NOVA SCOTIA SCHOONER ASSOCIATION

The first Nova Scotia Schooner Championship was held on July 25, 1961 in Hubbards Cove, Nova Scotia. The event was an enormous success with 11 schooners taking part. During the first schooner meeting, the skippers gathered aboard the beautiful 1905 Tancook Island Schooner ADARE, where the Nova Scotia Schooner Association was formed to further interest in and preservation of Nova Scotia Schooners and all schooner rigged vessels and to hold Schooner Races in Nova Scotia waters at least once each year to determine the Nova Scotian Schooner Championship

2011 was our 50th Anniversary Race Week with many events and race including 6 glorious days of racing in Hubbards Cove, with 22 schooners in attendance. Please check our schooner page for race results. 50 years later the schooner ADARE was in attendance as was the schooner WAWALOON. Our Archives Committee did a tremendous job with a display for the event that we hope to soon add to this website as a means of preserving our heritage and as a research tool.

Commodore's Report

Springtime in Nova Scotia and the smell of paint is in the air. One only has to wander around the boatyards to witness and appreciate the quality of work being carried out on local schooners, both new and old.

I wondered how we could ever top last year's NSSA 50th Anniversary but this summer promises to be another extraordinary gathering of schooners from near and far, starting with Tall Ships, followed by the Lunenburg Wooden Boat Reunion and wrapping up with Schooner Race Week.

We expect to see one of the "Twin Schooners" launched this sailing season and won't it be grand to to see the Queen of the Fleet rechristened and back in her native element. I will have to lay on an ample supply of black powder to salute her properly.

On a more serious note, the NSSA Constitution is in need of updating. A committee has been formed to identify any shortcomings and prepare a draft to be presented for discussion during Race Week, with a final vote scheduled for the Annual General Meeting in November.

Finally, I urge everyone to friend us on Facebook and as well, regularly check our website for news and some great pictures. We are continually adding new content and your comments are helping us make further improvements.

During the 2011 sailing season most of us observed the taping of a Land and Sea episode entitled Nova Scotia Schooners. Those attending the fall 2011 AGM had a screening of the finished product which has since aired on CBC and can now be aired on-line. I have had many local people, who are not sailors, tell me how much they enjoyed it. In fact, I had a call from a viewer in Ontario who took the time to track down my home number just to tell me how much he loved the show ... we talked for nearly half an hour. Those of us who sail them know about the magic of schooners and this program obviously brought the viewing public under their spell. A tip of my sou'wester to Producer Edward Peill and Writer/Directer Tom Gallant for a great job of telling the schooner story.

For those of you new to our association or just visiting our website for the first time, we would also like to bring to your attention the good work of some of our members and friends who are actively participating in keeping the schooner tradition. Dawson Moreland and Associates Twin Schooner Project on site at the Dory Shop in Lunenburg is a fun blog to follow and the iconic reconstruction of the Bluenose II is fascinating to view on their webcam.

Check back often for updates on events for the 2012 season on this website and our Facebook Page.

Fair winds always, Bruce