Lots of excitement around the Dory Shop these days as we prepare for the launch of the first newly-built wooden schooner here in maybe 40 years. The 33-foot Kitty Cochran was built by schoonerman Dave Westergaard of Tusket for Halls Harbour resident Duncan Veasey and his family. The boat was brought to the Dory Shop for her finish work and launch, now slated for September 12.

We had such a great time hosting our dory building course this spring, and have had such overwhelming interest in the prospect of future classes, that we’ve decided to host another course this fall. And this one will be even better thanks to the valuable input of our spring class.

We’re so pleased to be able to share with you these photos of a beautiful new stained glass window recently dedicated in loving memory of The Dory Shop’s longtime oar maker, master craftsman Milton Fancy.

So I just got an email from the Barque Picton Castle, still in the Caribbean, currently en route to The Saints from Antigua where crew members participated in last weekend’s Antigua Classic Sailing Regatta. Not being a racing sort (the ship’s motto is We may be slow but we get around), the Picton Castle sat at anchor for the weekend while crew members signed aboard a host of beautiful schooners that needed extra hands. Those crew who weren’t otherwise engaged took the ship’s newly refurbished dory out sailing a number of times.

I can’t resist posting a link to what’s often been called the greatest movie entrance ever, and it takes place in a Lunenburg Dory Shop dory. I’m talking of course of Capt. Jack Sparrow’s entrance in the original Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Curse of the Black Pearl.

A trailer has just been released for the made-for-television movie Sea Wolf. Based on the famous Jack London novel of the same name, this movie was shot off the coast of Nova Scotia last summer and features six of the Dory Shop’s Handline dories.

Many thanks to the crew of the sail training ship Picton Castle who sent us these pictures of their newly refurbished sailing dory, Sea Never Dry, sailing off Mayreau in the Caribbean. Built by The Dory Shop, this Fishmaker dory has been around the world at least twice, maybe three times, we’ve lost count. Recently the crew got all creative giving her a very customized paint job and sewing a fresh set of sails from cloth purchased during the ship’s call at Dakar, Senegal this past January.

With the Grand Manan en route to her new home, Jay has started our next project, a Handline dory bound for Ontario. This afternoon he fashioned the bottom. This is a critical step in a dory’s construction. If the bottom bevels aren’t right and the garboard plank does not join the bottom with a proper fit, the boat will leak.

This is a Lunenburg dory, which means it’s 12 feet on the bottom, 15.5 feet overall. Jay finds it a nice change after building two big Fortune Bay dories back-to-back.

Canadian rowers took four of five races as they squared off against teams from Gloucester, Massachusetts during the International Dory Races at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada September 13.