Windjammers in the Snow
We get lots of questions about what we do with the windjammers in the winter. Here are a few answers to your questions!
Do you take them south for the winter? None of the vessels in our fleet go south for the winter. Taking a boat south is very hard on the boat for several reasons. First, the warm waters of the Caribbean host a creature called a Teredo worm (shipworm) which will chew into a wooden boat and eventually turn the hull into swiss cheese. The cold Maine waters don’t have as much of this parasite, though as the temperatures increase these worms are more common here. Additionally, the warm air temperatures and intense sun are hard on the topsides, peeling the paint and varnish. And lastly, keeping the boat at the dock in Maine gives the crew ample time for all the maintenance required to keep our fleet in top condition.
What do you do with the windjammers in the winter? We Mainers are a hardy bunch, and our schooners are too. All of the windjammers stay in the water all winter except for a brief haul-out period of about a week, usually in the spring. The boats ride out the winter under winter cover secured snugly to the docks with docklines that are doubled (or even tripled!) up,
How do you protect the windjammers from the snow? We build winter covers over them and winterize all the systems. The winter covers look like giant greenhouses sitting on the vessels and keep the rain and snow off. It also allows maintenance to go on throughout the winter. Every now and then a storm might lift off part of the cover, but our captains have gotten very good at tying them down tight!
Although it is dry, it is not warm under those covers! Anything that is small enough – small boats, hatch covers, windows – is moved ashore and worked on in a warm(ish) shop.
Do the boats get iced in at the dock? A little, but usually the ice is just a few inches thick. With the motion of the tide (about 10 feet twice a day), and the gentle movements of the vessel there is usually no thick ice right up on the hull. The vessels are all built so sturdy that there is no danger of them being crushed or buckled by the ice in the harbors, though occasionally the ice can pull out bits of the caulking.
Does Penobscot Bay freeze over? Not in many years. In the early 1900s the bay would frequently completely freeze over. This would completely shut down all the inter-island trade for January or February. In fact, people would walk, ride horses and even drive cars between the islands and the mainland. In 1915 they measured the ice at 14” thick between Islesboro and Belfast! Nowadays, we will get ice in the harbors which requires the USCG to deploy its “Ice Breaker” vessel to come and keep the channels clear for the commercial boat traffic. But Penobscot Bay certainly hasn’t frozen completely over in many years.
Categories: Behind the Scenes, Maine Windjammers
Tags: Maine windjammers
