THE STATE OF MAINE'S BOATING NEWSPAPER Volume 27 Issue 10 October 2014
PRST STD
US Postage Paid Permit, #65 Brunswick, ME 04011
Maine Coastal News FREE
Shawn Alley's LITTLE GIRLS, looking good at what she does best, win!
The lobster boat race season is over for the 2014 and now racers are waiting for the awards banquet at Hollywood Casino in Bangor on 25 October. The annual meeting will be held fi rst and there are no changes are expected to made to either the rules or the classes. This will be followed by a happy few hours, dinner, and awards, lobster boat racing is not just about the racing. For many, lobster boat racing is about the excitement on the course, which can get very interesting as we saw this year. Howev- er to me there is something much more valu- able, the history, both of the racing, but more importantly, the boats. At every event for the last 15 years I have been documenting each boat that competes. I need only the boat’s length and engine horsepower to fi gure out what class they should compete in however I have added several other questions to fi ll in more useful information on the boats racing for a more complete historical perspective. Taking this one step further and I can tell you what each boat has done over the years as to fi nish and speeds. I even fi gured out who was the top boat in each class as to speed.
Let us take Shawn Alley’s LITTLE GIRLS, which has created quite a name for herself every time she has been on the race course. She is a 28-foot wooden boat built by Calvin Beal, Jr. of Beals Island in 1981, originally named LITTLE GIRL. When she was launched she was powered with a 455
Oldsmobile. Last winter Shawn powered her with a 514 Ford and at the Boothbay races she did really well winning 1st Class D, 1st
Wooden Boat Race, 1st Free-for-All and 1st
in Gasoline Gasoline
Fastest Lobster Boat
with a top speed of 49.7 mph. Unfortunately, in her fi rst race at Rockland the engine let go. Shawn was able to put together another Ford engine, albeit smaller cubic inch, and get back out for the Moosabec Reach races, but it did not have as much power. He had the old engine out of the Dana Beal’s LITTLE DARLIN’ and then just put the parts from the blown engine on it so as to increase the horsepower. He knew this was a chance and constantly worried that he might not make it through a day of racing. However he did win Gasoline Class D and the Woodenboat Race for the year. One should also take note how well she looks, because Shawn has done a great job in making her look great, inside and out.
Maybe the most talked about incident in lobster boat racing was when LITTLE GIRL hit the bridge between Beals Island and Jonesport before the races in 1981. In this incident a baby went over the side into the water and someone noticed something white beneath the waves and dove in retrieving the baby, who fortunately suffered no injuries. What I am lacking is a complete history as to her owner’s and the years owned, any changes and her early racing history. She was also used as a mould and the history of
CRABBY II is a Mitchell Cove 20 powered with a 50-hp Yamaha.
that and the boats laid up from it would also be interesting.
Presently I have over 2,200 racers listed and this does not include boats under 24 feet in length. I would not dare estimate all the boats that have raced over the years, but more importantly this needs to be expanded to include all lobster boats. That means go- ing from harbor to harbor listing every boat and talking to older fi shermen and fi nding out the boats they owned.
Going back to those under 24 feet, the C o n t e n t s
Publisher's Note Calendar of Events
Richard Stanley Moves Yacht Racing News U. S. Navy News
4 4 5 6
7-8 Waterfront News Apprenticeshop News Commercial Fishing News DELA Director's Report 10
Newport International Boat Show 9 Passed Over the Bar
9 9
DELA Minutes Canadian Fishing News
Misc. Commercial Fishing News Maine DMR News Boat Yard News
Hodgdon Yacht News
11 11 12 13 14 15
Correction Right Photos of TWIST 19 Maritime History
History from the Past Classifi ed Ads
21-26 26-31
mosquito boats, they are just as important. However, many of the racers in these classes are not true lobster boats so those have to be sorted out. Many harbors have a number of these smaller boats fi shing from them and they should not be forgotten.
Another facet that needs to be included is photographs of as many boats, whether currently fi shing or gone to the great boat yard in the sky, as possible.
So, need a project and want to help, let me know!
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31