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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 1
September 2005
Friendship, Harpswell, Pemaquid all roll, Fog nixes Winter Harbor
PEMAQUID HARBOR, ME - The final curtain won’t close on the 2005 Maine lobster boat racing season quite as soon as had been planned, and Searsport won’t be the final act, since Aug. 13 came off as what could easily be Downeast Maine’s foggiest day of the summer so far.
Dungeon-like conditions forced race planners to postpone the Winter Harbor race until Sunday, Aug. 28, the weekend after Searsport’s event, which will make Winter Harbor host to the season finale.
Pemaquid rolls
Skies were brighter, if not completely dry, however on Sunday, Aug. 14, allowing the Merritt Brackett Memorial races to run as scheduled at Pemaquid Harbor.
“We had a good day for it,” reported Pemaquid race organizer Laurie Crane. “The races went off with a bang – a big bang, in fact,” said Crane, referring to the surprise appearance of former US President George H.W. Bush, who motored up from Walker’s Point for the day aboard his “cigarette-style” speedboat.
There was no advance notice of the ex-president’s visit.
“The first thing to make us aware that something out of the ordinary was happening was a group of big, black Zodiacs with US Secret Service written on their sides seen entering the harbor,” said Crane.
The inflatables, joined by US Coast Guard craft, were escorting Bush’s boat, making sure other boats gave wide berth as it made its way to a spot near the finish line. The former president was reportedly in port to visit with an old friend, Pemaquid resident Jack Fitch, and to take part in a lobster feed with some 200 other guests.
The Bush party remained at Pemaquid during the running of most of the races.
“About the time we were starting the free-for-alls, the Coast Guard called for clearance for him to leave. And when he left, he really let her rip,” said Crane. “He just wailed out of that harbor, putting on quite a show. The Secret Service boats were having all they could do to keep up with him,” she said.
Getting to see the former president and his boat were the icing on the cake for the large crowd of spectators and approximately 70 entrants in the Merritt Brackett races.
Though showers threatened, they held off for the most part. “It rained for only about 20 minutes all through the races,” said Crane. “That was when we ran in our race (Race 6 aboard Don Drisko’s Merganser), and I got wet riding in the cockpit. But that, and a little sprinkle just as we were getting ready for the awards, was all the rain we had. We were fortunate,” she concluded.
Pemaquid is a non-points race as far as season standings are concerned, and features its own unique brand of race divisions that often include boats that don’t normally run against each other.
For example, Sid Eaton’s Kimberly Belle (Class F), Todd Ritchie’s Seacock (Class I), and Bill Grant’s Gladiator (Class G) all wound up racing against each other in Pemaquid’s Race 10, finishing in that order.
This, plus a reputation for generous cash prizes, makes Pemaquid one of the year’s most popular races and gives competitors a change of pace from the routines of the points challenge.
Speaking of cash prizes, the $1,000 bounty for the first boat to set a new diesel speed record at Pemaquid went unclaimed and uncontested for yet another season this year.
What might have been
If thick fog hadn’t put the kibosh on racing, some new diesel speed records might have been written at Winter Harbor the previous day.
The ingredients were all in place.
Andrew Gove from Stonington was there in Uncle’s UFO. David Osgood from Vinalhaven was there in Starlight Express.
Gove set Maine lobster boat racing’s long-standing diesel record of 53.5 mph in Uncle’s UFO at Winter Harbor back in 1999. Osgood broke that record earlier this season, posting a reading of 55.2 mph in Starlight Express (but finishing second to Uncle’s UFO, which had gotten away from the start more quickly) at Stonington on July 17.
Fans and fellow racers at Winter Harbor were eagerly awaiting a rematch. While waiting on the weather before the races were called off, David Osgood was asked if the Starlight Express was there to beat Uncle’s UFO, to which he replied, “Well, they took her out for a run last evening and they all had smiles on their faces when they came back in. That’s all I’m going to say about that.”
But the postponement of the race left everyone still in suspense as to what the outcome will be when and if these two Mack-powered Northern Bay 36s finally meet again on the same race course.
On Sunday, Uncle’s UFO showed up at Pemaquid, but Starlight Express did not. Gove won all his races, with a fastest time of 47 mph. “We tried to give away $1,000, but nobody really tried for it,” remarked organizer Laurie Crane.
For a complete report of Pemaquid race winners, please refer to the results box co-sponsored by AccuTech Propeller and North Atlantic Power Products.
The fog watch at Winter Harbor was long and tedious for race officials. The fog was thick, but the mood was optimistic at 8:30 am, with local prognosticators predicting “she’ll burn off in a bit.”
Race committee chairman Keith Young set a tentative “go/no-go” deadline of 11 am and continued to register arriving boats. Registration numbers were down a bit, but more than 50 boats were signed up to race and most everyone wanted to get the races in as scheduled, if conditions would allow.
When 11 am rolled around, it was still not clear enough to race safely, but it had brightened up considerably, so everyone agreed to hang tight and Young set 1 pm as his drop-dead cut-off time.
But by 12:30, the tide had turned, the wind shifted, and conditions took a major turn for the worse. Young threw in the towel, and after a poll of the other race officials and racers who were present, initially set Aug. 27 for the make-up date. That was later changed to Sunday Aug. 28, which is now the firm run date, weather permitting.
In the points chase
Points competitions were held in Friendship on July 30 and Harpswell on July 31, bringing the 2005 overall season standings into sharper focus in several classes.
By Maine Lobster Boat Racing Association (MLBRA) rules, there are seven points races throughout the season. To be considered for post-season awards, a boat must have competed in a minimum of three of these races; and can count the points from only its best five finishes. Ten points are awarded for each first place, nine for second, and so on in descending order.
Among the local, non-points contests at Friendship, Arnold Benner’s Becky Jean defended its title as the fastest boat in the Friendship Fleet. At Harpswell, Bob Dyer’s The Dream took fastest boat in Casco Bay honors.
A complete report of all of the Friendship and Harpswell races appear in the results boxes sponsored by Friendship Trap Company (Friendship) and co-sponsored by AccuTech Propeller and Chase Leavitt (Harpswell).
With five races down and two to go, it now appears that uncontested or virtually uncontested championships will be awarded in two gas classes: D&L Boatworks’ Cry Baby in A, and Isaac Beal’s Christopher in C; and four diesel classes: Steve Johnson’s Wild One in K, Andrew Gove’s Uncle’s UFO in N, Wayne Clemons’ Temptation in O, and Dick Hildings’ What’s Left in P.
There have been no entrants yet all season in diesel Class M, and four other classes have had so few entrants as to suggest there may be no awards given for them as well.
Competition remains hot in several diesel classes, however, and will apparently come down to the wire between Travis Otis’ First Team and Jim Minott’s Hooked Up in H; Bill Hallinan’s Apparition II and Skip Young’s Silver Spoon in L; Bill Haass’ Duncan & Blake, Gary Genthner’s Lisa Marie, and Todd Ritchie’s Seacock in I, and Marshall Farnham’s Miss Attitude and Aaron Smith’s Why Knot in D.
It also looks like Howard Gray’s Blue Thunder has a wrap on diesel Class A, as does David Grant’s Venom in C, and Bill Grant’s Gladiator in G.
Several other classes remain up for grabs, depending on who shows up to race in Searsport and Winter Harbor, so there’s plenty of action left to come in the 2005 season – including that small issue between two boats named Starlight Express and Uncle’s UFO.
Stay tuned, CFN will wrap it all up for you in the October issue. In the meantime, log on for results, more photos, and a new racer’s “bulletin board” at <www.lobsterboatracing.com>. /cfn/
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