Youtube sailing stars explore Maine

SV Delos is a YouTube channel featuring the lives of Brian and Karin Trautman and their one year old daughter, Sierra. The Trautmans have been cruising the world in their 53- foot Amel Super Maramu ketch Delos (built in 2000 in La Rochelle France) for a decade, covering 75,000 nautical miles during that time. Like many others drawn to Maine in the summer, the family sailed north from the Bahamas last spring and has been in Maine ever since. 

“After sailing in the tropics for over 10 years we found ourselves dreaming of cooler temperatures and exploring a new type of environment,” Brian Trauman said in an email. “After 120 days in the sweltering heat of The Bahamas our Covid lockdown finally ended and we set sail on a 1,500 NM voyage that would take us up the east coast of the US and into Maine waters.  Along the way we were contacted by a family that owned a small island in the Penobscot Bay Area (near Port Clyde), who kindly offered their family cabin as our introduction to Maine. “

Staying on the island was a great way to fufill Maine’s manadatory two-week quarantine while learning about the nature of the coast, “including a pair of resident bald eagles nesting in a tree right next to us.”

So far the family has “ mostly sailed in Penobscot Bay visiting Vinalhaven, North Haven, Brimstone Island, and Mount Desert Island.,” he continued. “By far our favorite thing has been waking up to perfectly calm, cool mornings surrounded by water so still we can see a mirror image of the boat and clouds beneath us, with the most incredible hiking just a dinghy ride away.  We’ve found this area has an incredible network of trails, spanning from short walks on smaller islands to the incredible Acadia National Park where we’ve spent the last two weeks exploring by foot.  Although the abundant and delicious lobster would have to take a close second to the hiking.  

“The thing that has struck us most about Maine is there is over 3,000 NM of inlets and shorelines spanning the coast, all dotted with hundreds upon hundreds of unique islands ripe for exploring. We can plan our sails around the weather and fog, and know that there is always a protected anchorage welcoming us within a few hours sail just around the corner.  So far our favorite anchorages have been Seal Cove on Vinalhaven and Valley Cove in Somes Sound on Mount Desert Island.”

Maine’s big tides took some getting used to after the smaller tides of southern waters, he said. "It took some adjusting to, and on our first attempts we’d find our dinghy either high on the rocks or way out in deep water when we returned.  In fact we’ve devised a mooring system allowing us to set an anchor and float in deep water with a retrieval line on a loop allowing us to adjust for the tides while barely getting our feet wet." Also an adjustment has been Maine’s cold ocean water.

Here is a link to the Trautmans' youtube channel: www.youtube.com/svdelos

The photos above, which were provided by the Traumans, show Delos at anchor in Valley Cove in Mt. Desert Island's Somes Sound; and the family gathering mussels on the beach for dinner.