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Windjammer Cruises - Part 3
Knitting Cruise in Maine, aboard the Isaac H. Evans, historic Windjammer Sailing Ship
Written by: Dominique Gaherty
Dominique learns to not only sail a ship but to do a bit of knitting and lobster cooking too.
The next morning we raised the anchor fairly early and set sail. I felt the need to try my hand at raising the anchor and I got quite a workout. It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "pumping iron." Literally, you pump up and down on a pulley system to haul the anchor up and it takes more than a little elbow grease. Then to the sails. There are five sails aboard the Isaac H. Evans, the main sail, fore sail, staysail, topsail and jib. In order to raise the main sail, we divided ourselves to each side of the boat, the left side was the throat, the right side was peak (throat and peak refer to the top of the sail-peak and the main portion of the sail-throat). Initially both sides are pulling, kind of like a tug of war, all pulling at the rope, then the Captain yelled to hold off on the peak. Which of course meant we were supposed to keep going on the throat... We got there in the end, but it was interesting along the way. By Sunday, we had it down pretty well though, just in time to come home! The main sail is the only one that requires that much manpower to lift and lower. The other sails really only need one strong person on each side. Saturday was another beautiful calm day at sea, with hands down one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen. That night, we churned our own ice cream for dessert, then bundled up because it got chilly as soon as the sun went down. I guess serendipity is what they call it. I'm sure if I ended up on any of the other boats I would've said the same thing. But this just felt so right. Maybe it was the perfectly glorious weather, perhaps it was the expert knitting instruction or the readily available help when a stitch was dropped or you lost your place. Or maybe it was the lack of TVs and cell phones and pure abundance of blue skies, green land, and seals. But this was a trip I would recommend to anyone -- burnt-out city girl, knitting afficionado, novice seaman or willing spouse. There is something for everyone on this trip and I guarantee you won't be disappointed.
There are two final lessons I learned on this trip. First, I will never just ask someone to knit me something again (this is for you mom and Aunt Mare!), I had no idea how much actually went into it. And finally, a captain's work is never done. There may be time throughout the day to sit back and relax, but, never again will I say "must be nice" without full recognition of all that goes into spending a day, let alone 3-6 days at sea. Especially when you are giving all of your time and energy to ensure that this time is available for the passengers. It was the crew: Brenda, Chris and the two Eileens who helped to make this such a rewarding and memorable trip.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
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