Sailing As It Should Be

We were up early and sailing before 7:30am.

It was a gorgeous downwind sail from Portland all the way to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

It took nearly 10 hours to sail the 40+ nautical miles. And most of it was under sail, averaging 5.5 knots. We did hit 8.9 knots at one point! Woohoo!

It was slow, easy day. And so quiet with just the four of us again! 

We read, listened to audio books, practiced lots of knots, heated up some leftovers for lunch, napped, practiced gybeing and at one point even goosewinged (where the foresail and mainsail are set in a different tack to allow for a good downwind run... we don't have a spinnaker).

We grabbed a mooring ball at Portsmouth Yacht Club. Anchoring in the channel is not advisable because it is so busy and the current is really strong.

Another great little marina to discover! Free showers and launch service. And super friendly dock attendants. The kids were given a freezie when we arrived. They were beyond delighted.

We even saw a massive tanker pass us as we were washing the dinner dishes on deck. Those things are HUMONGOUS!

It feels good to be in Portsmouth now. We are just a short hop away from Newburyport, where we will be leaving our boat for a few weeks at the end of August.

Knowing that we don't have long passages to do anymore, we can relax and enjoy our time around here. It was always weighing on our minds, to have to get down this coast in relatively good time. 

It feels like we have connected most of the dots of the puzzle - hurrah!

Good morning Portland... time to go!

Very few lobster pots to dodge now. Yay! 

Goosewing'ing it!

Aila was working on her knots for hours. 
She managed to handcuff herself then fall asleep.

Hello Portsmouth Yacht club, it's nice to be here.

Sunset salutations

Hello humongous tanker!