Schooner Launch

It's a page out of the history of Lunenburg Harbour. But this weekend it's living history. For the first time in nearly four decades, a newly-built wooden schooner is being launched. The Dory Shop has been building watercraft in Lunenburg since 1917 at the east end of Bluenose Drive. Tomorrow (Saturday) around noon as the tide is coming in, they'll be launching Kitty Cochran from the shop. David Westergaard is the builder and the owner and captain is Duncan Veasey. A ceremony will be taking place and people are being invited to take it all in. This weekend is also when the Lunenburg Waterfront Seafood Festival is happening with International Dory Races, greased pole and the celebrity shucking contest featuring CKBW's Joan Fillmore.

Schooner Gift

A small schooner designed by William J. Roue, who designed the historic schooner Bluenose, has been donated to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax. A small reception today (September 4th) marked the gift of the 11.3-metre (37-foot) Hebridee II by the family of the late Edward Murphy of Halifax. The Roue-designed schooner, which was built, owned, and sailed locally, has a long relationship with the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron and the Nova Scotia Schooner Association and is a significant addition to the museum's small-craftcollection. Ater a condition assessment and appropriate restoration work, museum staff plan to re-establish Hebridee II's sailing relationship with the NSSA.