BEST OF 2013: Video: Opening of the 2013 North Atlantic Blues Festival

Rockland, Maine-The North Atlantic Blues Festival started today on the water front in Rockland.  This is the 20th year for this celebration of the blues.

The North Atlantic Blues Festival is an annual two-day blues music festival featuring national blues performers and considered one of the most prestigious on the East Coast. The festival is held at the Public Landing in Rockland, Maine, overlooking the picturesque Rockland Harbor. Some of the top names in blues music have been featured at this prestigious East Coast festival. In addition to all day live entertainment, the festival has vendors selling a wide array of food, drinks and crafts.

BEST OF 2013: Gone Sailing!

Doug Mills
Maritime Editor
RCN America Network

This week the staff of RCN America Network Have gone sailing.  We sail on Sunday, June 29 aboard the historic tall ship Victory Chimes, built in 1900.  This will be my 3rd year sailing on this magnificent ship.  There are 13 of these historic ships that sail these waters off the coast of Maine which carry passengers on a vacation that few will ever forget.  To anchor in a quiet harbor near a small island village that time has forgotten, with the gentle sounds of the waves on the hull, the music drifting across the water from several of the other tall ships that have anchored near by and the smell of dinner cooking on a wood stove.  The cell phone doesn't work and there is no WiFi, so there is time to make a new friend or actually read a book, or maybe just marvel at the beauty of Maine.
The end of the week the whole fleet nearly two dozen ships will gather off Islesboro for The Great Schooner Race, the largest annual gathering of tall ships in North America.  The race will run from Islesboro to the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse in Rockland Maine.  After the race the boats will all anchor in the head of the harbor at Sharp's Point for an evening of celebration and schooner fun.
By Saturday it is time to head home and start planning for next years cruise.  Yes, you heard right.  One week is never enough and once you sail once you will have to come back again and again.
You may have missed out on The Great Schooner Race this year, but there is a whole summer and fall filled with exciting events you can experience.  If you can get away at all this year...Do IT.

2013 Sailing Events

with

The Maine Windjammer Association

July 5        Great Schooner Race

Be a part of North America’s largest annual gathering of tall ships as more than two dozen schooners race from Islesboro to Rockland. Special Awards Ceremony includes live music and festivities.

July 6 & 7   Open Schooner Tours

Stop by and tour Maine’s legendary windjammers at their docks each afternoon from 2:00-4:00 pm. The participating windjammers can be found at North End Shipyard and Windjammer Wharf (off Tillson Ave) in Rockland; the Public Landing in Rockport; and at the head of the inner harbor in Camden. Hope you can join us!

July 12      Maine Windjammer Parade

The entire fleet participates in an afternoon Parade of Sail past the mile-long Rockland Breakwater, providing spectators with stunning, close-up views of Maine’s fleet of tall ships.

August 5   Sweet Chariot Music Festival

More than a dozen groups perform traditional music of the sea on Swans Island, with live shipboard performances as well.

Aug 30-Sept 1     Camden Windjammer Festival

Festivities include a parade of sail, maritime heritage fair, contra dance, fireworks, lobster crate race, chowder challenge, free concerts, schooner crew talent show, family scavenger hunt, outdoor movies and more.

September 10    WoodenBoat Sail-in

The fall gathering of the fleet takes place in Brooklin, Maine, headquarters of WoodenBoat Magazine and WoodenBoat School. Live music, local refreshments, boatschool tours.

Don't wait book your getaway today!

Contact Us Today! 1-800-807-WIND

BEST OF 2013: The Great Schooner Race of 2013

Angelique and Mary Day fly past the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse

Doug Mills

Maritime Editor

RCN America Network

Penobscot Bay Maine-Last night seems like a dream. Standing on deck watching as the historic tall ships of the Maine windjammer fleet sail into the small harbor on Islesboro Island Maine.

Today is The Great Schooner Race. The Maine Windjammer Association has sponsored this race every year since 1977. I am very excited and head up on deck very early. The site that I find is nearly impossible for me to convey with words. The morning sun is just climbing over the horizon. The water is like a blue mirror. The air is still and cool. All around our anchorage are historic ships ranging in age from about 30 years to 143 years old with the new morning sun and perfect reflections in the cool blue water.

By 8AM the captains have started to arrive for the prerace meeting. The days race course is laid out and and the start times for the various classed of ship have been established. After a group shot of all the captains it is time for them to return to their individual ships and make ready for the start of the race.

The captains of the historic Maine windjammer fleet.

The Great Schooner Race is the largest annual gatherings of tall ships in north America and one of the only tall ship events in the world where passengers are onboard and encouraged to take part in the setting of the sails and the working of the ship. Some of these vessels in the past were used to haul stone, lumber and freight, others in the fishing trades. They were built to create income for their owners with an expected lifespan of 5-15 years. Today these proud ships are still working generating income for their owners, only now the cargo loads and unloads itself.

The race start.

At 10:20 the 10 minute warning canon fires amidst a flurry of clanging anchor chains and ships making ready to get underway. 10:25 the 5 minute warning sounds as all the boats move toward the start line. With the roar of the start canon the first boats move across the start line and The Great Schooner Race is underway! Before long Penobscot Bay is filled with the sails of schooners making their way upwind to Rockland. Today this is an amazing sight, but, 100 years ago this was just business as usual. So commonplace that the history books barely make mention of the schooner. It was nothing more than the tractor trailer of it's time delivering everything from lumber and granite to your great grandfathers new Sunday suit.

By mid afternoon we round the ledge and make for Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse with a stiff wind. The old Victory Chimes healed over in the wind and flying across the bay, the rest of the fleet in close pursuit. We reach the lighthouse along with most of the fleet to the cheers of the crowd of spectators who have gatherer to watch the end of the race. One after the other the ships fly into the harbor to make their turn around the marker in the middle of the harbor and head out again to the last mark and return like a flock of screaming eagles to the finish line at the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse.

The final results are as follows:

Cutty Sark Award for overall winner:

Mary Day

Flying Jib Class:

Lazy Jack II (1st); Olad (2nd); Prudence (3rd)

Coasters Class:

Stephen Taber (1st); Grace Bailey (2nd); Lewis R. French (3rd)

Leeward Class:

Nathaniel Bowditch (1st); Angelique (2nd); Heritage (3rd)

Windward Class:

Mary Day (1st), American Eagle (2nd)

3-Masters Class:

Victory Chimes (1st!)

Frank Swift Award:

Isaac H. Evans

Boyd Guild Award:

J&E Riggin

The Great Schooner Race is over for this year and if you missed it you missed one of the most exciting events of the year. Not to worry, you can still experience the thrill of being on one of these ships next year and there is still room on many trips this summer.

For more information or to book your trip on one of these historic ships you can go to: http://sailmainecoast.com/ the Web site of the Maine Windjammer Association.

Maty Day overall winner!

Angelique

BEST OF 2013: Video Update: Tall Ship Timberwind Relaunch

After two weeks out of the water mid-season to repair a warn out rudder shaft the pilot schooner Timberwind was relaunched yesterday afternoon at the North End Shipyard in Rockland Maine.
For more information on this historic vessel or to book a week aboard the Timberwind you should visit: http://schoonertimberwind.com

BEST OF 2013: Video: Tall Ship Victory Chimes "Home To Rockland"

Doug Mills
Maine Windjammer Project
www.mainewindjammerproject.com

As long as I can remember I have watched the Victory Chimes sail into Rockland harbor.  Today I find myself at the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse filming that same ship and feeling that same old thrill.
The Victory Chimes, built in 1900, has been sailing the cool blue waters of the Atlantic for 113 years!

BEST OF 2013: The Ultimate Tall Ship Photo Safari

The Ultimate Tall Ship Photo Safari

Story and photos By
 Doug Mills
Maritime Editor
RCN America Network

Since I was a little boy I have dreamed of sailing on the Victory Chimes. I would watch her sail in and out of the harbor year after year and dream.
Never give up on your dreams! On July 4th 2011 the Victory Chimes sailed from Rockland, Maine to participate in the Great Schooner Race, the largest annual gathering of tall ships in North America. I  was on board, with my son,that week to host the ultimate tall ship photography cruise.
This this was our chance to see and photograph these tall ships put through their paces at the Great Schooner Race. We got to experience firsthand the romance of sailing these historic ships.

   This was not my first trip out on the “Big Boats”,but it would be my first full week sailing, my first time participating in The Great Schooner Race and my first time leading a photography workshop.
   We boarded the Victory chimes on Sunday after supper and spent the evening getting settled into our cabins and getting to know the rest of the passengers and crew.
Day 1
   We sailed after breakfast with a heavy fog on the bay.  Passing North Haven in the fog we turned up the bay toward Cape Rosier and Castine.  By noon the fog had been replaced by bright sun.  As we sailed into Castine harbor the afternoon sun became clouded by oncoming thunderheads.
   Through the late afternoon the fleet assembled in Smith’s Cove just east of Castine.  What a sight to see all this history anchored in one cove.  Many of these historic boats were over 100 years old!
   Lobster dinner and a spectacular sunset and it is time to turn in.

Day 2
   What an amazing sight, to come up on deck and find the water like glass with the last of the morning fog still clinging to the water and the morning sun bright overhead.
   Today is race day!  This morning all the captains meet on board the Victory Chimes to determine the final course for The Great Schooner Race of 2011.  After breakfast all the boats make sail and head out through Castine harbor toward the starting line.
   The race starts at 11;00 AM in spite of a lack of wind.  The wind did pick up by mid-afternoon with the Mary Day crossing the finish line first.
   The fleet anchored East of Stonington with fireworks and another great sunset to end the day.

Day 3
   After breakfast we sailed into Stonington Harbor in the morning fog.  What an amazing town.  Once a busy port shipping Maine granite all  over the world, now it is a busy fishing village.  The harbor is filled with colorful lobster boats and the shops were like stepping back in time to the 50’s.  Everywhere you turned there was another exciting picture!  By noon we were back on the boat and sailing east.

   Our destination for the night would be Wooden Boat Cove, a place that attracts sailors of wooden boats like honey attracts bears.  This little cove in Brooklin, Maine is the home of The Wooden Boat School and Wooden Boat Magazine.  This is a place that is very close to the heart of the sailing industry, a place almost sacred to those who sail these old wooden boats.
  Thunder showers at sunset set us up for some spectacular photographs to end the day.

BEST OF 2013: Video: "Living History" The Maine Windjammer Project

Lewis R French built 1871 at the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse Rockland, Maine

Doug Mills
Maine Author Photographer
The Maine Windjammer Project
I spent yesterday morning in one of my favorite places in all the world.  The Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, where my grandfather served as assistant keeper in 1912.  Who would have thought that I would end up working in the same place as my grandfather.  No I am not the keeper of the Rockland Breakwater Light, I am keeper of a different kind of light.  I am a keeper of the light of history.  My job is to preserve our history especially our sailing history and heritage for the generations yet unborn.

Stephen Taber built 1871

History is an odd thing, many of histories most important moments just slip past our eyes disguised as everyday life.  For hundreds of years sailing ships on the coast of Maine were so common and so numerous that no one payed them any mind.  Today only a handful of these beautiful craft are still sailing.  I stand in awe watching ships that were built in the 1800 and early 1900 sail past the old lighthouse, still making there way in this modern age, still making a profit for their owners!

Two of the ships that slipped past my cameras were built in 1871, the Lewis R French and the Stephen Taber.  The Isaac Evans , built in 1886, was as strong and graceful as the day she was built, as she sailed past on the morning breeze.  The last to come home was American Eagle, built in 1930.  She spent the first half of her life catching fish and transporting them to market.  Now she catches people and transports them on the vacation of a lifetime.

All too soon it is time to leave my retreat and return to the studio refreshed and inspired.

To learn more about The Maine Windjammer Project you can go to: www.mainewindjammerproject.com

Isaac H. Evans Built 1886

American Eagle built 1930

BEST OF 2013: Rockland Lobster Boat Races Took Center Stage (Photos & Video)

Rockland, Maine - Rockland's annual Lobster Boat Races took center stage off the breakwater on Sunday June 16th, 2013 where several boats showed up for a great morning of racing. Many people came out to enjoy seeing Lobster boats race each other to see who is the fastest.

Race Results:

WORK BOATS UNDER 24 FEET
Race 1 – CLASS A Skiffs 16-feet and under with outboards up to 30 hp, Operator 18 years and younger:
No entrants

Race 2 – CLASS B Inboards, outboards or outdrives, 31 to 90 hp:
1) J-Bird, Marshall Spear (39.1 mph)
2) Galley Gofer, Robert Curtis
3) Clusta, Al Strout
4) Bella Crie, Christopher Knight Jr.
) Quick Penetration, Roger Feltis

Race 3 – CLASS C Inboards, outboards or outdrives, 91 hp and up: