More Than A Winter in Maine
By Dave and Jaja

For those who have been following our web reports for the past several weeks, you might have noticed that as soon as we touched down in Maine this summer, we felt a little lost, a little off balance, and just a tad whiny.

I can explain about being lost. In Maine, it is so foggy, even the mosquitoes need radar. In Maine, it is so foggy, one day the current went slack two hours early just to stop and ask us for directions. With all that fog, how can one not feel lost in Maine?

During summertime, there is seldom any wind on the Maine coast, which accounts for us feeling off balance; for the past several years we have grown accustomed to gales ripping past on a weekly basis--even in summer. Day sails can easily become white-knuckle adventures as strong winds funnel out of snow-capped mountains. You become attuned to the weather and you are always on the lookout for a safe haven. Forget what the forecasters predict; gales in the high latitudes can happen without consent from weather men. Basically, in the Far North, calm weather is what happens between gales.

We were also off balance due to day, after day, after day, of calm anchorages. It took us awhile to modify our thinking and not use the 70-pound Luke anchor every night--with 200 feet of chain. You know, just in case a sudden gale sprang up. Furthermore, it took a while to trust the weather forecasters and believe them when they said "light winds".

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As for being "whiny", well, the price for Chablis is considerably lower in the States than elsewhere overseas.

What we were really suffering from was culture shock. The United States is a big, busy place. As the summer wore on in Maine, however, we "chilled-out".

Our culture shock was created by the recollection of our previous summer when we had departed from Norway. To reach Maine we had sailed southward through 26 degrees of latitude. Here's an idle thought. Cruisers typically go south to the Caribbean to "chill-out". When you think about it, "chill-out" is a strange turn of phrase, considering that people who sail north are always trying to get warm. You would never say "Hey, let's go to Iceland to overheat". If cruisers go to the tropics for the sunny weather, to beat the frigid Northeast winters, why do they want to be cold?

Let's say that you ARE headed to the Caribbean from Maine. Compared to our passage from Norway, 26 degrees of latitude southward from Maine would land you in the Virgin Islands. Talk about culture shock. Best part about the Virgin Islands, I suppose, is you could go to Foxy's and drink cheap rum instead of Chablis.

But all that tropical heat is debilitating, so we are in Maine for the winter, living in a rented house in the village of Round Pond. DRIVER is hauled, covered, and winterized. The kids are in school. Jaja is a, Ed Tech at the kid's school, which means she can drive them in and be home when they get home. I (Dave) am working at Padebco Custom Boats here in Round Pond doing finish carpentry. We are close enough to Padebco that I can ride my bike to work. Cars, like computers, are a necessary evil. One car is one too many, but you can't deny the advantages.

Life goes on.