Very long and challenging sail today. Predicted waves were 7 foot with a 10 second period, which we hoped we could handle, but haven't really had much experience with.

Coming out of Portland, the waves in the entrance were very large and confused, but did smooth out to just large after getting out a bit further. We motored the first bit in the early morning as the winds hadn't filled in yet, but put up sail shortly after getting out of the entrance and had enough wind to make way. After getting into the waves we considered abandoning the sail and waiting for smoother seas, but we stuck it out and it wasn't too bad in the end.

Winds continued to pick up and build from behind. Again we had the problem of making a good gybe angle downwind. On our port tack it was fine, we could sail close to downwind with the swell behind us, but on our starboard tack we had to point up a lot more than we'd like in order to not get knocked around by the waves, so our angle wasn't very good at all. Almost like tacking downwind.

It was a really uncomfortable sail, and very tiring. Surfing down waves is fun, but it takes a lot of work to keep an eye on the wind and waves, and on top of it all, the lobster pots.

We also saw a dead shark during the sail which was kind of bizarre. I saw a fin sticking up as we were sailing, and when we passed by it was the pectoral fin sticking up and the shark was floating kind of upside down so you could see it's white bottom. Pretty large, about the size of me I'd say, and you could see all it's teeth. Didn't get a picture as it was only in view while we surfed by at 6 knots, but that happened. Weird.

We eventually got into the bay and booked a mooring ball in at Kittery Point. Kittery is on the Maine side of the bay and the other is Portsmouth NH. We didn't do anything besides pick up the ball, make dinner, watch a couple of episodes of Anne, and then passed out super early. Had no trouble sleeping despite the rolly mooring after a long sail like that.