Dennis Pratt
Google
My wife and I have enjoyed three trips on the tall ship Heritage out of Rockland ME - two just with us, and a third with a group of eight friends. This is a mashup of our experiences.
A day on the Heritage starts with waking up in the tight cabin quarters, shaving and brushing teeth in the cabin basin, and climbing the stairs to the deck. One of the three heads topside will almost always be available.
After your ablutions, you go out under the canopy to drink coffee, take in the scenery and watch the birds and seals feed in the isolated cove that Captain Ben and Captain Shawn had picked for last night’s anchorage. You can go swimming (60 degrees), rowing (one person rowing boat), sailing (usually light morning winds, so sailing is better right in evening right after anchoring), chat on deck with the other early risers, or simply find an out-of-the-way place to read or to listen to music or podcasts (my preference). The crew is usually washing down the deck to remove dust and keep the boards tight, so you will have to move at some point.
I usually went below to our cabin to wake my wife about 7:45 for the 8A bell-rung breakfast. The Heritage’s galley is spacious and convivial, with hearty but unadorned food. (My favorite is the bacon served one day that was cooked well done!)
After breakfast, but before we weigh anchor, some passengers will scurry to use the one head that doubles as a shower (with a kitchen spray nozzle. (I showered twice and Carol once during the week.))
By 10A the crew has dropped the canopy over midships, lines are laid to raise main, and the anchor starts coming up. If you’re lucky, we’ll backwind off the anchorage and set sail without the use of the yawl boat, but more often, the yawl boat is started to push w/ motorized headway out of the cove. Hopefully the morning doldrums have ended, and we catch a fresh breeze, set all the sails, haul up the yawl boat, and we’re sailing!
But sometimes the wind won’t cooperate, the yawl boat may stay chugging away starboard aft pushing the boat ahead, but the captains will still set all their sail, including the main topsail, so that as soon as the wind strengthens, they can cut the yawl’s engine, haul it up, and going full sail power.
Passengers can help - or not. Help is primarily hauling up sails or coiling line. You can also try your hand at figuring out where they heck we are (a large map lies on top of the after cabin by the wheel.
Mostly, passengers choose their locations sitting on cushions on top of the cabins, or on collapsable chairs along the deck, in informal groups chatting, or reading, or listening. Some may challenge at games in the galley.
Lunch is as we are underway - usually a hearty soup served topside around noon with a fun desert afterwards.
By afternoon the winds are usually steady and we’re back to watching scenery, chatting, reading, listening, or for some, napping, as we sail the usually flat waters between the islands of the Penobscot Bay.
If you are a sailor, you might luck out to get a day or two of very strong winds - with the scuppers - and if you’re really lucky, even railing - below water, without topsails and the sails reefed. If you’re not a sailor and sailing late in the season to encounter one of these rare days, bring foul weather gear, thermal underwear, and wool socks, stand topside, midships, upwind, eyes on the horizon, and hang on! On our three trips for which we’ve consciously sought such weather, on two we enjoyed one day of such exciting sails. But most of the time, the water is flat and the breeze gentle.
By around 4P we are closing in on a quiet bay to spend the night. The sails are dropped in succession, volunteer passengers furling and tying them down. The anchor drops, and the small sailboat is launched for those who want to try small boat sailing (or rowing.)
Some voyages require arriving somewhere on a particular day; others simply follow the wind. One evening will feature a generous lobster dinner. But most evenings we’re eating in the galley a yummy dinner and deserting topside later on…
