Countdown
to Hermit Island - no. 2
Dear
Participants,
After
a quiet January here in the north country, winter arrived with the
advent of February. Lake Erie, visible from my
house, is completely white with a heavy
burden of ice and snow. A little east of here, the
woodlands have two feet of snow cover. Cross-country
skiing is great, but Spring may be later than
usual arriving on the shores of the lake this year.
Interestingly,
there has been quite a bit of email chatter back and forth
between those trying to pass the time these dreary wintry
days. Conjuring up pleasant thoughts in anticipation of
sailing Casco Bay this August is good therapy. Much of the
discussion has centered around charts, plotting GPS
way points and so on. Meanwhile Tom Graefe and I continue to
keep busy addressing the planning needs.
Boats.
The good news is that we are expecting to
have an extra Wayfarer available to be shared by the Europeans.
Frank Pedersen has very generously offered to bring his boat to Maine
for the Rally. I've added Frank and Sue Pedersen to the list of
participants, though they will not be camping or staying
long. Frank will be trailering his Wayfarer all
the way from Maryland which he normally doesn't do. We are
deeply indebted to him. With the addition of Frank's
Wayfarer, along with my Blue
Mist which I'm loaning to Ton & Connie Jaspers, there
will be two Wayfarers for overseas
participants. This should certainly ease
things sufficiently so that there will be little
difficulty finding places in others' boats for the rest.
Reminder.
We realize there may be a few NA
participants coming a long way who may be planning to
team up. This might be the only practical way they can
attend. However, where feasible, we ask that as many
Wayfarers as possible be brought to the Rally to help ensure
that there is plenty of boat space for the overseas
participants.
Participants
(Note: Hopefully my prior misspellings are
now corrected!)
Asselstine*,
Alan & Mary - Ottawa, ON
Beehler,
Lori - Ottawa, ON
Bruneau,
Giles, Jill & William - Palaiseau (near Paris), France
Douma,
Andy - Beachburg, ON
Erickson,
Tom & Diane - Gardner, MA
Girard,
André & Monique - Ottawa, ON
Graefe*,
Tom & Nel - Norwell, MA
Haill,
Andrew - Thunder Bay, ON
Harkins*,
Bill & Margie - Arlington, VA
Harrington*,
Dick - Euclid, OH
Heffernan,
Jim & Linda - Chapel Hill, NC
Hirsch*,
Gary & Stephanie - Saint Joseph, MI
Jaspers,
Ton & Connie - Sint Michielsgestel, North Brabant, Netherlands
Kell,
Anne (husband Den is unable to attend) - Copdock, Ipswich, Suffolk, UK
Krauss*,
Tony & Mary Abel - North East, MD
Pedersen**,
Frank & Sue - Chestertown, MD (Brooklin, ME)
Ritchie,
Brian & Karl Vanek - Belleville, ON
Roberts,
Ralph - Surlingham, Norwich, UK
Schonborn*,
Al & Julia - Oakville, ON
Scragg,
Ray & Jill - Wareham, Dorset, UK
Wallace*,
Kit & Patsy - Toronto, ON
*
Indicates that they are a buddy
**
Limited participation
Coordinating Camping
Equipment. Following
is the pairing arrangement that has been
established between NA buddies and European participants.
- Dick Harrington (Br. #7) with Ton & Connie
Jaspers (Br. #6)
- Kit & Patsy Wallace (Br. #9) with Ray & Jill
Scragg (Br. #8)
- Tom & Nel Graefe (Br. #12) and Bill & Margie
Harkins (Br. #14) with Giles, Jill & William Bruneau (Br. #10)
- Gary & Stephanie Hirsch (Br. #4) with Ralph Roberts
(Br. #4)
- Alan & Mary Asselstine (ETW #4) with Anne Kell (ETW
#4)
As a start toward establishing a
list of camping equipment needs for overseas
participants we suggest that each NA buddy take the
lead with respect to their European pair. This
would entail checking with your pairing to see what items they
expect to need and also applying your own judgment based upon
your knowledge of Hermit Island. After determining what items
you can provide, please send me a list
of items where you would like help from others.
Tom and I will coordinate getting these things to you.
For example, here are
my thoughts with respect to providing for the
Jaspers. Ton &
Connie need to bring sleeping bags and pillows. I will
provide ground sleeping mattresses. I plan
to set up my two tents
with the large one for them and the smaller for
myself. Since I'm
expecting to be by myself, the three of us can easily
share the single
screened dining enclosure; I don't see a need for two. My
existing
kitchen equipment - stove, pot & pans, plates, utensils, etc.
-
should be sufficient. I will also bring an extra single
burner stove
in case we should want it. Items that I
might need help with would
be a couple camp chairs and an additional cooler.
Any other
small stuff we can easily purchase at the
campground general store. If
there were more of us, I might want an extra fly to place over
the second picnic table, as well as a second
stove, some pots and pans,
etc. However, for just the three of us, I don't see a
need for this.
Let us know if you have
questions or need email addresses.
Note: The campsite fees for
European participants have been paid in full. Please reimburse
Dick Harrington, $265 each, upon arrival at Hermit Island.
Those staying on a site with a NA buddy should
make their own cost sharing arrangement, if appropriate.
Lobster Feast -
please
give us your feedback!
On the Casco Bay side of Hermit
Island is a marvelous sandy cove, called Sailboat Beach, that has
a delightful pavilion. During the 2005 Rally we held
our own lobster feast and pot luck dinner there. A 1-1/2 pound
lobster cost $10 at that time. With a gang of camp stoves
humming away, we eventually got the whole lot of lobsters boiled
... it just took a little while. This was one of the
highlights of the Rally. We plan to do the same this year ,
but possibly with a slight variation.
The variation is that we have the
option of obtaining a locally done, professionally catered traditional
Maine lobster bake on the beach. Last year,
when I attended the Small
Boat Regatta at the Wooden Boat School in Brooklin, ME, I had the
opportunity to enjoy one of these catered events. I was
very impressed. The catered lobster bake would include
a 1-1/2 pound
lobster, steamed clams or mussels, corn on the cob, cold slaw and rolls
and butter - possibly something more, I'm not sure. Plates and
utensils will also be provided, so no preparation of any kind
other
than for cocktail hour is
required by participants. The cost is
dependent upon the price of lobsters at the time, however, it is
expected to be $30 or less per person.
A strong consideration for going with
the catered lobster dinner is the larger size group we will have
this year. Trying to boil so many lobsters on our own might get
complicated.
Tom and I need to know what you think of
this suggestion. Please
respond by April 15th so that we can book the caterer. We still plan on having the usual
group evening out at a local restaurant some evening
around mid-week. Should it be decided
to include the catered lobster dinner on the beach, that
would take place Friday evening and would be in
addition.
Sailing Information. The NOAA charts covering the
area we will be sailing are nos. 13290 & 13293, scale: 1:40,000,
and no. 13288, scale: 1:80,000. In my opinion, chart no. 13288 is sufficient for
our purposes and provides the benefit of covering a broader area.
This is something that always makes me more comfortable, as I
really hate the thought of somehow being forced to sail into the
no-mans land beyond the edge of a chart. Uncle Al has
created a blown-up (170%) laminated, color version of a portion of
no. 13288. As he puts it, it is intended as a help
to those who have trouble reading small detail. Al's chart should
be used in conjunction with one of the NOAA charts ... it is not a
substitute! For more information contact Al. (Al's
note: I have a dozen of these, seven
of which are now spoken for - Andy
Douma, Andrew H., Ton, Tony, Ray, Brian and myself. The rest will go on
a
first come, first served basis. E-mail me - while they last - at uncle-al3854@cogeco.ca,
and I will distribute them upon arrival at
Hermit Island.)
An excellent source of information for
small boat cruising on Casco Bay is The
Maine Coast Guide for Small Boats by Curtis Rindlaub. It
contains a lot of good sailing tips as well as many interesting
historical notes. Originally, this was intended to become a
series of books. I don't know how that has transpired, so to be
safe, mention that you want the Casco Bay book. The cost is
$17.95 plus shipping. Contact:
Best wishes to
all..............DICK and TOM
