Your Sailing Adventure
Our objective is to help you create a day sailing experience that will be a great memory and something you will want to do again.
BLACKBIRD is chartered on an hourly rate of $200. We want you to have an intimate private sailing experience with your friends or family. We do not mix different charter groups. You charter the schooner with from 1 to six people of your choosing on board.
You choose your hours. You might want to head out late morning and return early afternoon, or leave early afternoon and return after experiencing sunset on the ocean. Our minimum charter time is 3 hours. There is no maximum.
What to Expect. We make arrangement for passenger pickup at Paul's Marina in nearby Merepoint Bay. We start the charter time from when the mooring is dropped and we are under way and ends when we return to the mooring. We sail throughout Casco Bay accommodating wind direction and your interests. She has a very comfortable main saloon down below with a private stateroom, galley and head (bathroom) forward.
What We Provide. We provide water, soda, ice tea, and similar beverage items as well as some snacks like cheese and crackers. If you wish you may bring aboard beverages of choice and any other food items. These should be brought on board in soft insulated bags rather than rigid plastic coolers. Don't go buy bags if you don't have them. We have plenty of soft insulated bags to share if it is easier for you to bring items in a cooler(s), we'll simply transfer them.
What to Bring. The cloths you need depend on the weather forecast. The ocean temperature in Maine is always cooler than the air temperature. If a good sailing breeze kicks up the cooler water temps will make the air temps seem cooler; bring warm clothes. On-deck shoes with soft bottoms are the required etiquette, such as sneakers or boat shoes. Our decks are painted white pine consistent with the yachts 1930 construction so shoes with hard black or dark soles don't work. Barefoot is the way you will find the skipper but that is not a required dress code! If rain is in the offing and you decide you want to do the charter then bring rain gear. Most sailors consider a day in the rain on a boat better than a day of sunshine on land. A day of thick pea soup fog that can barely be cut with a whetted knife is a mystical experience that can add, rather than detract from a sailing experience. We are willing to go out in all conditions, except extremely high winds, if the customer also wants to do so.
Cancellations. If the weather looks really bad in the forecast (extremely high winds or rain) the charter can be cancelled at your or our discretion. On our our end it will be high winds, as schooner sailors don't mind a little rain. We'll talk on that prior to the charter. No sense on everyone being miserable or in an unsafe sailing condition. If a cancellation occurs there is no reservation charge. Period.
Learning and Education. If a party wants to learn navigation, sail handling, seamanship, etc., we will teach en-voyage. If you just want to recline and relax, see local sea life such as seals, osprey, eagles, or anchor and swim, then that's just what the doctor ordered. The captain, Peter, and Sandy are both environmental scientists so we can also speak to ecology and marine environmental issues in the Bay if passengers are interested in such topics. More than anything else expect a wonderful time.
Note by law we are a drug free boat as is required of all professional captains, yacht and boat charters. Although medical marijuana, and personal use of marijuana is now legal in Maine, this is not the case under federal law and for the US Coast Guard which has legal authority over charter operations. While perhaps legal on land such materials are not permitted on board. Thank you for abiding by these rules.