Festival Contests Showcase
Industry Skills

Terry Bungay of Newfoundland, winner of the Festival’s first Nautical Tattoo Contest, shows off his tattoos to emcee Cassie Canastra. Bob Hughes’ photo

New Bedford, MA—Press Release The 2015 Working Waterfront Festival (September 26 & 27) featured a variety of competitions throughout the weekend. Participants competed in whaleboat races; a tug boat muster; net mending, splicing, link squeezing, and scallop shucking contests; a Nautical Tattoo Contest, and a Seafood Throwdown. Each event showcased a variety of industry skills, engaging the public in learning about different aspects of the fishing industry.

The Buzzard’s Bay rowing club hosted Whaleboat Races on Saturday morning starting at 8:00. Lorelei won “Best Dressed,” Mystic Seaport won “Most Theatrical” and Oar-e-o’s were deemed “Most Enthusiastic.” Complete race results are attached.

Area tugs converged on the harbor Saturday afternoon for the annual Tugboat Muster organized by Charlie Mitchell captain of the Tug Jaguar and emceed by his brother Bob of R. A. Mitchell Company. While not a formal contest, tugs of all sizes showed their skill and strength with demonstrations of hawser tossing, turning, and pushing.

Rodney Avila and Ted Williams of Hercules SLR US presented Safety Demos including a life raft deployment and an “Abandon Ship” demonstration to give visitors a sense of the dangers of commercial fishing and the safety protocol that fishermen practice to remain safe at sea.

On Saturday groundfishing skills were highlighted with a Net Mending Competition emceed by net designer Tor Bendiksen of Reidar’s Manufacturing and a Rope Splicing Contest emceed by Barbara Merry of Marlinspike Artist. Winners of the net mending competition were Steve Wright of the F/V Hunter with a time of 2:22, Sarah Fortin an employee at Reidars Mfg with a time of 2:35, and Ray Lees of the F/V Paula Jean with a time of 2:59. Kevin Curole of Grand Isle, Louisiana won the splicing contest.

On Sunday scallopers took center stage with back to back Link Squeezing (emceed by Mathieu Lemieux of Blue Fleet Welding) and Shucking (emceed by Richie Canastra of BASE/Whaling City Seafood Display Auction) competitions. Brothers Levi (F/V Starbrite) and Steve (F/V Instigator) Brockman won the link squeezing contest with a time of 1:59. Results of the shucking contest were as follows: Jonathan Hynd of the F/V Horizon took first place with a time of 4:02; Sergey Chadchushkin of the F/V Atlantic took 2nd place with a time of 4:13; and Jeff Swain of the F/V Polaris took 3rd place with a time of 4:19.

Contest prizes were provided by Latti and Anderson LLP, Slave of the Sea, Marlinspike Artist, Buzzard’s Bay Rowing Club, Sinners and Saints Tattoo, Dark Star Tattoo and Body Piercing, Flying Aces Tattoo, the New Bedford Tattoo Company, and the Working Waterfront Festival.

Fourteen individuals competed in the Nautical Tattoo Contest debuting at this year’s festival. Contestants were judged on artistry, concept/creativity, stage presence and the story behind their tattoo. The judging panel included tattoo artists, Neil England and Val G., local sculptor Jess Bregoli, and Raymond Canastra, co-owner of BASE. Terry Bungay of Newfoundland took home first place. Tanner Tillotson came in second; Bob Vieira came in third; and Sarah Jane Mulvey took fourth.

Sunday culminated with a Seafood Throwdown pitting Chef Chris Cronin of Little Moss (Dartmouth, MA) against Chef Rob Pirnie of Trafford (Warren, RI). With Dogfish as the surprise seafood ingredient, Chef Cronin, who was lucky enough to get an egg bearing dogfish, and clever enough to incorporate the fish roe into his dish (grilled dogfish, sugar pumpkin & lamb chorizo with scrambled roe and peach jam) scored enough extra points for his use of the whole animal to win the day. The Seafood Throwdown is a collaboration between the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance and the Working Waterfront Festival.

The Working Waterfront Festival is a project of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern MA, a non-profit organization. Navigate to www.workingwaterfrontfestival.org.