Charter the Pinky Maine - A Good Time to Be Had by All

Now offering charters aboard the Pinky schooner Maine out of Gloucester, MA. Families, students, artists and rusticators of all types can now charter the Pinky schooner Maine with Capt. Harold Burnham for parties of up to six people on half-day, whole-day and overnight trips or longer. The Maine is an authentic 1830s Pinky schooner replica built by apprentices in Bath, Maine in 1986 and was purchased by Burnham Boatbuilding in 2006. After undergoing minor alterations and repairs by Burnham, the Maine offers a unique perspective from which to view historic Gloucester harbor and the nearby coastline. Aboard the Maine, passengers can walk the decks of this ancient vessel type and learn about fishing from historic vessels, haul lobster traps under sail, and also sail with other schooners including the Thomas E. Lannon, the Lewis H. Story and the Fame - all built by Capt. Burnham.

On our whole-day trips, we like to include arriving and departing at different destinations including a stop for an ice cream cone or walk about a nearby coastal community, or even climbing the lighthouse towers on remote island preserves. On our overnight trips, we can often circumnavigate "around the world"- our world being Cape Ann or visit the Isle of Shoals and beyond. We do have fun!!

Harold is off on a five day October sail

"Sailing alone around the room..."

The author of this post is covering a sailing event in beautiful Bermuda, but I believe that Harold Burnham left this a.m. for his annual sail with a group of men aboard the Pinky Maine. Just prior to leaving he had a really busy day getting the boat he will be working on this winter into the barn. Although the author was not home while he was managing this task, it was no doubt done with a lot of sweat and muscle with the help of friend John Drake and most likely Harold's father, Charles.  Today, he is out of the Essex River and on his way to Martha's Vineyard with friends Davis Griffith, Michael March, cousins Tom and Steven Hastings, Pierre Erhard, and Jim Aaron.  No doubt they will have a mug up and a lot to gab about. Oh, I forgot that men don't gab..or do they?  Well, many of the men on this sailing trip do have something in common. Wood.  Jim is a sawyer from Western Mass, Pierre is an aborist and tree warden from Wenham, MA, Davis is an artist who works with wood , Tom and Steven are involved in forestry and Michael sails a wooden boat.  If they have something to talk about that they all enjoy talking about it will be wood and any variation on that theme.

The Provincetown to Gloucester Connection

The Gloucester Times had a great article in its newspaper yesterday about the Gloucester to Provincetown race we participated in just after Labor Day weekend. What the article describes is that long standing connection shared between Gloucester and Provincetown as havens for fishermen on Massachusetts Bay and beyond and the schooner races they once had with one another when Provincetown, too, was full of schooners. What is great about arriving to Provincetown by boat is that well before you reach land, you see the Pilgrim's Monument on the horizon. The monument was completed in 1910 and commemorates the Mayflower Pilgrims’ first landing in the New World in Provincetown, in November 1620. The monument looms 252-feet above Provincetown. It is a landmark for sailors and a reminder of the town's immense historical significance.

This article in the Gloucester Times has a few quotes from Harold thrown in for good measure. Here is the link:
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/punews/local_story_256223223.html Also, don't miss Harold's free lecture tomorrow night hosted by the schooner FAME and Salem Maritime National Historic Site entitled “Restoring the Schooner ERNESTINA,” 7 p.m., Sept. 16, at St. Joseph Hall, 160 Derby St., Salem.

Schooner Built in Fast Forward

So far in this blog we have not really gotten into the details of schooner building and the many aspects of it. We hope to remedy this as Harold begins building his new Pinky Maine which is currently in the design phase on his desk upstairs. Today's blog just offers a chance to see a wonderful glimpse of the schooner Isabella which was built here in 2006. This short film was made by Stephen Hastings, Harold's cousin and is well worth a look and was no easy feat for Stephen putting this together as he had a camera taking photographs every 20 minutes or so for about 8 monts. What he pieced together from photographs is amazing. Do notice the rising tide and snow on top of the miniature captain's head. This video is fantastic!

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1148149/the_essex_built_schooner_isabella/

25th Annual Schooner Festival in Gloucester

This weekend marks the 25th annual schooner festival in Gloucester, an event that was in part initiated by a dear friend Scott Stuart Eddington who sadly passed away this year. Scott helped get a lot of things going in Gloucester - he was an idea man and instigated things like whale watching, schooner festivals, and many other community-minded events - as well as being a great photographer.

I met him while making a circumnavigation with him in 1991. It was an early trip as mate on a steamship and he was the AB on my watch. During our time at sea we schemed about what we might do back in Gloucester when we got home.

It was with his encouragement that we built the Muscongus Bay sloop "Kim" as a charter boat and started our charter business in 1992. He was with us through a lot of activities we have done since. We miss him.

Last night they had the Mayor's Reception and the mayor of Gloucester and Sen. Bruce Tarr talked about the proud fishing heritage of Gloucester but also took time to congratulate the Gloucester high school sailing team. Who knew! It was great to see the team and they wished them a good season. The harbor looked spectatucular as we were able to stand on the deck of one of the large visiting schooners at one point and watch the full moon come up as dusk settled in...the mast lights of the Bluenose II and other schooners lit the harbor and it was great to see so many tall masts around Gloucester - which is sometimes too quiet for my taste. To see the activity of schooners arriving, and the crews spreading out throughout Gloucester, greeting each other and looking forward to two days of racing was great. We will give you a wrap up story of the schooner festival after the weekend. For now, enjoy the three-day holiday weekend!

Sailing on the Pinky Maine

It is nearly Labor Day weekend and we have had a full summer of sailing on the Pinky Maine. The Pinky Maine is available for charter and we have had some great charter experiences this summer. We had our first overnight charter for a lovely couple from the Berkshires, we have taken large families for six hour sails to Manchester and back and this coming weekend we are taking a crew of experienced mariners out to particpate in the 25th annual Gloucester Schooner Festival. The Pinky Maine was also our summer home for us as we cruised in Maine for nearly three weeks in July. We reached great places like Valley Cove near Southwest Harbor, Dix Island, Port Clyde, Jewell Island to name a few. A highpoint was the four days we spent with Charles and Maria Burnham aboard their Friendship Sloop "Resolute." We raced in Rockland Harbor during the Friendship Sloop Days while also taking friends out for a sail on the Pinky Maine.

Anyway, this is the time to join us on the Pinky Maine. We think fall sailing is among the best as the breezes are freshest and when it is cool there is nothing like a mug of hot mulled cider off our wood stove to spice things up!

Boatbuilding with Burnham

This blog was launched on Sept. 1 which always symbolizes new beginnings So as we wind down the charter business for summer and begin working on boat building projects for fall., it seemed like a perfect chance to reach out to more people and connect with new and old friends. There is a lot in the air for me as we are hoping to build a brand new schooner in the spring of 2010 which I plan to detail on this blog in full. For now, we are lining up projects and wrapping up others. In May, Harold completed a year long contract assignment on the schooner Ernestina. That is a story we would like to talk about more fully and Harold is scheduled to speak this month in Salem at St. Joseph's Hall.