‘Heave ho!'' went the cry as all hands pulled down on a thick rope to haul up the mainsail of the Grace Bailey. ``Heave ho!'' we chanted again and the 128-foot schooner headed upwind, all four sails gleaming white against a cloudless blue Maine sky.

Captain Ray Williamson took the wheel as the boat quickly gained momentum, passing another anonymous island crowned with pines and rimmed with the ubiquitous Maine granite. Behind us was the vast expanse of the Atlantic, dotted with multicolored lobster buoys.



Maine’s 2,500-mile stretch of rugged coast is tailor-made for sailing. Yet most people don’t have the experience to charter their own sailboat. The next best thing: A cruise on a windjammer. Maine has the largest fleet of historic windjammers in North America.