That's it! That's my favorite part of sailing.

'Coasting', the verb, has old nautical roots, as in, 'a coasting schooner'. 'Coasting' includes a bit of the noun(I feel);Coast-as in coastline.

And, 'Coasting through Penobscot Bay', makes perfect sense. Leaving the Western coastline, heading downeast, there are 3 major routes; The outer bay, the Thoroughfares through the islands, and the most protected Eggemoggin Reach cut through the headwaters of the big bay.

And there are endless variations in between, such as the northern route above the Fox Islands. We took that route last time we were 'coasting'. Mostly a broad reach, it's an easy sail. Plenty of time to explore. We tucked into West Stonington for the first time. Pretty working harbor.

After lunch and a hike on shore, we headed into the Deer Island Thoroughfare. This stretch is a coasters dream. Prevailing winds on the beam, this is a wonderful thread to sail.

We followed this big wide Beneteau into the cut along Crotch Island. The big boat was easy for the man to manage under jib alone.

I hated to end our coasting, but peeled off into an anchorage for the night. I watched close to 10 sailboats ghost past in the later afternoon, all under sail, coasting downeast.