Shelburne. Last stop in Nova Scotia

Waiting for weather window. August 26 end of Summer. miles 2097

We arrived in Shelburne one of the three largest natural harbors in the world and a population of just under 2000. It was in the middle of the Atlantic Regatta for Lasers. Due to all the other staff being busy we were met at the dock by the Commodore and Rear Commodore. Brad chatted with us a while and then offered his car for us to do our grocery shopping.

Its a beautiful town and initially we thought there wasn’t much to do in it as everything was closed on Sunday and Monday and I thought I would be bored as we waited for our weather window on Saturday. Not so. I would love to come back and stay a Summer.

There is a very active sailing school with kids as young as 7 yrs out there. One of the local girls who is 20yrs won this year’s Chester Regatta which is one of the most prestigious regattas. We popped into the sailing classroom and storage and saw this picture of the sailboat pinned to the wall. Watching those kids jump onto the boats and sail off in heavy winds was pretty impressive.

We went for the usual stroll around the graveyard and as I read some of the epitaphs I got really moved and was saying so to Pat when out of the bushes a Doe came strolling. She watched us as we passed by no further than two graves away (How often do you get to use that expression?) and when she had passed, these two fawns came strolling by. Since then every evening we’ve seen deer but they always enchant me.

That night in the bar there were such a variety of sailors who have travelled the world over. The following day we did our shop, cleaned the boat and all that good stuff. We passed a clothes sport shop and I noticed that she had an embroidery machine and two of the pink shirts I like so I asked her if she could put our logo on for me. No problem. She took a photo of mine and said she will be just a little while. Later when she showed me the design I asked her approximately how much it would cost. ‘Not much’ she said. ‘Ok’ I said and left. Sure enough it was only $6 each one.

We bumped into Ginger and Chick a very entertaining couple who we had met the night before and we joined them for dinner in the Ships Galley. The lobster corn chowder was delicious but what really caught our eye was on the kids menu. Grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich and it stole the show. We had it for starter.

Once again another charming museum. I loved the yellow outfit and fire hose machine. Also that the Canadian military recognized the importance of music for morale. The Soldiers were given song books. Included in price for the museum was a tour around the boat shed where they made Dorys. These are beautiful boats. Painted yellow and green so that they can be seen in the fog. They produced two boats a day and were the main fishermen boats until it was decided in some government office that a boat over so many feet must contain a life raft and that was the end of that industry. They still make them in Shelburne and Lunnenberg and we met the master builder who I fell a little bit in love with. He really enjoyed showing us around and then as we left he asked us How did we think we got the boats out of the 2nd floor? We assumed there were lifts and pulleys. Nope he said proudly. I open the door and yell out to passers by. He showed us the newspaper article with the photo.

The highlight of the week was the Thursday night race. I put it out that I was interested in crewing if anyone was short and sure enough Jimmy who is Jennifer the club manager’s husband agreed to take me out. Jennifer came along on the proviso that she didn’t have to do anything and Jack joined to take the helm. We were first across the start line. We had a very close pass with our opposition before the start.

Rounding our first mark was probably the most exciting bit of racing I’ve ever been in. There were 6 or 7 boats all tightly packed. I stopped breathing. Obviously I couldn’t take a picture as I was on the winch. It was a tight race until the wind died and we were flogging along. I was really glad Jimmy called it as some of the other boats stayed the course and were even going backwards as tide overtook wind.

The town is very picturesque and it was a delight walking it every evening. The gardens were so well kept with the whirlybird gigs. I will be really sorry to leave it. Last night we met an Irish couple who came to Shelburne on their first stop and were saying how Jimmy and Jennifer were so helpful giving them tips were to go along the coast. Next time we stop in Shelburne first. Also thanks to Brad for lending us his car.