Rowing the Past to There to Back
Joe Fitzgerald


The great mass of granite juts out into the North Atlantic Ocean like a defiant chin, daring the turbulent waves that smash tirelessly into its sturdy jaw. Off the coast of this timeless rock, other smaller rocks set stubbornly in the cold tempestuous waters. In the harbour of one of these smaller rocks, a gathering of small wooden boats are clustered, bobbing on the swells. Each boat has two persons in it, muscles twitching in anticipation. Onshore,‘Long Tom’ is being loaded and primed. The 19th century musket is pointed skyward, and with an explosive crack and a puff of smoke, heaving shoulders and determined grimaces thrust these audacious pieces of wood into the great expansive sea.




‘Long Tom’ harkens back to an earlier age, but these days its owner, Peter Decker, only fi res it on New Year’s Eve, weddings, and to start The Great Fogo Island Punt Race, an annual celebration of this unique, hardy vessel and the craftsmanship of the people who built them. The race is an arduous 10-mile trek across open ocean; fi ve miles from Fogo Island to Change Islands and back, and the punts must be traditionally made by local builders.





“They (punts) were the workhorse of the ocean years ago,” says Decker, the operations manager. “They were used for cod fi shing, sealing, birding, rowing and sailing to the fi shing grounds. There was not much work for them after the moratorium was put on Newfoundland (the 1992 cod fishing moratorium by the Canadian federal government) so we fi gured we go rowing them, and it seems to be taking off pretty good.”





When Decker and other organizers began collecting punts to take part
in the race, they realized how scarce the boats were. “When we got the punts together we would give it a try and see how many people would row,” he says. “We found out that we never had enough punts. We had more people than punts. That encouraged us to continue the next year and get the builders building again, because it was starting to fade away.”





The Great Fogo Island Punt Race was the product of collaboration between the local residents and the Shorefast Foundation, a Canadian registered charity dedicated to investing in the development of the communities of Fogo Island and the Change Islands. One of Shorefast’s founders, Tony Cobb, says its primary goal initially was to enhance educational opportunities. Cobb’s family left Newfoundland 1970s and moved to Ontario.





“We maintained our family home (on Fogo Island) through the ages and had the good fortune to do well for ourselves in Ontario,” says Cobb. “In 2000 we set up the foundation, which we originally called the Frangipani Foundation.”





The foundation set up scholarships for graduating students of the community as well as other enrichment programs for younger people.
Although its mandate was received favourably and was extremely
successful, upon reviewing outcomes in 2004, members of the community
suggested that the foundation turn its attention to initiatives that would create jobs and incentives for youth to stay on the island.




“It was really a watershed moment in 2004 to get that kind of feedback from the community,” says Cobb, “and we really became a social entrepreneurship organization and saw the need to do something in the way of economic development.”





The foundation realized that the ability to build a punt in the traditional way encompassed their culture for the majority of the community’s existence.




“For 240 years, travel by water was essential,” says Cobb, “even
to fetch water, go to church, whatever. Until the 1950s the only way you saw a community was from the water. To see it from the harbour is very different and very powerful. We hope that we can encourage people to visit Fogo Island to experience that. Not in a Disney kind of way, but completely the opposite; in a way that’s of the people and of the place and shows our connections with ourselves, each other, and nature.”





The Shorefast Foundation sees geotourism becoming a major contributor to the local economy, enhancing good stewardship of the ocean, in turn bolstering the strength of the fishing industry. Ten punts competed in the inaugural race in 2007. In 2008, 21 boats competed, and demand for new punts has skyrocketed. As the race continues to grow in scope, new boat builders will be needed. To help
revive interest in learning the craft, a local boat builder, Aiden Penton, teaches students at the local high school the fi ne art of building punts.




“I tell the students, somebody arrived in Newfoundland with that three-piece mold (an old boat building method brought from England), and that’s how they built their first boat,” he says. “But when you go into the woods, you see the boat in the trees.”




One of the unique things about punts is that they
are not built using timbers that are steamed and bent to shape. “We build all of the frames with turned timber that we get from the ‘moor’ or the root of the tree,” says Penton. “Every tree is not suitable for a certain timber, so you might have to cut ten different trees to get the shape that you want, and you might have to look at a hundred before you get the right shape.”





Ten punts competed in the inaugural race in 2007. Twenty-one boats
competed following year, and demand for new punts has sky-rocketed. As
the race continues to grow in scope, new punts will undoubtedly evolve into a sleeker, quicker design. Jim Edwards, along with Dave Diamond, won the race in 2008 in a punt he built himself. He is accredited with coining the term ‘cranky’ to describe a punt that is easier to upset, but also faster and more likely to vie for the racing title.





Although monitored diligently by the Marine RCMP, Coast Guard, and
Coast Guard Auxiliary, when competitors head out toward Change Islands
in the Great Fogo Island Punt Race, they plow through rough waters,
negotiate rogue icebergs and migrating whales, all the while soothing cranky boats. It is an exclusive spectacle, where the art of a proud and distinct past rows there and back.





Be sure to watch “Cranky,” a documentary about The Great Fogo Island Punt Race. Its world premiere will air on the CBC Documentary Channel on Tuesday, June 9 at 6 p.m. ET.