The century-old windjammer schooner Ladona glides past the Owls Head community on Penobscot Bay. Image by Tom Adkinson

ROCKLAND, Maine – A few gigantic oceangoing passenger ships list Maine on their itineraries, but being aboard a vessel carrying almost as many passengers as a cruise port has residents doesn’t give you a true Maine maritime experience.

What delivers Maine on a silver platter is a wind-driven trip on a vessel in the Maine Windjammer Association’s fleet of nine majestic sailing vessels. These beautiful boats perpetuate a centuries-old tradition along the state’s rocky coast.

The century-old windjammer schooner Ladona glides past the Owls Head community on Penobscot Bay. Image by Tom Adkinson

Just the names of the windjammers conjure up images of authentic sailing adventures – names such as the American Eagle, Angelique, Grace Bailey, and J. & E. Riggin. The nine windjammer schooners offer trips of from three to eight days out of Rockland and Camden. They go where the wind blows.

There is a relaxing pattern to their trips, even though they are somewhat unpredictable. The boats go where the winds and tides permit, sailing in the daytime, pausing in tiny villages for walkabouts, and easing into quiet harbors as the sun slides toward the horizon.

Lobsters taste delicious anywhere, but their flavor is even better at a windjammer lobster bake on a deserted Maine beach. Image by Tom Adkinson

In a delightful turn of events, they have turned their “windjammer” identification from a pejorative thrown at them when steam-powered boats came along into a romantic term that attracts passengers from around the world. Just a few people at a time can enjoy the experience – the highest-capacity windjammer is the 30-passenger Heritage.

Windjammers once flourished by the hundreds. They were workhorse vessels that ultimately became obsolete. Crews on the ships with engines looked down their noses at their hard-working, more weather-dependent brethren and condescendingly called them windjammers, but their vessels were nowhere nearly as picturesque as were the white-sailed schooners.

Capt. J.R. Braugh is a picture of calmness on a quiet afternoon aboard the Ladona, a boat whose restoration he helped lead. Image by Tom Adkinson

The two oldest windjammers, the Stephen Taber and the Lewis R. French, filled their sails for the first time in 1871. They and others were vessels of commerce, carrying timber, granite, and fish. Another three were purpose-built for overnight windjamming. The newest, the Heritage, was built in 1983.

The windjammer experience sprang from the dream of one man, Frank Swift, in the 1930s, according to J.R. Braugh, who is co-owner of the schooner Ladona. Braugh has skippered seven other Maine windjammers. Swift’s formula was sailing where the winds blow, exploring coastal villages on foot, finding quiet anchorages at night, having a lobster bake on a deserted beach, and enjoying the sea, good company, and all that nature offers.

An employee of the lobster cooperative at the village of Stonington counts out the star items for a windjammer lobster bake. Image by Tom Adkinson

Cabins on all windjammers are tight, but being topside is what windjamming is about. Swift wanted everyone to be outside, soaking up rays, watching for harbor seals, porpoises, and bald eagles, telling stories, and waiting for the chef to announce the next meal’s menu.

Chef Anna Miller on the Ladona works magic in a kitchen smaller than a college dormitory room, noting that her skill comes from a culinary degree and two Italian grandmothers. With only a kerosene stove and oven, she bakes every day (molasses-flavored “Newfie” bread, dinner rolls, anadama, beer bread spiced with jalapeños, fruit pies, cobblers, and a key lime pie with a brûlée top).

The Stephen Taber, pictured here, and the Lewis R. French were built in 1871, making them the oldest in the Maine windjammer fleet. Image by Tom Adkinson

Chef Miller sets a happy hour table with cheeses, charcuterie, and fruit before dinner entrees such as pork ribs with Maine blueberry barbecue sauce, clam pot pie, and Sambal chicken. Fresh vegetables come from local farmers. No one leaves the table hungry, and no one ends a windjammer cruise without stories to tell.

Travel writer Tom Adkinson tries his hand at the wheel of the Ladona, but under close supervision. Photo by J.R. Braugh

Windjammers sail from late May into October. Dress is casual to the max. Swimwear is part of the dress code in the warmest months, and you can help raise the sails if you choose.

Trip-planning resources: MaineWindjammerFleet.com and SchoonerLadona.com

(Travel writer Tom Adkinson’s book, 100 Things To Do in Nashville Before You Die, is available at Amazon.com.