This spring is somehow very different. Spring on the coast of Maine can always be an iffy weather proposition with rain and snow, cold and wind, but this spring has everyone wishing for a quick and clean break from winter. Spring is a time of high expectations, and we all want to turn the page on the past few months of cold and stress.

I guess that’s why we’ve been ahead of schedule on almost everything, hoping that our energetic preparations will hurry Mother Nature along. Consider these markers:

Snow stakes removed almost a month ago, which was rewarded by three more snow events.

All three hundred moorings in Camden were commissioned weeks earlier than usual and sit empty.

Bravo’s bottom paint and deck polishing were accomplished two weeks ahead of launch—unheard-of ambition, with the secret hope that the yard will call and offer an earlier launch date, but that’s not happening.

The schooner fleet is gradually removing winter covers and commencing with spring maintenance and preparations; however, the first charters are still a month away.

We even put the hummingbird feeders out two weeks ahead of our earliest sightings ever recorded.  The hummers haven’t taken the hint.

Spring will arrive and with it the commencement of six months of the best cruising imaginable on the Coast of Maine.  And for spring cruising, while the water is still dangerously chilly, you will be blessed with reliable breezes and have almost any harbor or anchorage to yourself right through the middle of June.  It really is quite spectacular.  

Don’t wait for every single boat-commissioning task to be completed and perfected, toss off the dock lines or mooring pennant as soon as possible, enjoy the perfect solitude of spring sailing in Maine, and let the CCA Cruising Guide to Maine help you discover those special harbors and anchorages.