January 13, 2025
Business

Rockland boat show starts Friday

ROCKLAND – The 12th annual WoodenBoat Show sets sail Friday with Maine Island Trail Association in tow for three days of harbor-side events aimed at pleasing boating buffs of all ages.

The annual event, sponsored by WoodenBoat magazine, is in its 12th year, according to Carl Cramer, publisher of WoodenBoat. This is the second year the show will be held in Rockland.

The show starts each day at 10 a.m. It will end at 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday.

The island trails group plans its own “coastal gathering” in conjunction with the boat show this year.

Its 16th annual conference will be at nearby Snow Marine Park.

A parade of sail Friday afternoon will feature the schooners of Penobscot Bay leading wooden-hull boats around the harbor – weather permitting.

Last year, the WoodenBoat Show drew approximately 12,000 visitors to Rockland’s waterfront. The exhibits spread from Buoy Park to Harbor Park and will spill over into the harbor.

Something new this year will be a family boat-building event, which pits families or groups against each other in a competition to build a small dinghy over a two-day period. The boats will all be launched at the same time on Sunday and will be rowed around the harbor.

At the same time families in Rockland are building their boats, there will be 34 similar boat-building events taking place across the country and around the world, according to information on WoodenBoat’s Web site.

The small dinghy kits are purchased by the families or groups who participate, Cramer said, and they include an optional sail rig to be installed later. After the event, participants will take the boats home, he said.

Due to space limitations, 15 to 20 groups will be able to take part. Therefore, an essay is written as part of the application process, to help narrow the number of boat builders chosen to participate.

Over the course of the three-day event, a Watercraft Challenge at the Black Pearl restaurant pier will feature a gathering of historic and historically derived small boats from all over the world. This event, co-sponsored by WoodenBoat magazine and the Atlantic Challenge Foundation, will include several Friendship sloops, a 32-foot colonial-era Chebacco boat, a fleet of rowing gigs, and a pair of Herreshoff daysailers, to name a few of the vessels that can be viewed at the pier.

An array of demonstrations is scheduled each day to provide a first-hand look at the skills involved in boat building. Rigging, fastenings, edge tools, steam bending and plank spiling are some of the talents to be demonstrated.

The island trails group has a roster of activities planned for Saturday and Sunday, which includes talks on “Aquaculture in Maine: How it Works,” “Natural History Encounters Along the Trail” and “Tidal Pools: Ebb and Flow Ecology.”

Other MITA events on tap are “Messing About in Boats,” “Trail Tales,” and a “Kinda-long Distance Boat Race.”


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