Fill 'er up

The morning of July 5th we got things rolling straight away, no hour long leisurely breakfast to ease into the day. High tide came at 9:59 am on July 5^th in Rockland Harbor, so we had to act fast. Bringing a 140ft boat into a tight harbor marina fuel dock wasn’t the issue; it was getting in when the water was deep enough to allow our 12 feet of draft to pass through.

Journey’s End Marina in Rockland, Maine made a killing off Islandia. Although, they did give us a .20 cent per gallon discount for buying over 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel, which was a nice gesture, we dropped $6,000 without blinking an eye - not even close to filling an empty tank, we simply topped her off.

Docking went very smoothly, which was to the professionalism of the rest of the crew who all are seasoned sailors, besides me; I just take direction well. Before we left our anchorage we got out bow and stern lines and two spring lines which cross each other at mid-ship to further secure the boat on the dock. Andy was positioned at the bow, Julie with the spring lines at mid-ship and I had the stern line as it would be the last line to be thrown to the dock hand and the boat would be pretty secure by the time I had to let it go. Unfortunately, with no practice, I wasn't able to heave the stern line very gracefully and it ended up mostly in the water... My sailing skills will come in due time... 

We're often reminded of just how magnificent Islandia is, not that we forget, but living in her 24/7 can make her seem normal. Docking this beast was smooth and easy, but it drew quite a crowd. Witnessing a 140ft sailing yacht come in to dock must be a sight to be seen because the entire marina staff plus local on-lookers and everyone on their boats in the marina were peeping us the entire time. I feel so incredibly lucky and honored to be working on Islandia with the great crew that we comprise. Julie informed me that Islandia is one of the top 100 largest sailing yachts in the world...

Favorite New Toy

The week before guests arrived for our last trip we were busy preparing to set sail, but it also brought along some special deliveries. My wakeboard came in the mail early in the week. It arrived without a scratch thanks to Sports Den and the girl that is subletting my apartment in Salt Lake.

I mentioned before that I left a lot of stuff back in Salt Lake, including my car, that’s sitting safely behind my apartment, thank goodness. But since I’ve been on the boat and figuring things out with the crew, I realized we’re going to have a lot of time when no guests are on board and we can screw around and have some fun. We have two dinghies on the boat – one for guests with a 60 horsepower engine and one with a smaller engine for crew. The captain mentioned that the guest dinghy could easily tow a skier, which got me scheming. Luckily the girl that’s subletting my apartment is a good sport and was willing to grab my wakeboard from the basement and bring it up to Sports Den, who then packed and shipped it to the Hunt Yachts office where we were docked. 

 

Guest dinghy with 60 horsepower engine

Dinghies 2 & 3, left is "The Reason", a $250,000 sailboat thats the reason for the monster it sits atop

Next came the arrival of my favorite new toy, an inflatable stand up paddleboard! I did a ton of research on inflatables and found that C4 Waterman’s are the best. Their inflatables are able to inflate to the highest pressure, 15-17 PSI vs. most that only inflate to about 7 PSI. So massive box number 2 came through the Hunt Yachts office and my toy count continues to rise.

 

My new baby!

My 2 chariots await at the Melville Marina in Portsmouth, RI

The Ski Prophet told me to contact Ted Keyes, the western region C4 rep, who hooked me up BIG time and included a cool C4 rashguard for good measure. My “iSUP”, as C4 Waterman has coined, came with everything I need to get out on the water. I also got a super nice carbon fiber travel paddle that breaks down into 3 pieces and is fully adjustable. Using the foot pump that’s included didn’t take that long at all to inflate the 10.6 ft board. Although, we do have an air compressor onboard that’d probably speed up the process quite a bit, I just need to be careful and turn the pressure down so as not to explode the thing.

I couldn’t be more stoked on this iSUP as it’s another new way for me to play on the water, get some exercise, and a side perk is that I can find some peace away from the boat even when we’re underway.

 

iSUP with 60 horse dinghy

Balance * Endurance * Strength * Tradition

Taking her out for a spin in the Hinckley/Hunt Marina

This all seems like the perfect setup, however, toys that are meant for outside enjoyment are inherently weather dependent. It’s been cold, foggy and rainy since we’ve reached our summer destination on the midcoast of Maine, which has completely discouraged my ambition to get out on the water. We’re in a beautiful location, anchored in Rockland Harbor currently, with 3 dinghies at our disposal including a mini sailboat on deck, my iSUP and wakeboard, dive gear, noodles, fishing poles, lounge chairs, and more, yet inside we sit, below deck, reading and watching episodes of Game of Thrones waiting for the sun to coerce us outside.  

July 4th cruise in Rockland Harbor- the sun finally showed it's face, just in time for summer

Sunset from the iSUP, June 21st, First day of summer, in the books.