Last summer, when he was 80 years old, Jock Williams completed the 2,700-nm Down East Loop in a Stanley 36, a boat that he built in his own yard in Maine. Now, Williams says he’s ready to go cruising again, although he’ll have to wait for the coronavirus pandemic to end.
Williams, who owns the John Williams Boat Company on Somes Sound on Mt. Desert Island, is no stranger to cruising. (He’s on the right in the picture above, with Reg Elwell, a cruising companion.) Williams grew up on Martha’s Vineyard, joined the Navy after graduating from Colby College, worked on ships charting the South China Sea during the Vietnam War, and ended up as the varsity sailing coach at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. He’s done two transatlantic races, seven Bermuda races, and one TransPac, among others.
In the early ‘70s Williams was working at Hinckley in Southwest Harbor when he got together with Lyford Stanley, who wanted to make a fiberglass version of his 36-foot lobster boat. Williams started his own company in 1975 to make Stanley 36s, and has been building and refurbishing 200 classic Down East boats with elegant wood finishes ever since; half of them are Stanley 36s.
In a phone call from Hawaii, where he now spends winters, Williams told me that in recent years he had stepped back from the day-to-day operations of the company, and he was looking to undertake a major cruise. At first he thought about the 5,500-mile Great Loop, but then decided on the Down East Loop because it offered more ocean and bluewater cruising.
But he needed a boat. Then one of his customers, a doctor in Boca Raton, Florida, sold him a Stanley 36 that Williams had built in 2000. Williams knew the boat, knew it was solid and in good shape. He took it to his yard for some updates, particularly in electronics, where he put in a new GPS chartplotter, radar and depth sounder. He also installed an Espar diesel heater. The boat’s name: Hokulani, which means “heavenly star” in Hawaiian.
At 0500 last July 14 Williams left Somes Sound with two cruising friends, John Allard and Elwell. Williams said he was excited. “I’ve never done anything like this.” On the first day, crossing the Gulf of Maine to Cape Sable Island on the southern tip of Nova Scotia, the weather was “perfect.”
From there the Down East Loop continues up the coast of Nova Scotia, past Prince Edward Island to Gaspé and the entrance to the St. Lawrence, then up the river to Quebec City, down the Richelieu River and the Chambly Canal to Lake Champlain, down the Champlain Canal to the Hudson, down to New York, and back up to Somes Sound. (I’ve done all this except the St. Lawrence part from Gaspé to Quebec City, and it’s absolutely beautiful. We – Eric Schweikardt, the photographer, and I – ran into gale-force winds off Prince Edward Island that blew out the windows in the salon of our 35-foot convertible, but that’s another story.)
Underway, Williams and his crew set into a routine. They usually cruised eight hours a day, checked into a harbor, ate dinner on shore, and got to bed early on board. Allard got off on Prince Edward Island; Elwell stayed on to Quebec City, where Williams’ wife Debbie joined him for the rest of the trip.
Most of the first half of the trip was relatively calm, until they got to the St. Lawrence, where Williams said they ran into 6- to 8-feet waves on the nose. He said, “I like it when it gets rough. My wife doesn’t.” The second half, from Quebec City on, was “a piece of cake,” he said. That is, until they entered Long Island Sound, where they hurried into Port Washington in a 30-knot blow out of the Northeast. “I felt like I was out in the ocean again,” he said. Williams said they also had “crappy weather” in Buzzards Bay, but that’s not all that unusual.
For the trip, Williams brought along paper charts, despite his modern electronics, because, he said, “I like to navigate. I like the challenge.” After all, he said, he did all those ocean races with a sextant and paper charts.
His advice for anyone thinking of the Down East Loop is to do their homework, and make sure they plan the fuel stops. At places along Nova Scotia, Williams said they had to call ahead to meet a fuel truck.
Williams also said he was very aware of his age when preparing for the trip. He was worried about falling, so he made sure the boat had lots of handholds. He also tied a lifeline from the bow to the stern so anyone could hook on in bad weather.
Still, his major advice, both in preparing and executing the trip: “Stay focused.”
Williams said he plans to come back to Maine at the end of May. Then, when it’s safe to cruise again, he’ll probably head out somewhere.
