“There is nothing, simply nothing,
like messing about in–pumpkins?”
(with apologies to Rat in Wind in the Willows)
But pumpkin boats?
It’s true. Right here in mid-coast Maine, adventurous farmer-sailors grow Giant Atlantic pumpkins, only to slice them in half, hollow them out and put to sea in their veggie coracles. A recent pumpkin regatta in Damariscotta attracted scads of spectators.
Not your garden-variety pumpkins, these gargantuan squashes can tip the scales at a whopping 1,000 pounds or even more, but of course this is before they are converted to low-freeboard boats with decks and outboard motors.
It was the second annual Columbus Day Giant Pumpkin Regatta on the town waterfront, and a pair of pumpkin boats showed up for the heady event. Hey, that’s double the number that attended last year’s regatta, organizers pointed out. Farmer Tom Lishness of Windsor, Maine, wore a big grin as he putted around the Schooner Landing Restaurant, an establishment that was happy to host the event and supply observers with cold beer on a balmy Indian summer day. Tom’s pumpkin weighed in at 741 pounds before being “dressed,” while Commodore Buzz Pinkham’s vessel started out as an 814-pound specimen.
Tom’s boat was a sleek off-white pumpkin. “Her father was an orange pumpkin, her mother was white,” he explained. “Like the one David Letterman blew up on his show.” Paddling a pumpkin seemed far more exciting than exploding one. Still, Buzz suggested he could get his air-pressure pumpkin gun and lob some squash at Tom’s boat.
Tom, retired from the U.S. Navy and an avid canoeist, was unperturbed by such talk as he revved up his 2.5 horsepower electric trolling motor and took off in circles. Buzz propelled his pumpkin boat with a small gas-powered outboard. He barely made headway through Damariscotta’s treacherous Reversing Falls, where tide rushes under Main Street bridge creating unnervingly steep waves. Tom deftly piloted his pumpkin to calm waters, having proved her prowess in sea trials.
Buzz, proprietor of Pinkham’s Plantation greenhouse and landscaping in Damariscotta, said you can grow a giant pumpkin on natural fertilizer and a bed of sand, which lessens friction as the squash expands. It all starts with a seed planted in April and set out by May. In 10 days a pumpkin can reach a 30-inch circumference; in 30 days it can bulk up to 450 pounds. Buzz said he has seen a pumpkin gain 35 pounds in a day.
For the record, the largest Maine pumpkin this year was raised by John Powers of Harpswell; it weighed 1,130 pounds but wasn’t carved into a boat. Buzz said some pumpkins are simply not cut out to be seaworthy. Bristol resident Bill Clark, who entered last year’s event, hit the half-ton mark with a home-grown pumpkin. For more facts and figures visit www.mainepumkins.com
Schooner Landing owner Scott Folsom hollered down to the two pumpkin skippers that drinks and dinner were on the house. “These guys brought me a lot of business.”
Buzz and Tom came ashore to contemplate the future of pumpkin yachting, the potential for trans-Atlantic crossings and the down-to-earth challenge of growing boats for the next regatta. As Buzz pointed out, you can’t save a pumpkin year to year, but it’s recyclable, and the compost could fertilize a future yacht.
— Steve Cartwright