Saturday, September 12 was an extraordinarily busy day on the Lunenburg waterfront, what with the International Dory Races, the launching of the schooner Kitty Cochran at the Dory Shop, and all of the other events of the Lunenburg Waterfront Seafood Festival.
One of those events was the Bailly’s Fuels Charity Dory Challenge in support of the South Shore Health Foundation. The Picton Castle had a team in the dory challenge, kindly sponsored by the folks at Nova Scotia Building Supplies. There were two other ships teams, one from the schooner Bluenose II and another from the US Coast Guard Cutter Grand Isle (also sponsored by local hardware stores), as well as teams from local businesses.
The small problem was that the dory challenge was scheduled to begin at 1:30 and at 1 p.m. the schooner had not yet been launched. Our crew not only worked to put the schooner’s masts in place – without a crane, no less – but also worked to rig the boat, so everyone wanted to be on hand for the launch. Add to that the fact that it was the dad of one of our rowers who built the boat and you can imagine that no one was going anywhere until the Kitty Cochran was in the water. Thankfully that happened just before the half hour and our rowers, Kyle Westergaard and Ollie Stiler-Cote, were able to hightail it to the other end of the waterfront for the challenge. Which they won!
We honestly don’t know what was more entertaining – the fine show of rowing skills or members of our crew all decked out in hats and dresses from the schooner launch cheering from the bowsprit of the Bluenose II. However it was a great event and our team was proud to bring their trophy back down to the Dory Shop for celebrations that carried on well into the night.
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