We kicked off the long Victoria Day weekend this afternoon with ‘graduation’ ceremonies for participants in our spring dory building course. Once again, we were blessed with a great group, all eager to learn about traditional wooden boats, to get right in there with the plane or the hammer or the paint brush, and to enjoy the offerings of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and our waterfront in particular.

The gunwales are in and the guys are making the seats, known as thwarts, for their handsomely crafted Black Rocks dory. This afternoon we’ll get out of the shop a little and visit Michele Stevens Sailloft in First  Peninsula.

We told you the fellows in this spring dory building class were quick learners. Turns out they are also quick builders! Check out these photos of their dory, taken Friday afternoon.

We’d like to extend, a little belatedly, a big welcome to participants in our spring 2011 dory building class, which got underway Monday. We’re always wondering how we manage to get such great groups of people – truly! And this gang also includes some pretty fast learners. At this point, they actually have the dory fully planked (more photos to come obviously!) and will be fitting her knees this afternoon. Jay is highly impressed.

A technical issue on the Underway section of  The Dory Shop website prevented us from posting photos in a timely way as we built this lovely big Fortune Bay sailing dory for the Tim Horton’s Camp at Tatamagouche this spring.

For those folks fortunate enough to have grown up on the water, thoughts of summers spent ‘messing about in boats’ bring back some pretty wonderful memories. And it’s just those warm thoughts that have our gang here at The Dory Shop so stoked as we begin building a big Fortune Bay sailing dory for the Tim Horton Children’s Foundation Summer Camp at Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia.

Who says all the fun ends with Old Christmas? Not here at The Dory Shop, where we’re busy planning a special celebration to mark a major milestone in the building of the twin schooners.

It’s that time of year again – time to receive our annual delivery of dory knees, courtesy of the Hatt family. For more than 50 years, and through four generations, the Hatts have supplied The Dory Shop with this oh-so-critical construction material

It’s a little over a month until the start of The Dory Shop’s fall dory building course and spaces are still available. I could give you the ‘hard sell,’ telling you all about how great the course is, and of course Lunenburg is spectacular in the fall. However, I’d prefer to pass along some comments from past participants instead

Lunenburg’s hopping today as people arrive for the Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival. This is an amazing festival that just happens to be celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The line-up (including a band called the Dory Bungholes!!) is spectacular. Meanwhile, down at The Dory Shop, we’ve been welcoming a steady stream of folks, many drawn by the sight of Jay rigging our latest Handline sailing dory.