August 2012 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 5. MAINE COASTAL NEWS CELEBRATES 25 YEARS
This issue celebrates twenty-fi ve years of covering the events, businesses and peo- ple of the coast of Maine. It has been a most enjoyable 25 years, with the usual ups and downs, but I can say I feel satisfaction. Over the years there have been some changes that I wished I had implemented sooner, but as they say hind sight is always 20/20. I have always had a love of boats, some say it is more like an obsession. My fi rst 15 years of life was spent in Mattapoisett, MA. This town has a very interesting maritime history, being known mostly for building the whaling vessels for the port of New Bedford. My grandfather on my father’s side, who died 12 years before I was born, came over from Norway and was a sea cap- tain, mostly running tugs and barges around the mid and upper East Coast. Of course a major infl uence was my father, Robert, who was a draftsman, but enjoyed boating on the weekends. My uncle, Bradford Luther, was a wreck diver and was another major infl uence, not only in boating and maritime history, but also the dedication needed to do a project right. I was also inspired by Alan Vaitses, a boat builder in Mattapoisett, who was writing for “National Fisherman” on boatbuilding.
Unfortunately, my father died of cancer when just 39 years old, so who knows what the path might have been. I ended up at prep school at North Yarmouth Academy in Yarmouth and never left the state. I wished when I graduated I had known more about my maritime options, like Maine Maritime Academy or the Navy.
I wrote a lot in high school, mostly creative pieces, but my real interest was medicine. Someone should have wacked me upside the head. I studied pre-med at the University of Maine, but a family came along. I worked in the medical fi eld at East- ern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where I met John Cayford who was a published author, mostly historical topics. He further sparked my interest. “Maine Coastal News” was born out of an idea I had when working as a free-lance writer for the Bangor Daily News back in the mid-1980s. They dragged their feet and I went out and purchased a computer publishing system from IBM. My fi rst issue appeared in the middle of August 1987. It was modeled after the old “Maine Coast Fisherman” and covered all aspects of the waterfront. It was published twice a month with the idea of getting the news out quicker. It was good that I was young since I did everything myself. This meant a lot of time running from Kittery to Eastport and many remember the Jeep I put over 607,000 miles on. Over the 25 years I have done more than two million miles. However, when looking back publishing twice a month was a mistake since there was no time to really cover the numerous events taking place or
just taking the time to talk and learn the intricate details of the coast.
Early on I realized articles needed to be accurate and I taped all the interviews I did. Fortunately, almost all of these have been saved and should be a great resource in the future.
Over the years I have shot a lot of photo- graphs, probably more than 50,000 images. I have saved them all, most in binders, but as of yet, no index. Photographs give the reader a better visual idea of the subject, better than trying to develop the image in their mind. I have tried to remain conscious of documenting photographically things that will not be documented and saved by others. I did not shoot as much as I would have liked. Due to a tough schedule on the road, I missed events I really should have been at. My biggest mistake is not doing more photographs of people. I mostly shot boats, but the people are a major part of the overall image. I still use fi lm, which is just a little bit behind the times. I have thought about switching to digital, but was told that it would cost me the same, plus the equipment would be several thousand dollars. The only real downside is not having the photographs instantly.
In the early 1990s, there were some changes. I thought expanding to “New England Coastal News” would be a good idea. Bigger was not better, it only spread me thinner. I almost sold out, but instead I regrouped, went back to “Maine Coastal News” and published 18 times a year, twice a month from April to September and once a month October to March. Several years ago I changed to once a month and made the newspaper free. Of all the changes these two were very important. Distribution since then has more than doubled, and the extra time allows me to do a much better job. When looking back over the years there are a lot of great memories. The people have been incredible and fun and it is sad to note that some of them have passed on. No matter what your maritime interest is there is someone on this coast that can offer a lot more information on that subject. What is obvious I should have done much more to document what they knew because all that was not documented is gone for good. One area that has been especially enjoy- able is documenting the boatbuilders. Not only writing and photographing what they are doing, but also what they have done. Years ago I realized that at least a third of this history is gone. Some might have been documented in obscure places, but searching it out is going to be extremely time consum- ing.
The events I have been at have been equally enjoyable. Early on we did a lot with yacht racing, but over the years that cover-
Sometimes your job means spending the day sailing on the bay. What can be more fun?
age has switched to lobster boat racing. I have been covering lobster boat racing since 1988 when I attended my fi rst race at Moose- bec Reach. Back in 1999, I computerized the sign-up procedures making it easier on each
venue. In 2007, I took over as president of the Maine Lobster Boat Racing Association, which has been nothing short of a good time
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