(Aug. 25, 2016) Some events come into being because of coincidence, happy accidents or the intersection of a defined need with an appropriate facility. Pocomoke’s annual boat docking challenge has aspects of all three, but started as a conversation between old friends.
“Bruce Morrison and I go way back,” organizer Mike Shannon said. “We’ve been friends basically forever. We were talking about how nice it would be to have an event on the river.”
With the Riverside Grill and the Delmarva Discovery Center on the banks of the Pocomoke River, Shannon said Morrison was thinking about better ways for the town to take advantage of its most prominent natural feature.
“I remember saying Snow Hill has things like the Canoe Joust, so we don’t want to step on that, but I asked him to let me think it over,” he said.
What he ended up with was a boat docking challenge, similar to Crisfield’s annual event, but before he took the idea back to Morrison, he needed to test it first.
Through a family connection, Shannon was able to procure a test boat — one that worked the water, rather than just floating on it. Shannon and the captain did a few test runs in the area to see how it would work.
“He said to me after a couple of trial runs that this was going to be great,” he said. “The tide makes it challenging, especially since the river isn’t very wide.”
From there, Shannon said he began contacting local people about the event, and donations began rolling in.
Then, like the tide, they began rolling back out again.
“Most of the funds go to the event, but we don’t keep it all to ourselves,” Shannon said. The scholarship fund, named in memory of Pocomoke High Field Hockey Coach Susan Pusey, and others have been beneficiaries.
“We’re looking down the road to establish our own scholarship fund in the future for someone who is pursing a maritime career,” Shannon said.
This year’s contest is full to overflowing with competitors — originally stated to have 15 slots for captains to compete, this year’s boat docking challenge will feature 17 boats in all.
Each captain will stand with one hand on the dock listening for a signal horn. Once it blows, the captain must run to the boat, hop aboard, take it out, turn it around and dock by looping four ropes over the poles. The person who does it the fastest, wins.
“The person who does it the fastest without tearing up my dock, wins,” Shannon said.
Which is no idle threat.
“I had to spend $3,000 on repairs after the first year. Ever since then, I’ve kind of been a stickler,” he said.
Shannon has also outlawed outboard motors for the same reasons.
“Otherwise, it’s pretty much controlled chaos,” he said. “We’ll have a few vendors, and some food, but what we’ll really have is some nice sun, a good breeze and a whole lot of fun for about four or five hours.”
The boat docking challenge is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. behind the Riverside Grill, downtown, Saturday.
“Bruce Morrison and I go way back,” organizer Mike Shannon said. “We’ve been friends basically forever. We were talking about how nice it would be to have an event on the river.”
With the Riverside Grill and the Delmarva Discovery Center on the banks of the Pocomoke River, Shannon said Morrison was thinking about better ways for the town to take advantage of its most prominent natural feature.
“I remember saying Snow Hill has things like the Canoe Joust, so we don’t want to step on that, but I asked him to let me think it over,” he said.
What he ended up with was a boat docking challenge, similar to Crisfield’s annual event, but before he took the idea back to Morrison, he needed to test it first.
Through a family connection, Shannon was able to procure a test boat — one that worked the water, rather than just floating on it. Shannon and the captain did a few test runs in the area to see how it would work.
“He said to me after a couple of trial runs that this was going to be great,” he said. “The tide makes it challenging, especially since the river isn’t very wide.”
From there, Shannon said he began contacting local people about the event, and donations began rolling in.
Then, like the tide, they began rolling back out again.
“Most of the funds go to the event, but we don’t keep it all to ourselves,” Shannon said. The scholarship fund, named in memory of Pocomoke High Field Hockey Coach Susan Pusey, and others have been beneficiaries.
“We’re looking down the road to establish our own scholarship fund in the future for someone who is pursing a maritime career,” Shannon said.
This year’s contest is full to overflowing with competitors — originally stated to have 15 slots for captains to compete, this year’s boat docking challenge will feature 17 boats in all.
Each captain will stand with one hand on the dock listening for a signal horn. Once it blows, the captain must run to the boat, hop aboard, take it out, turn it around and dock by looping four ropes over the poles. The person who does it the fastest, wins.
“The person who does it the fastest without tearing up my dock, wins,” Shannon said.
Which is no idle threat.
“I had to spend $3,000 on repairs after the first year. Ever since then, I’ve kind of been a stickler,” he said.
Shannon has also outlawed outboard motors for the same reasons.
“Otherwise, it’s pretty much controlled chaos,” he said. “We’ll have a few vendors, and some food, but what we’ll really have is some nice sun, a good breeze and a whole lot of fun for about four or five hours.”
The boat docking challenge is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. behind the Riverside Grill, downtown, Saturday.