THE STATE OF MAINE'S BOATING NEWSPAPER Volume 28 Issue 9 September 2015
PRST STD
US Postage Paid Permit, #65 Brunswick, ME 04011
Maine Coastal News FREE Maine's Lobster Boat Racing Season Comes to an End
WHISTLIN' DIXIE, LA BELLA VITA and TURN THE PAGE heading down the course in the Diesel Free-for-All at Long Island on 15 August. Year in Review All in all this was another great year.
We had new boats, some usual racers with new power, and then we had a visit by the Canadians at Moosabec. Yes, the screaming gasoline engines do turn heads, but it is the close racing that most want to see and we had some of that this year. Two of the best battles were between: LA BELLA VITA and LISA MARIE; MISS KARLEE and WILD WILD WEST.
The number of racers at some events was down a bit: Boothbay was about the same: Rockland was down due to heavy rain; Bass Harbor was canceled due to rain and heavy winds, rescheduled for after the Moosabec races, and they were down slight- ly; Moosabec was up; Stonington was up; Friendship had taken last year off, changed their date to Sunday and got a little better turn out; Winter Harbor was down; Long Island was about the same; and Pemaquid and Portland were both down slightly as they were scheduled on the same day. Two races were canceled this year, Searsport and Harpswell. Searsport has just a handful of fi shermen in their harbor and with the race scheduled on Saturday the attendance had remained low. Over the years Keith and Travis Otis had tried everything they could to make it more successful, but nothing seemed to work. Harpswell had problems fi nding help so they decided not to hold their races.
There were a number of new boats that showed up this year. There was: Ryan Geel’s CALEB & BRAYDEN [Wayne Beal 46; 750-hp John Deere]; Cyrus Sleeper’s CEN- TERFOLD [Muscle Ridge 42, 750-hp John Deere]; Travis Doughty’s CHELSEY ANN BRIELLA [Libby 41; 750-hp FPT]; Jacob Lee’s HAULIN’ ASH [Wesmac SW46; 750-hp FPT]; Genevieve Kurilec’s HEL- LO DARLIN’ II [Holland 32]; Eric Beal’s JENNA MARIE [Northern Bay 36; 610-hp Cummins]; Arnold Francis’ KIM CELESTE [Calvin Beal 44, 1,000-hp MAN]; Roman Jordan’s KYRSTAL E. [Osmond 40; 750- hp FPT]; James Tripps’ OUTER FALL [47’ John’s Bay Boat; 803-hp Caterpillar]; Justin Philbrook’s REVERENCE [Wesmac SW46; 1000-hp Caterpillar]; and Troy Alley’s STRIKE 3 [Alley 24; 200-hp Chev- rolet]. (If you have been forgot let me know.) The big winner this year has to be
Shawn Alley’s LITTLE GIRLS [28’ Calvin Beal Jr.; 514Ford]. Last year he lost an engine at Rockland and went the rest of the season with a borrowed one. Over the winter he put in another new engine and consistent-
ly won his class, Gasoline Free-for-All and Fastest Lobster Boat races. His only defeat came at the hands of the Canadian boat DODGE IT.
One boat that was fun to watch was
Cameron Crawford’s WILD WILD WEST, who found a little bit more speed this year. Last year they came out and were just getting beat by Roger Kennedy’s WHISKEY-TAN- GO-FOXTROT at about 50 mph. This year there was more smoke early in a race, but once that cleared you can see her get down and go. She was clocked at over 50 mph, and one has to wonder could they get a few more mph and challenge the diesel record held by Alfred Osgood’s STARLIGHT EXPRESS? Another great battle was between Gary
Genthner’s LISA MARIE [Libby 34; 690- hp FTP] and Jeff Eaton’s LA BELLA VITA [Northern Bay 38; 750-hp FPT] in Diesel Class K. They faced off at Stonington, Friendship, and Winter Harbor with LA BELLA VITA winning each class race by no more than a boat length.
There was a lot of anticipation about Ed Shirley’s MISS KARLEE [Mitchell Cove
The above article is a summary of our newsletters. For those looking for additional coverage, "Maine Coastal News" produces a newsletter after each race, which has indepth coverage and lots of colour photographs of each race. Also follow us on Facebook: friend - Jon Johansen To sign up for newsletter send us an e-mail at:
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Lobster Boat Racing Newsletters C o n t e n t s
Publisher's Note Calendar of Events
SONNY Wins Ames Cup Obituaries: Leavitt and Moy US Navy News
4 4 5 6 7
Waterfront News
Jensen's LNG Tug MMA News
Transatlantic Race NYYC wins Morgan Cup
9 9
10 10
Commercial Fishing News DMR News
Misc. Commercial Fishing News Lobster Boat Race Results
11 12 20
Maritime History
History from the Past Classifi ed Ads
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32], which over the winter was repowered. This work was done at Johnson’s Boat Yard on Long Island and an early report said that she was doing 50 mph. However at Booth- bay she was only clocked in the mid-40s. They hoped changing the propeller would help, and it did a little. They won a number of races, but she was not the dominate boat they thought she would be.
For me, the highlight was the visit by the Canadians, which really seemed to be the reason for the increased number of boats and spectators at Moosabec. They were here for just one reason and that was to face-off against Galen Alley’s FOOLISH PLEA- SURE [30’ Custom Riley Beal; 712 Ford]. Their boat can do 67 mph, Galen has been clocked over 70 mph, but unfortunately the race ended anticlimactically when FOOL- ISH PLEASURE went dead in the water with a blower issue. There was no one that could seriously challenge them, but they still put on a show. They have also said that maybe another two boats will come over next year to race.
Some racers were missing the most not-
ed was Galen Alley’s LORNA R. [30’ Riley Beal; 496 Chevrolet], due to an engine issue; and D&L Boatworks’ CRY BABY [25’ D&L BW, 292 Chevrolet], due to personal issues. Hopefully they both are back next year. The downside to racing has been for a
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