Despite the clear threat posed by Hurricane Earl, the Camden Windjammer Festival took place on Labor Day weekend. Friday festivities were cancelled since Earl was expected to hit Friday night into Saturday morning. We brought Surprise to our mooring in the outer harbor and spent the day Friday preparing for Earl. We removed sails and stowed them below decks. We also added extra lines to our mooring and chafe gear to prevent lines from wearing due to rubbing on the rigging. Once all the preparations were completed, we repaired to shore and waited for Earl. Fortunately, the steering currents of an approaching cold front brought Earl far out into the Gulf of Maine and the Bay of Fundy. We received some heavy rains and some vey impressive ocean swells that made their way into the mooring area. Surprise danced mightily but her lines held and we were able to withstand the onslaught. We spent all day Saturday and early Sunday morning undoing all the extra precautions and we were able to resume our trips on Sunday afternoon. Meanwhile, festivities on shore resumed at 4 pm on Saturday with model boat races, a pirate invasion and lots of shoreside demonstrations. The highlight of the weekend was a spectacular fireworks display following Gordon Bok’s great concert of acoustic folk songs in Harbor Park.
All in all, a great Windjammer Festival for 2010
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