Day 241, Year 7: Glorious Sailing Day
Date: Friday, July 6, 2012
Weather: Sunny and Warm
Location: Onboard Atlantis with Helaine and Alan Kanegsberg
Mark just said to me that it was a wonderful day because he felt human again
. . . and of course it helped that we were out sailing all day. He feels
like he is getting the best birthday present of his life by somehow
magically feeling good again. If this can just last through the weekend, he
will be a very happy man. Tomorrow is his 70th birthday and we will
spending it sailing back to the Portland Yacht Club and attending the 50th
wedding anniversary celebration of Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg. We left
Kennebunkport this morning and arrived at the Portland Yacht Club just after
10 am. Alan and Helaine were there to meet us and we took the launch out to
their sailboat, Atlantis. Atlantis is a J-40 and a bit faster than
Windbird. It was a beautiful day and we motored out to Eagle Island to
enjoy a picnic lunch and visit the former home of Admiral Robert Peary.
Robert Peary, accompanied by Matthew Henson and four Inuit men, claimed to
have reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909. Another US explorer,
Frederick Cook, also claimed to have reached the Pole a year earlier, but
his claim is not widely accepted. Although it remains controversial, Peary
is accepted by most people as the first to reach the North Pole. He grew up
in Maine, attended Bowdoin College, and fell in love with Eagle Island.
After graduating, he purchased the island for $200 and years later built his
dream home overlooking the islands off the Maine coast. Years after his
death, the family donated the island to the state and Maine and they have
opened the home to the public as a small museum. After our tour, we sailed
off the mooring and enjoyed a couple of hours of absolutely delightful
sailing. We sailed our way into Potts Harbor, had a lobster dinner ashore,
and are now settling down for a long summer’s nap.
