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Nearly 200 boats hit the water in western Prince Edward Island on Saturday for a lobster fishing contest honouring an Island teen who died in a boating accident in 2020.
The Hutch Memorial Cup saw a record number of boats from LFA-25 take part in the annual lobster fishing contest, dedicated to the memory of Alex Hutchinson.
“It means everything to us,” said Alex’s father Darren Hutchinson, who took part in Saturday’s competition, launching from Howard’s Cove.
“Alex, he just loved fishing, everything about it. He had hoped to have his own gear one day.”
Alex and his friend Ethan Reilly, both 17, tragically died in September 2020 after their boat capsized in Cascumpec Bay off the coast of Northport.
The A&E Legacy Foundation was established in the year following their deaths, raising money for youth sports programs in western P.E.I.
The foundation has hosted the Hutch Memorial Cup since 2021, where local fishers compete to catch the biggest lobster. Prizes were offered for the largest overall catch as well as the biggest lobster caught at each wharf.
Hutchinson said he wasn’t surprised by the amount of support the fundraising event received this year.
“From the get-go when we started this, there was great interest and everybody was willing to support it,” he told CBC News. “[Alex] would think it’s great.”
Fishers paid $75 to take part in the sixth edition of the cup this year. Joey Dumville, co-chair of the A&E Legacy Foundation, estimated that this year’s event would raise around $15,000 for local sporting events, with about 195 boats participating.
He said nearly all the boats that fish in the area took part, estimating that around 200 boats fish out of LFA-25.
“Each year we seem to get an extra few,” Dumville told CBC News in West Point on Saturday.
“I’m very proud of where we come from, we might be a little rough around the edges sometimes, but … we’re there when people need us most.”
Dumville said he used to coach both Alex and Ethan in hockey, calling them “wonderful kids.” He noted the foundation hosts other fundraising events throughout the year, including an ATV rally in honour of Ethan.
Chandler Wood fished out of Howard’s Cove during this year’s Hutch Memorial Cup. While he was on the water, he said his mind was on Alex.
“This place was his second home and fishing was his whole life,” he told CBC News on Saturday. “To be able to do this for him today, it means a lot.”
Wood said he and his brother grew up playing hockey with Alex and Ethan.
“Not a day we don’t think about them,” he said. “Their memory lives on through us every day.”
