The days are long, each arriving ferry seems to be carrying more passengers, main street is waking up, and the travelift signals each high tide, launching boats in anticipation of the unofficial opening weekend of summer, July 4th. The crew at J.O. Brown’s has been painting, waxing, moving, fixing, rigging, testing, charging, washing, and delivering boats from sun up to sundown in preparation.
It’s a rare kind of pleasure to see the thoroughfare buzzing with the outboard skiffs that we’ve prepped. The energy, perhaps due in equal parts to being back on the island in the summer sun and to the feeling of putting a small boat up on a plane, that radiates from a whaler full of smiling faces and wind-matted hair is palpable. The fleets of Herreshoff 12.5’s, Ensigns, and North Haven dinghies too are out and about when the afternoon breeze picks up, weaving through lines of traps, punctuating greens and blues with white sails. Boat owners are clearly excited to use their boats and that is the kind of thing that makes a boat yard happy.
The lobster live-well on the Brown’s Wharf is filled so indeed the summer is here and the folks at J.O. Brown’s wish you a warm and welcome return to days filled with boats and salt.
