|
|
|
Photo Vincent Guadazno
The schooner Hindu in Provincetown Harbor. |
|
Hindu homecoming celebrated
By Pru Sowers
Banner Staff
PROVINCETOWN — It’s been a long haul for Capt. Kevin Foley. But this Saturday, it may feel like it was all worth it.
A reception celebrating the return to Provincetown of the historic schooner Hindu, now owned by Foley, is scheduled for 9 a.m. to noon aboard the Hindu at MacMillan Pier. From 1 to 5 p.m. the vessel will be open to the public and from 6 to 10 p.m. an evening reception is scheduled for “friends of the Hindu.”
A series of stops and starts riddled Foley’s three-year effort to refurbish the beloved sloop, which has a long history as a fishing and sailing charter in Provincetown, carrying generations of residents and visitors on summer trips in the harbor. The Hindu was supposed to return to its traditional slip, 10W on MacMillan Pier, last summer to launch Foley’s charter business. But a series of construction and financial setbacks kept the boat in Maine, forcing Foley to cancel plans this winter to take the boat to Key West, Fla., as well.
“It took a lot longer than we thought to finish the boat. It cost so much money to do the boat,” Foley told members of the Provincetown Public Pier Corp. in late February.
Foley appeared before the Pier Corp. at that time to plead with them to let him lease 10W this summer, even though the board had voted earlier to use the slip itself. Pier Corp. members were planning to purchase a surplus U.S. Coast Guard float dock to anchor in the slip and rent daily moorings to either large recreational vessels, the fall transient tuna boats or use as a safe harbor for local fishing vessels during winter nor’easters.
On Feb. 22, the Pier Corp. reversed itself and voted unanimously to lease the slip to Foley for one year, giving up the opportunity to potentially raise more money for the town by renting out short-term, instead of seasonal, moorings but returning the Hindu to Provincetown.
“It’s part of Provincetown’s tradition. We’d all like to see it here,” said Len Clingham, Pier Corp. chair.
Foley previously approached several other MacMillan Pier boat slip license holders looking for a seasonal berth for the summer but could not find available space. Leasing 10W was his last chance, he said.
“I feel the boat belongs here. The boat has been around a long time. I’m asking you to give me a chance,” he told the Pier Corp. in spring.
Foley has a floating dock he purchased from the estate of John Bennett, the previous owner of the Hindu, which he tried to repair last summer. However, financial difficulties left the broken float marooned on the Provincetown town beach.
Recently, however, Foley said, he was able to refinance his loan on the Hindu, which gave him enough money to repair the float, lease 10W and build a ticket booth for his charter business.
Pier Corp. member George Hitchcock said that renting 10W to Foley for one year will give him a chance to get his fledging business up and running, while postponing for only one season the Pier Corp.’s plan to take over the space.
“We get to save $30,000 [the estimated cost of purchasing a surplus float dock] by allowing Foley to put his float in, which would also get it off the beach. We’ll get a surplus Coast Guard float after the season and give Foley time to find another space,” Hitchcock said.
MacMillan Pier license holders pay $8,000 a season to the Pier Corp. as a licensing fee for their slip. License holders often then rent space on their floating docks to commercial sub-tenants, raising as much as $30,000 and more for the larger whale-watching charter boats.
Built in 1925 in East Boothbay and designed by legendary schooner builder John Hand, the schooner had several owners and several names before being christened as the Hindu by Capt. William Parker, who owned the ship from 1933-1942 and sailed it to India to carry spices back to America. The Hindu was then sold in 1942 to the Navy, which used the boat to patrol East Coast waters during WW II.
After the war, Provincetown resident Al Avellar purchased the Hindu and used it for deep sea fishing charters. His nephew, Justin Avellar, bought the boat after that, using the sloop for sailing charters and helping pioneer the excursion industry that still thrives in Provincetown today.
psowers@provincetownbanner.com
|
Strong bonds
Police contract settled
Sewer construction update
For Your Information
Outer Cape Worship Services
|
|
|
|
|
Jul 12th, 2007