May 2010 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 21.
Lobster Boat Racing Meeting Sinks to New Low
The Maine Lobster Boat Racing Asso- ciation (MLBRA) held their usual spring meeting at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum on 6 March. This meeting went over the rule changes and discuss any other issues. Jon Johansen, president of MLBRA, opened by reading the Treasurer’s Report. He followed this with the announcement that Motor Services Hugo Stamp would again be the primary sponsor for a third year. He also said that Mack Boring will come on board as a sponsor of the program at $2,000. The members were then asked to choose
between two different photographs, one of the car boat and the other of MS. ROSE and DOUBLE G, for this year’s poster. The major- ity chose MS. ROSE and DOUBLE G. It was also agreed to eliminate the large posters, since that would save the organization about $1,000 and they were not as popular as the smaller ones.
Then came a discussion on the rules. It was asked that racers abide by the rules of the road when transiting through anchorages and around the harbor. It was also said that last year we voted that all boats must have a
OCEAN PURSUITS
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and start a family.
Asked why he never tried to buy a schooner in the local windjammer fleet, he said, “I did, I tried to buy the ADVENTURE from Jim Sharp. There were a couple of others I looked at, but it never worked out. At the time nobody was selling them, that was their heyday.”
At this point Bill began doing sub work at various yards around the area. He added, “In all of the boats that I have been on, I always enjoyed the shipyard period.” Bill specializes in electrical systems, but this was something that he picked up over the years. He even took classes on the subject. Even though they are a full service yard, he said, “We try to specialize in the electrical systems. We also do custom electrical pan- els.”
Bill played a role in the develop- ment of the joy stick on the Hinckley
Coastal
Boatworks
Continued from Page 6.
clear that the product has value as a resource long after its first appli- cation. High Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE) products like benches, and decking are made out of the re- cycled Low Density Poly Ethylene shavings from the shrinkwrap ma- terial. We’ve been 12 years getting this ball rolling and our ultimate goal is to see every piece of shrinkwrap in the state of Maine recycled. It does not belong in the waste stream any more than milk and soda bottles. If your town has no protocal for recycling shrinkwrap give us a call, we’ll be glad to help.”
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jet boats. Back in the early 1990s he was working on electrical panels in his living room and metal shards where all over the floor, which was not a good idea with a little one running around so he realized he had to get the panels out of the house. Bill explained, “That is actually how this place came about. I talked to a commercial broker and he said ‘we’ve got this great piece of property on the water.’ I said ‘That’s not necessarily what I want.’ He said ‘no you really want to look at this piece of property. It was like you couldn’t say no. We weren’t really looking to start a boatyard it sort of came upon us.’ His work with the Hinckley Company on the sticks, panels and wiring harnesses gave him the money to purchase the property and slowly the company grew.
One never knows where life will take them, just ask Jodie and Bill.
kill switch and this will be enforced this year. At the Awards Banquet it was announced that each racing venue and the MLBRA offi- cials will determine whether Gasoline Class D will run if conditions are an issue. Then came the issue of running alcohol. Alcohol will not be allowed, except in Gaso- line Class D. This precipitated a huge argu- ment from Bruce Engert, who said that this had not been voted on at the Award’s Ban- quet. Johansen pointed out that alcohol was not approved for any other classes. However it was asked at the Banquet what about Gaso- line Class D and it was explained that they are the modified class and that anything goes. This did not stop the arguing, especially between Engert and Galen Alley. It got so loud that security was brought in. Engert said that there was a collusion between Johansen and Alley and that Johansen should resign. Engert kept asking for a vote, but Johansen kept explaining that no rules are to be changed at the spring meeting. Finally after about five minutes of heated discussion it ended as read, no alcohol in any class but Gasoline Class D.
The next subject raised was that we need to rethink the rules to insure that the boats racing are lobster boats. It is hoped that a rules committee be formed, made up of some
of the older racers and boatbuilders to ensure that we do not lose our focus.
Johansen then suggested that we elimi- nate some classes and the major reason was to lessen the cost to race venues. In the Work Boat Classes it was suggested that there only be three classes: 0 to 30; 31 to 75; 75 and over. This was agreed to by those venues in atten- dance. It was also suggested that hydro- planes and go-fast boats be eliminated and Erick Blackwood, representing Jonesport, said that they have already done this. No changes were suggested for the gasoline classes. In the diesel classes it was sug- gested that we combine classes: A and B; C and D; E and F; K and L. A long discussion took place and in the end this was not ap- proved. It was then asked whether boats over 40 feet should be allowed to race anywhere or only in 40-foot classes. A motion was made and now they can only race in the 40 foot classes M and N.
Several people wanted to revisit the kill switch issue. They thought this ruling would cause us to lose entrants. There was discus- sion on the fact that this was a safety issue. It was thought that we should only enforce this in the go-fast boats, ones that go over 50 mph. A motion was made and this was ap- proved. Then the meeting was adjourned.
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