Floaties enjoy sailing dory

You may have read in the news earlier this year about the loss of the S/V Concordia, a school ship operated by West Island College Class Afloat. The ship went down in what's been described as a microburst off the coast of Brazil February 17 but in a show of excellent seamanship and the true value of safety training, all 64 people aboard, including 48 students, were able to get off the ship safely and were later rescued by merchant vessels. Students returned to the school's land base in Lunenburg in March and have been completing the school year here. Next year, the organization will continue its shipboard program aboard the Norwegian fully-rigged ship Sorlandet.

A few weeks ago, one of the Floaties approached The Dory Shop to see if students could possibly use our sailing dory to get out on the water a bit. A brief meeting with school officials was held to lay down some basic rules and the students were then invited over for a basic orientation with Jay.

We're delighted to say that the students have now been out a couple of times and report that they're having great fun. A dory is a bit different than the Lasers and other small sailing boats they may have experienced before but these folks are young and adventurous (and well supervised too!).

Dory Plug