though we came in on an increasing flood tide. But the poor tall ship captain who took out a boat full of passengers for a sunset sail wasn’t so lucky. Due to the way the dock was set up and the position of the mooring field, he had to turn sideways to the current on his approach to the dock. With their full keel, it just meant that the current picked them up and swept them sideways at upwards of 2kts and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it. We watched as he tried for two hours, first in the fading daylight and then in the pitch dark, partially out of concern for Windara. We turned on our anchor light, then the Luci light and shone a flashlight on whatever side of the boat they were approaching from. We didn’t turn on our deck light until they turned on theirs – we didn’t want to mess with the captain’s night vision. The nights get really chilly, so I made us hot chocolate while we kept watch. Eventually they gave up and decided to wait for slack to approach the dock… which meant they had to ferry passengers five or so at a time in their dinghy (the other tall ship pitched in with their dinghy to help). I’m guessing they finally got everyone ashore just about in time for the midnight slack. We eventually gave up waiting and went to bed, and when we woke up this morning they were on the dock.
Originally we were going to get a later start today, but again given the time of tide, we chose to get going early so that we wouldn’t be facing full ebb when we left. We wouldn’t have had the same problems the tall ship did, but since there wasn’t a ton of room between us and the ship, I wanted to keep the departure easy. I’m excited to get to Portland later today, so I don’t mind the early start.