The Log Canoe Island Blossom Defends the George H. Wilson High Point Trophy
The captain and crew of the venerable traditional sailing log canoe Island Blossom decisively extended their winning streak over nine weekends over the summer of 2025. Thirteen canoes competed between the start of the season on the last weekend of June and the final race in mid-September—a robust fleet with approximately the same number of competitors over the last two decades.
Island Blossom’s dominance dates back to its origin. Built in 1893 by Tilghman Island boatbuilder W. Sidney Covington, Island Blossom became the canoe to beat in the 1890s, when skippered by John Gibson of Oxford. After the canoe fleet established a seasonal High Point series in 1969, named for longtime owner and skipper George Wilson of the canoe Magic, Blossom became the first to grab the title for six consecutive seasons in the 1980s, sailed by Doug Hanks of Oxford. Since 2010, no other canoe has toppled Blossom from the High Point podium. At the end of the 2023 season, after leading this record streak, skipper Corbin Penwell announced his retirement. The canoe, under the leadership of Penwell’s longtime crew members Jeff Cox and Corbin’s son, Patrick Penwell, kept the title in 2024 and 2025.
The season started well for the Island Blossom crew with a breezy day on the Miles River, but races on the Chester River brought the light air more typical of summer on the Chesapeake. The unballasted centerboard canoes rely on live ballast moving delicately along two to four spring boards: the untethered plank hiking aids set to windward on each tack and gybe. Spreading between 600 and 1200 square feet of working sail, canoes struggle when winds gust above 15 knots.
Back on the Miles River at the end of July, Island Blossom carried away the top of its foremast (though ketch-rigged, canoe masts and sails are named in schooner fashion: fore and main following the usage of the watermen who employed them first) in a breeze below that 15-knot threshold.
Heavy air arrived for the Myers Heritage Regatta at Tred Avon Yacht Club on Saturday, August 23. After a tough morning race, canoes returned to a building breeze in the afternoon. Three canoes capsized or suffered race-ending rig damage. Amid all the carnage, Island Blossom took the gun, ensuring a first-place finish where every other canoe owed them time on handicap. Rooted in tradition, the canoes use a rudimentary handicap system based only on hull length and breadth and fixed since the 19th century at six seconds per foot per mile.
The final race of the season, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s Bartlett Cup, revived another 19th-century log canoe racing quirk: the standing start. Canoes lined up to the Miles River Yacht Club bulkhead, sails down, bows anchored out, and sterns tied to—with starts staggered by handicap rating. In this season finale, which is not counted toward the High Point, Mystery took the honors, winning the punch bowl for the first time since 1975.
The log canoe races begin again next season on June 27, 2026, when the water is sufficiently warm. Island Blossom will be defending the title again.
~By Pete Lesher
