From the November, 2006, issue of Working Waterfront/ Inter-Island News, a publication based in Maine:

Vegetable fleet puts to sea

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….

Link to story and photos at the online version of Working Waterfront News.

You can learn more about how to grow, build, and sail your own pumpkin boat from a Bangor Daily News article:

“Commodore” Buzz Pinkham, owner of Pinkham’s Plantation Greenhouse and Landscape Center on Biscay Road, made his first pumpkin boat last fall…. “I was the first captain,” Pinkham recalled of his maiden voyage. “You definitely want to stay on center. You do not want to get out of line too much. We kind of went low-profile last year because we didn’t know if it would sink or tip upside down.”…

On Sunday [October 8, 2006], Tom Lishness of Windsor and Bill Clark of Bristol were hard at work crafting boats out of giant pumpkins. It’s a pretty simple job. First they cut and hollow out a 2-foot-by-2-foot “cabin” and then attach a plywood “deck” to the pumpkin with 8-inch bolts. On Monday the group plans to outfit their boats with 2 to 9 horsepower outboard motors. The only other additions are gas tanks and sand bags for ballast. Clark fashioned his boat from an 812-pound orange pumpkin. Lishness crafted “Moby Gourd” from a 712-pound white pumpkin.

“You’ve got to sit down,” Commodore Pinkham advised his sailors. “I don’t know if it’s really advisable to stand in it.”

Link to full article.

The Damariscotta event pales in comparison with established pumpkin regattas like the ones in Windsor, Nova Scotia [link], Nekoosa, Wisconsin, and Tualatin, Oregon [link], which can have dozens of competitors in several classes such as paddle-powered pumpkins, motor-pumpkins, and experimental craft.

I figured I’d tell you about this now so you can plan next year’s garden accordingly.