We elected to pick up a mooring at the Shelburne Yacht Club for our planned 3 day visit. The clubhouse hangs over the harbour offering great views of the bay and is only a 2 minute dinghy ride from the mooring field. The relaxed atmosphere of the club makes it an enjoyable place to hang out while doing laundry or sharing a beer with fellow sailors. The small membership is very active with racing 2 nights a week as well as the occasional weekend. One thing about sailors, there is never a shortage of opinions on weather and places to visit and the local sailors were no exception. The info we received would certainly help us plan the next leg of our trip.

The historic town of Shelburne was originally built when the Loyalist fled the U.S. after the war of independence. Many of the waterfront houses were built in the late 1700s and are lovingly restored. The museum is housed in 3 separate buildings, all built in that era. The highlight for us was the tour of the Dory museum that operated as a factory until 1971. At the height of production there were 7 local shops building dory’s for the sailing ships fishing the Grand Banks. There’s a tribute to Sidney Mahaney who worked in the same building as the museum for 74 years building 2 dory’s a day, 6 days a week. During that time he built 10,000 dorys. He never drove, but rowed across the harbour to work and in the winter would skate across when ever he could. The museum still builds 2 or 3 dorys a year using all the same tools that the craftsmen of years gone developed. During our very informative tour we met one of the workers who was hand planing one of the long planks, turns out she’s from Arundel Quebec. Her summers are spent working at the museum but she returns to Quebec where she spends her winters cross country skiing.

After a relaxing 3 day visit it was time to get moving but unfortunately the weather wasn’t on our side. We planned to head straight to Cape Cod, a 270 mile crossing of the Gulf of Maine. However, as is common today, the weather is more unpredictable than ever. The numerous forecasts showed days of headwinds with very unsettled seas. After frequent checks of the forecast , and of course input from the locals we elected to head to Rockland Maine. Although this would add miles to our trip, we should have favourable conditions once clear of Cape Sable.

So after one last walk around town, followed by a quick visit to the yacht club we prepped Dagny for an early morning departure.
ETD 7 a.m., for the 200 mile trip to Rockland where we will have a chance to visit some sailing friends.

Today’s picture is of a dory under construction using the same mold from a hundred years ago.