Page 24. MAINE COASTAL NEWS August 2014 The Best Racing We've Seen in Years! lot of entrants.
Lobster boat racing has been blessed this year with great weather, we had bright sunshine and a cool sea breeze. The entrants began signing up just before 0800 and were still coming in two hours later. When sig- nups were done we had 107 boats entered. There were a number of new boats that
showed up. Carroll Staples of Swan’s Island sold
Continued from Page 23. CHIX DIG IT and NEVER ENOUGH in tight battle at the Moosabec Reach races.
they always do. * * * * *
a problem with oil pressure. So just WTF came down the course for the win. What a great day of racing. Now it was onto Stonington and one can be guaranteed that this will have an incredible turn out as
STONINGTON – There is no question that the biggest event of the lobster boat racing season is Stonington races. This year the big prize was a 14-foot Carolina Skiff with a Yamaha outboard and that was drawing a
70 Memories: Building the Newman 32 Continued from Page 15.
any awfully small boat on that big ocean. However, we fi nished it to specs, of which there were virtually none, other than “NO WOOD” and he took off in MISS BERTHA (named for his grandmother) with another friend. Wasn’t long, perhaps a week, when we get a phone call. “Overseas Operator”. “Can you get in touch with GM/Detroit. We’re broken down with engine trouble (on some forgotten island) and need help.” I immediately got on the phone and the deal- er in Maine set up a plan with their higher echelons and Detroit fl ew two mechanics out to the island with parts where they re- built the engine in place, in the forward cabin, in that terrifi c heat, and got Bob on his way within a week. Last I heard, which was a few years back, the boat was still op- erating.
By then, with just three of us doing the “32s,” we could complete a workboat or simple pleasure boat in about thirty cal- endar days. With everything clicking, we’d have the hull and engine, tanks, seacocks, all the underwater gear completed within a week. Platform would be picked up in the morning and fastened in place by the afternoon and we’d go back for the super- structure in the afternoon and have that in place ready for the next day. Several times, I remember John Kelley with one other on crew and I working late and we’d have the superstructure secured permanently in place before we left. It was great fun and personally rewarding. Could step back at the end of the day and see the shop and we personally had created something. One year, fi fteen in the crew, and we built fi fteen boats from workboats to fi ne yachts. Those were the days!!
The Man Behind WTF Continued from Page 7.
is a fantastic motor company to deal with. We really grew a lot with the Cummins and FTP products. Now we have grown to have another product, which is the MAN. We just took that one on a couple of months ago and we have one going in a 44 Calvin coming out of S. W. Boatworks’ shop here in the next couple of months.”
Kennedy Marine Engineering does most of their work from Blue Hill all the way to Eastport. They sometimes go farther, but that is a challenge. He explained, “I really pride myself on the service side of taking care of the boats and taking care of the cus- tomer. I try to stay as local as I can to keep the service as good as I can.”
The past few seasons have been very good business-wise. Roger did remember the down-turn in ’08 saying “We were prob- ably a thread away from being out of busi- ness. I am not like others where I have been in business for so long that I own everything. I am paying Bar Harbor Bank every month. So when things slow down things get tight, but we have been fortunate the last few years because things have been very profi table.” As for changes, nothing is planned. In 2007 Roger built his big boat shop, which is the machine shop and has two work bays. The main building, housing the offi ce, parts room and two work bays burned in 2010
and that was replaced within months. Roger added, “Then last year I bought the property next door and turned that building into a fi berglass shop. So now we can fi berglass. I would rather not have a piece of fi berglass or resin on the property, but unfortunately it is a necessary evil. You’ve got to have one to have the other with a fi berglass boat. We have defi nitely broadened our horizons the last couple of years and done a lot more big projects that involve more of the fabrication side of boatbuilding, which I thoroughly enjoy. Building the boat I built was the most fun thing I have done in the last two or three years. It is different than just wrenching every day. You actually get to use a little creativity and put your own twist on some- thing.”
Racing takes a lot of hard work and Roger said he takes his hat off to all those that have done it year in and year out. He added, “It’s worth it. We are getting a lot more recognition and notoriety than ever. I have people that I have never even talked to before come up to me and say “You have the WHISKEY-TANGO-FOXTROT?” So obviously it is good for business.” There is no question that WHIS-
KEY-TANGO-FOXTROT has turned heads on the race course. Roger is having a great time racing , and what better form of adver- tising is there than an engine builder who can win races?
MOTIVATION [Duffy 37; 900-hp Mack] and purchased AGE QOUN AGIS, which is a Dixon 45, 800-hp Caterpillar. He entered her in the Novi Race. Another change in the Novi Race was Jared Gove of Deer Isle, who sold his Webber’s Cove 34 DOUGH BOY and purchased a 32-foot Novi, 225-hp John Deere, which is also DOUGH BOY. In the John’s Bay Boat Company race there were several new boats signed up. Adam Eaton of Stonington signed up his TWILIGHT, a 40-footer with a 425-hp John Deere. Ben Weed of Deer Isle entered EMMA & ANDREW, a 44-footer built in 2013. Ben Nutter of Brooklin signed up ACADIA, a 40-footer with a 375-hp 3208 Caterpillar. Isaac Dworsky of Stonington entered WHISTLER, a 36-footer with a 435- hp Caterpillar. The newest of the John’s Bay Boats was Ryan Larrabee’s RESOLUTE, a 46-footer with an 800-hp C18 Caterpillar, which was launched this spring. In Gasoline Class A, Jeremy Eaton of Deer Isle entered DOUBLE TROUBLE, a 24-footer with a 6 cylinder Chevrolet. Ben Hardie of Stonington sold his Novi
MAYHEM and purchased a Crowley 32, a Crowley 28 stretched, with a 210-hp Cum- mins. She would be racing in Diesel Class B. Ronald Eaton has had a number of boats over the years and this year he has a Crow- ley 33, 225-John Deere named GLORY BOUND. She would run in Diesel Class B. In Diesel Class D, Robin Dunham entered SAMATHA ERIN, a Duffy 35, 315-hp Cummins. In Diesel Class E, Chad Frazier of Stonington entered JERICHO, a Mitchell Cove 32, 350-hp Cummins. In Diesel Class F, we had six new boats signed up, they were: Peter McDonald of North Haven brought over BONNIE MAC, Wayne Beal 36, 430- hp Cummins; HEY CAP’, a Harrison 35,
430-hp Cummins, was entered by Larry Spencer of Stonington; Jamie Hardy of Deer Isle signed up MISS JOANN, an Osmond 35, 430-hp Cummins; Josh Gove of Deer Isle entered SEA WITCH, a BHM 36, 375- hp John Deere; Ethan Turner of Deer Isle entered SOUTHEASTER, a South Shore 34, 355-hp Cummins; and James Jones of Stonington signed up TSUNAMI, a Morgan Bay 36 (a modifi ed Repco 37), 410-hp Sisu. Brett Coleman’s sold his 37-foot Arthur Rackliffe built boat BACK IN BLACK and bought a RP 35, 400-Cummins, keeping the same name, which placed him in Diesel Class F. Carl Gray of Deer Isle sold his BHM 31 and purchased a Crowley 36, 450-hp Cummins, both named TURN THE PAGE, and would race in Diesel Class H. In Diesel Class J, Andrew Eaton of Deer Isle entered SHOCKAH, an Osmond 38, 575-hp Scania. And fi nally there were two new entrants in Diesel Class M: Ethan Whittaker of Goulds- boro signed up CARPE DIEM, a Dixon 45, 750-hp John Deere; and Ben Hatch of Deer Isle brought over LYNSEY RENAE, a Wesmac 42, 600-hp Lugger. Richard Bu- bay of Stonington sold MASTER MYLES [Webber’s Cove 34, 255-hp John Deere] and purchased a Young Brothers 40 with a 405-hp Cummins and kept the same name. She would race in Diesel Class M. There were also a few changes noted. In
the Novi Class Wesley Gove entered SHE- NANIGANS, formerly his JENNIE G., and noted a new engine, a 235-hp Volvo. David Grant’s EASY MONEY [Northern Bay 28; 218-hp Sisu] made it out for the fi rst time this year. For the last 2 years she has competed in Diesel Class A, but they changed her horse- power from 218 to 300, which forced her up to Diesel Class C. Danny Eaton of Deer Isle repowered his JUSTIN TIME II, an At- lantic 26. She now has a 270-hp FPT, which put him in Diesel Class C. Calvin Bray of Sargentville repowered STILL WAITING [Crowley 36] with a 330-hp John Deere. She was now in Diesel Class D. HYPOCRITE, a Duffy 35 owned by Justin Boyce of Ston- ington, was repowered with a 370-hp Volvo and that put her in Diesel Class F. One boat that everyone expected to see was Alfred Osgood’s STARLIGHT EX-
D. E. L. A.'s Minutes for 8 May Meeting Continued from Page 11.
in Maine” and download the book that introduces the project. There is also a Maine Seaweed Festival in Portland in the summer. It was also asked how it is eaten. You soak and hydrate the dried product and use it like a vegetable. It has a great amount of health benefi ts such as a good source of iodine. Mike gave a report of the dredge project in the Penobscot Bay. The research is under way in the Penobscot River with Carl Wilson and the hired research vessel, F/V FIRST TEAM with Keith and Travis Otis of Searsport. Mike also explained the maintenance and the expansion dredge and the difference between the two projects. One problem that we have with the expansion dredge is the amount of bottom that will be disturbed. This particular area is a prime nursery for our lobster industry. We also need more history on the area where there has been previous dumping which was done in 1964. We should compare these results with New York Harbor and Boston Harbor from the “Big Dig.” An Environmental Impact Study should be done before dredging of this magnitude can be done. It would be better is the port for import/ export was done in Eastport. The availability of using rail would be better and more accessible, also. “They say that the fi shery
will come back after this dredge has been done….Who are they? State vs. Federal. Terry Savage asked how the
Commissioner’s meetings went. Latency was a big subject at the meetings. Elimination of all of the Big Boats was discussed again, which was said to be a bizarre thing. This subject isn’t much different from the meetings of the year before. “Off shore guys, inshore guys” please communicate and stay in your zone, was another subject for the Commissioner’s meetings. The zones should be for voting and not made to provide fi shing boundaries. We discussed Fishermen’s Day in Stonington, sponsored by the Island Fishermen’s Wives Association. This will be their 25th
Anniversary this year. If anyone has a suggestion for our booth this year, please let Sheila know. D.E.L.A. plans to attend and man a booth again this year with our merchandise, hats, T-shirts, fl yers and share with Atlantic Insurance & Benefi ts of Belfast and the Spencer Agency of Deer Isle. It was decided to have an update meeting in July. The next meeting will be Thursday July 10th
– location will be decided and notice will be given.
Meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Sheila H. Dassatt, Executive Director
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