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Official Naming Ceremony of the
Mollyhawks
On Friday, Curt and I flipped the boats for their final painting. You can see in the foreground where they this one had been resting on the sawhorse. This was the first time the boats had been upright since we started painting them.
Bud came and took some action shots. I grabbed the green paint, Curt too the red, and we went around the boats taking care of any missed/thin spots.
We even got down to the fine details.
And then we were done! Building these boats took a little longer than anticipated, but it has been worth it. They really are fantastic.
Saturday morning saw a VERY low tide. Probably should have organized a float to make sue of a tide this dramatic - like we did back in November 2011.
As I was puttering around, I met Jack, a local who was down walking the docks in the morning. I invited him in for a chat and to show off the boats.
Things are getting pretty colorful in the Boathouse, aren't they?
Fulton hard at work on the oar sockets.
John, Charlie, and Joe showed up for the naming ceremony - and as I went over to Pig Feathers to get a libation for the gods, I saw a couple of guys, Casey and Ted, and asked them if they'd like to see a Boat Naming Ceremony
This is Reason #3 for building Welsford Mollyhawks: Light weight. Fulton and I easily managed the 100lbs.
Then Casey and I grabbed the second one.
A pair of Mollyhawks, floating at the docks.
Time for the ceremony - I'd forgotten a funny hat, so I made one out of newspaper (you have to wear a funny hat when communicating with gods - as evidence, I cite the Pope.)
How to name two boats at once? By naming two boats at once, I suppose. By the way: Straddling two boats at once is a LOT harder than it looks. Kids, don't try this at home.
I was facing north and flung the beer in the 4 cardinal directions for Aeolus, while chanting the incantation.
and finished with an offering to Neptune himself. (the chant is more inclusive: There's a lot of gods of both wind and waves, you can't leave anyone out.) And there you have it: The Toledo Community Boathouse now has two Mollyhawks: The red one is named Pepper and the green one is named Salt. The names come from 'port' and 'starboard' as the boats were built side by side and during construction, we'd say something like "The port boat needs the seats installed and the starboard one needs the gunnels trimmed."
Casey and I installing the oarlocks on Pepper.
I showed off one of the oars we are making for these boats. Nobody likes working on oars - it's tedious and there are 8 of them.
John and Joe take Pepper out for a spin.
Every Boathouse needs a Charlie to sit around and spout wisdom while scratching a Lucy.
Joe and John were getting the hang of team rowing.
While the guys were out exploring, Bud turned too on cutting some hulls for the Kid's Boat Build that'll happen at the Boat Show next month and Charlie inspected our tools.
Joe and John took Pepper all the way up to the tide gates at the end of the slough and back. They were very pleased with the performance of the Mollyhawk.
Then Joe and I took Salt out for her maiden voyage.
Whoo hoo, lookit that boat move! Joe was hanging on for dear life while I flailed with the oars.
And finally, we settled into doing what Coots do best: Sitting around and talking. We were doing a planning session for the Cardboard Boat Challenge that the Mill is hosting for the Toledo Boat Show. As usual, the discussion ranged from cardboard boats to . . . everything, really. Thanks for coming out, guys! I know it is a drive, but it was a beautiful day and we had a blast.
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