We had a nice Rosh Hashanah in Old Orchard Beach!  Before the advent of cheap air travel, Old Orchard Beach was a major Jewish summer destination, and the town had several kosher hotels and a large, albeit seasonal Jewish population.  Today, folks travel far and wide for their summer vacations, and the Jewish side of Old Orchard Beach has shrunk considerably.  Nonetheless, the turn-of-the-century synagogue had about 100 attending at least part of Rosh Hashanah services.  One of the highlights of the holiday was walking on the beach to and from the synagogue.

We had a nice time having meals with our old friends from Portland, Baruch and Elise and their son, and their neighbors in Sharon, Massachusetts, our new friends Burt and Alice and their daughter and her husband and son!

Today we hitched up the RV and left Old Orchard Beach.  Thanks for hosting us Alan!  We drove north to a marina just north of Portland where Alan’s brother Neal moors his 38-foot sailboat.  Neal invited us to join him for an afternoon sail in the harbor.  The first order of business was to raise the mainsail:

We headed out into the harbor.  The winds picked up to about 15 knots, which caused the boat to heel over considerably as we tacked up-wind:

Hang on kids:

I did a bit of manning the wheel.  The boat weighs about 10 tons, so there’s a considerable delay between wheel inputs and change of heading.  It was a challenge avoiding over-steering oscillations, especially as the wind changed intensity and direction:

We passed Fort Gorges in the harbor:

A local high school was practicing sailing:

Irving takes the wheel:

Sailing back to the marina running wing and wing before the wind:

B called her friend on the way back.  I imagined her saying something like “Yes darling, just out on the yacht, you know.  Lovely day, just lovely.”:

Entering the marina:

Back on shore, the sails were tied down and covered:

We plugged in to charge the boat’s battery:

Thanks for the amazing experience Neal!  I had been sailing once in high school, for the rest of the family it was the first time.

After tying down the boat, we all drove to the synagogue in Portland for Mincha and Maariv and to break the fast.  The rabbi invited us to overnight at the synagogue and attend Shacharis the next morning, so we will be staying at the synagogue tonight.

See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.