traditional small craft association Archives

Cedar Key Small Boat Meet

The Cedar Key Small Boat Meet is the premiere event on the West Coast of Florida celebrating small craft.

Dog in lifejacket on boat at Cedar Key meet

Come join the Fall Small Boat Meet in Cedar Key the weekend of November 15-17, 2024.

The meet is still informal. No signups. No fees. No planned events. The tides and weather remain the controlling organization.

All shallow draft craft are welcome: dories & dinghies, catboats, beach cats & trimarans, sharpies & sampans, cuddy day-sailors, any or all driven by pedals, engines or motors, paddles, and sails.

The Cedar Keys & the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge are as enchanting as ever. Come and enjoy the Nature Coast, meet old friends, and make new ones.

To read more about the history of small boat adventures in Cedar Keys click here!

Or click here to read about a 1980’s 2,000 mile small boat adventure along the Gulf Coast of Florida!

Atlantic Challenge

Every two years, a dozen nations convene for a friendly competition and cross cultural gathering were crews showcase their seamanship skills in a series of rowing, sailing, docking, knot tying and navigation events, and build friendly ties with the international crews.

Beyond on-the-water skills, the Contest will further global understanding and build friendly ties internationally. is one small way we can help move quarreling humanity toward a path of cooperation and peace. We believe getting young people together in boats, learning difficult manual skills, competing for shared success and living and eating together for 12 days has the power to transcend cultural, political and linguistic barriers. Indeed, this is the basis for the development of trust, connection and friendship.

Contestants are young adults: all crew members must be over 15; at least half will be under 22.

The Contest events take place in the Bantry Bay gigs, which are copies of 18th-century French Navy Captain’s gigs. These vessels are 38ft long and are powered by three sails and ten oars. Each nation has their own vessel for the contest.

Lance Lee, of Rockland, Maine, co-founded the Atlantic Challenge International Contest of Seamanship with Bernard & Michelle Cadoret, of France in 1984 as a way to bring young adults of different cultures together while also preserving traditional seamanship. The first two gigs Liberté and Egalité were built at the Rockport Apprenticeshop, in Rockport, Maine and the first Contest was held in New York City in July 1986.

More than 80 gigs have been built by 16 nations for participation in Atlantic Challenge. Typically 12 nations gather for the biennial Contest of Seamanship.

There has been a Contest every two years from 1986-2018. Atlantic Challenge USA is hosting the 2024 Contest.

Blue Hill Maritime Heritage Festival

Mission Statement: To celebrate and preserve the significance of Blue Hill Bay to our history, economy and culture

This festival will take place on August 3rd at Blue Hill, Maine’s historic village waterfront. Various activities will be occurring throughout the day, such as boat building demonstrations, oar carving, traditional boats on display, kiosks of organizations supporting or involved with Blue Hill Bay. On the water there will be more boats, demonstrations, many offering rides. Musicians will be adding to the maritime atmosphere with sea shanties and fiddle tunes. The Downeast Chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association will be hosting and cosponsoring. bhmhf.org

The Downeast Chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association is proud to host and help sponsor the Festival. The Blue Hill Maritime Heritage Festival is scheduled for Saturday, August 5, 2023. We are planning a fun summer day by the bay, with a lot of maritime and historical related activities: boats, and boat building demonstrations, art on the lawn, sea shanties, seafood and more. If you’d like to participate, sponsor or volunteer let us know. Come join us for that fun summer day by the bay.

If you have a business or belong to an organization that would like to participate please fill out and submit: Exhibitor Contract(PDF) The Town of Blue Hill considers anyone not in a building to be a mobile vendor and therefore requires a permit if selling merchandise on town property. We will forward a permit application once your Exhibitor Contract is accepted.

Festival Content: Content should relate to Blue Hill Peninsula’s maritime heritage, Blue Hill Bay and it’s ecology.

There is no admission fee for the Festival. Donations to help fund the Festival will be accepted and appreciated. Contact [email protected] if you’re interested in making a tax deductible contribute to help support the Festival.

The Festival will be held in Blue Hill’s historic village, centered on the scenic waterfront. Various activities will be occurring throughout the day, such as boat building demonstrations, wood carving, traditional boats on display, kiosks of organizations supporting or involved with the bay. On the water there will be more boats, many offering rides. Musicians will be adding to the maritime atmosphere with sea shanties and fiddle tunes.

Festival activities start on Water Street, at the Blue Hill Historical Society’s Holt House. They will have ship captain’s artifacts on display along with other items depicting Blue Hill’s history. Across the street from the Holt House, Charlie the shark will be directing folks to the Shaw Institute. They will have their new touch tank, displays and docents explaining their environmental work and offering a microscopic look into the waters of our bay.

At the historic Pendleton House, PNB Interior Design/Arts will have nautical block print art, on paper, on kids tee shirts, and more. While next door at Bears n’ Me Captain Lee and Windrose Productions will have nautical books and DVD’s.

SeaLoft is across the street featuring women’s apparel, home goods, and gifts for all.

At the Town Wharf, The Downeast Chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association will have boats on display and in the water, many offering rides. Hewes & Co. Marine Division will be explaining their CNC business, Wilson Museum with their rope making machine and very popular toy boats and pool, and Maine Maritime Academy will be under the tent. On the wharf Chase Small Craft, Brooks Boat Design, George Stevens Academy, and Cottrell Boatbuilding will also be joining us this year.

Emerson Park, adjacent to the Town Wharf, will be packed full of exhibitors. Penobscot Marine Museum will be returning bringing their popular photo booth.

Boats Partial list, check back for updates. On display (D) available for rides (R) sail (S)

St Ayles Skiff – Blue Hill Community Rowing, R
North Haven Peapod TSCA, R
Nutshell Pram, TSCA, R
Shellback Dingy, TSCA, R
Stelmok 15′ solo canoe, TSCA, R
Deblois Street Sailing and Rowing Dory, TSCA, R, S
Compass Skiff 10, CSC, D, R
Echo Bay Dory Skiff, CSC, D, R
Points East Pram, CSC, D, R
Acorn 17, DSC, D
Drake 17, TSCA, D

Harry Bryan Thistle Fin Boat, TSCA, Peddle
CLC Chester Yawl 15, TSCA, D
Caledonia Yawl 19, TSCA, D

MUSIC – We have a great line up of musicians scheduled to play at “The Window of the Sea Wind” sculpture by Hitoshi Tanaka in Emerson Park.

10:00 AM – Waterbound

11:00 AM – April Grant

12 PM – Handsome Molly

1 PM -Stephen Sanfilippo

2 PM – Castlebay

3 PM – Calico

FOOD – Stone Fox Farm Creamery – Homemade ice cream

There will be water available donated by Mt Desert Spring Water

SPEAKER SERIES – Blue Hill Historical Society in conjunction with the Maritime Heritage Festival will present a series of talks at the Blue Hill Public Library and at Bagaduce Music.

John Gardner Small Craft Workshop

The John Gardner Small Craft Workshop will again be held during The WoodenBoat Show at Mystic Seaport Museum, on Friday to Sunday June 28 – 30, 2024 from 9am to 5pm, hosted by the Traditional Small Craft Association’s John Gardner Chapter.

In addition to having a booth to acquaint show attendees with the TSCA, there will also be demonstrations of skills that enhance the traditional small boat experience. Mystic Seaport Boathouse craft will also be available at no charge for participants to use. We are hoping for a continuous back drop to the Show of traditional small craft in action on the river.

All TSCA members are encouraged to attend with or without your own boat! There is plenty to do if you don’t bring your own vessel. Launching and parking details will be posted with registration materials. At 8 am on Saturday and Sunday morning before Museum hours, there will be a cruise in-company open to all workshop attendees. We will gather at the Australia Beach and cruise either up river past the highway bridge to the beautiful salt marshes or down river past the Village and classic yachts on their moorings.

Workshop participants can register to stay onboard the Joseph Conrad Friday and Saturday nights. .
Attendees will be encouraged to help with the workshop, either by manning the booth at Australia Beach for a 2 hour period and/or giving a demonstration of some skill such as sail rigging, sculling, boat building, hardware making etc. If you have a skill that you would like to demonstrate at the show please volunteer. Demonstration should last about 30 minutes and will be held approx. 11 am, 1 pm and 3 pm each day.

Registration for the Small Craft Workshop also allows you admission to the WoodenBoat Show for all three days at no additional cost.

Indicate your interest in staffing the booth or demonstrating a skill on the registration form or contact Bill Rutherford at [email protected] or 860-222-5249.

Registration information will be posted on the Mystic Seaport Museum website Calendar under the date June 28, 2024.

6th Annual Wellfleet Rowing Rendezvous

The purpose of this free event is to promote rowing, and to be able to try and compare different boats. We will have boats to row, and you are invited to bring your boat for others to row. Last year we had 15 different boats. Boats can be launched for free from trailers at the boat ramp at the Wellfleet Marina, next to the beach, or hand launched at the Town landing right next to the commercial pier. More details will be available as we get closer to the event.

2017 Small Reach Regatta a Success

Posted on July 25, 2017April 21, 2020 by Anne Bryant

What a turnout and what a variety of boats this year at the Traditional Small Craft Association‘s Small Reach Regatta, held in Brooklin, Maine. The gathering is a labor of love for WoodenBoat Senior Editor Tom Jackson, who returned from a small boat raid in Sweden wanting to have a similar event here in Maine. They’ve been at it for 11 years now.

Here’s a look at the end of their lunch stop on Babson Island as the boats got underway:

The Downeast TSCA’s website explains, “The idea of the SRR is to gather together small sail-and-oars boats for sailing, with the same kind of camaraderie and appreciation that the ERR has established. The boats typically sail courses of 5 to 15 nautical miles on three successive days (Thursday through Saturday) starting from the waterfront anchorage each morning and returning each afternoon. There is no racing, but participants always show keen interest in how their boats perform against others. Many of the boats were built of wood by their owners themselves, and last year seven of them were even designed by their builders.”