Roger Barnes, November 9, 2025 – The Mists of Maine
In the last week of my summer trip to the United States of America, I sail up the Maine coast with a group of other boats in the Dinghy Cruising Association. We explore part of the Maine Island Trail between Portland and Rockland, camping ashore near our boats.
I also have a chance to explore the city of Portland, and muse on the local architecture and on American life, before returning to my Breton fishing port home.
AVEL DRO, my own boat.
Avel Dro is an Ilur designed by François Vivier, and built of clinker plywood by Les Charpentiers Reunis of Cancale in 1994. I bought her in France in 2003 to import her into the UK, and more recently returned her to France again. The design is based closely on the traditional inshore fishing boats of Brittany in the early years of the twentieth century – hence her simple boom-less lugsail rig and lack of a mainsheet horse, (sometimes controversial among my viewers). Although rare in Britain, Ilurs are relatively common in France. Modern Ilurs are slightly different from mine, as they have more built in buoyancy. The name Avel Dro is Breton, Avel = wind, Dro = to turn – so it means a whirlwind.
- Length 4.44 m
- Sail area 12.2 m²
- Beam 1.70 m
- Draught 0.25 / 0.86 m
INTERESTED IN DINGHY CRUISING?
- Read Roger’s book, The Dinghy Cruising Companion
- Join the Dinghy Cruising Association
Joseph Kilbride says:
I live in Falmouth Maine and have cruised the coast my my entire life. Don’t let the current political situation dampen your perception of the beauty and richness of this coast.
It, like all politics, is transient and not representative of an ages way of life.
Jonathan Lewis says:
Appears that one needs to watch Roger’s final look at the Eastern Seaboard on YouTube to read the numerous comments his interpretation solicited. Your discerning eye is always welcome to our shores, no matter which way the wind is blowing. Cheers!