The Bluenose II crew took a page out of Dimitri Neonakis’s book on their last day of the 2020 season.
The schooner sailed in the shape of a heart in the Lunenburg Harbour before packing it in for the season Monday.
Capt. Phil Watson said he and his crew were inspired by the Dartmouth pilot, who has been painting pictures in the sky and posting them to Twitter since the tragic mass shooting in April.
“Just what he does is so cool, from the recent Terry Fox one to the heart early in the year,” Watson said in an interview Tuesday.
“It’s a great way to use modern technology and show people how you feel.”
Thank you for all the love and support you showed all of us here in Nova Scotia during this tragedy. This heart is for you too. pic.twitter.com/SQT4BLyVvu
— Dimitri Neonakis (@DimitriNeonakis) April 27, 2020
The idea surfaced earlier in the season as the crew toured around Nova Scotia during the pandemic.
But Watson, who has been associated with the vessel for more than 30 years, said the mission for this season differed from previous seasons.
“Our whole thing this summer was sort of Nova Scotia strong, Bluenose strong to remind people how resilient they are,” he said.
And there was no shortage of Nova Scotians searching for the schooner as it sailed from town to town.
“Every little harbour we went into, you’d see someone post a photo online about how much they appreciated seeing the ship,” Watson said.
“We went along the coast of the Bay of Fundy and every time the road came down to the beach there were two or three cars parked there watching the boats go past. It was incredible.”
So the heart was the perfect cap to the season, Watson said.
“It was a way for us to say thank you to all the people that came out to see the ship, but also remind people what we’ve accomplished in the past and what we can accomplish in the future,” he said.
This one’s for you, Nova Scotia. 💙
— Bluenose II (@SailBluenoseII) September 14, 2020
Your heart and your strength is second to none.
From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU for making our summer so special. Your waves, smiles, photos and kind wishes mean the world to us. #NovaScotiaStrong
Inspired by @DimitriNeonakis pic.twitter.com/qldJI45pxI
The heart, which was roughly 1.6 kilometres long, took about an hour to complete.
For Watson, it was his first time sailing a design in the sea.
“In fact we were just about to start it and I looked at the chief mate and said, 'I really wished we could’ve practised this somewhere,'” Watson chuckled.
While an incoming swell caused the ship to roll at times, Watson said he was pleased the heart turned out so well.
When asked if he would take on more difficult designs like Neonakis in the future, Watson laughed and noted Neonakis is travelling 10 times faster than the ship.
“Might have to piece pieces together after four or five days of drawing stuff,” Watson joked.
“We’re travelling at like six miles an hour to do that, so I think one of his was 500 miles long, so that would take us a long time to do that.”
