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Sag Harbor Express / Editorials / 2286779

Community Spirit

Editorial Board on Sep 4, 2024

It was just over four months ago when a segment of the Sag Harbor community — mostly longtime locals — gathered upstairs at Baron’s Cove, with the goal of ultimately rescuing and restoring the historic whaleboats used for HarborFest. The fundraiser came on the heels of last year’s festival, when competitors stepped into the 60-year-old vessels and into a few inches of water covering creaky old floorboards. Not exactly a confidence-boosting experience.

The boats were purchased in the early 1960s by the original festival committee, which included the novelist John Steinbeck and a band of friends who wanted to honor the tradition of whaling in Sag Harbor. Today, dozens of men and women continue the tradition every year at HarborFest, with this newspaper supporting the Sag Harbor Chamber of Commerce as partners in presenting the whaleboat races. There is still a whaleboat racing committee, and the boats — and the whale, itself, that is their quarry — have been kept afloat by volunteers and a healthy amount of patchwork.

It became clear last year, however, that the boats, the whale and the equipment all needed an increased level of attention before the next festival, which returns this year on the weekend of September 14 and 15. The community successfully raised enough money at the event four months ago to pay for the restoration of three boats, and Rick Pickering and his crew at Ship Ashore Marina took things from there, breaking the boats down to their bones before rebuilding, refurbishing and repainting the whaleboats in time for next week’s festival.

The community should be proud to know that the newly restored boats will be on Windmill Beach this Saturday, with a week to go for competitors to practice. It should also be noted that Ray Pettigrew, whose Team Whalers has won the whaleboat championship 19 times, jumped in to help shore up the whale to make sure that it will float once more. This is a whale made of wood and other materials that was constructed more than 30 years ago by a group that included Dirk Early, who remains on the whaleboat committee to this day.

With the spirit of volunteerism waning during these post-pandemic years, and with chambers of commerce, community clubs and nonprofit organizations struggling to attract members and board members, it’s truly been a joy to watch the community come together and rally around this great tradition.

Whale ho, Sag Harbor! Who’s got a team?

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