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In high gearMaine lobster boats rev up to push their limitsJONESPORT, Maine -- On one Fourth of July, Moosabec Reach was enveloped in pea-soup fog. Then the sun streamed through the clouds just in time for the lobster boats. Why Knot, Chip Ahoy, Lotta Money, and Flying Toothpick thundered down the strait separating the Down East Maine towns of Beals Island and Jonesport. The weather kept getting better, making the Independence Day parade with its "Bite of the Century" float (complete with boxers lampooning the 1997 Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield fight), pretty-baby contest, horseshoe-pitching, and other festivities a success.
The "Moosabec World's Fastest Lobster Boat Races" in Jonesport are among seven official lobster boat races held every summer along the Maine coast. The circuit kicks into gear mid-June in Boothbay Harbor and moves through Jonesport, Stonington, Harpswell, Friendship, and Winter Harbor before wrapping up Aug. 22 in the midcoast town of Searsport. A nonpoint race is held in Pemaquid Aug. 15. All the races start at 10 a.m. with 24 official classes, ranging from the Fastest Boat Afloat to the Gas-Powered Free-For-All. Contenders accrue points over the series, which culminates with an awards ceremony and pig roast Sept. 25 in Searsport. Past prizes have included a peck of clams, fuel, topsoil, manure, car battery, boat hull, bottom paint, pot hauler, and a trip to the Caribbean. In these seaport towns, there are no official spectator boats. Once at the harbor, the best bet is to ask locals where the best viewing is. Some Mainers take their own craft out and don't mind taking a few visitors along to watch. Arvid and Arvin Young, 64, have competed in the annual races for decades. The identical twins and their 6-foot-4-inch brother, Colby (they call him "Twin Towers"), jointly own Young Brothers and Co., which builds working lobster boats and pleasure craft, in the village of Corea. "It's just a Down East tradition. We would race scows if we had to," declared Arvin Young, who plans to race his 45-foot lobster boat, Tenaru River, Aug. 14 at Winter Harbor. Arvid plans to enter his vessel, Ticonderoga, too. Over in the Deer Isle town of Stonington, veteran racer Andrew Gove, 74, anxiously awaited news of his 900-horsepower, E-9 Mack engine. The mechanic's prognosis would determine whether he would race his lobster boat, Uncle's UFO, last weekend in Boothbay Harbor or anywhere for that matter. "They may quarantine me," Gove chuckled, referring to the bulldog logo emblazoned on the side of his ailing Mack engine. Gove, who holds the current record of 51.3miles per hour for the fastest diesel-powered working lobster boat, has raced for 20 years. He says the sport keeps him on his toes, and gives him fresh ideas for staying at the top of the fishing game and making Uncle's UFO more efficient for hauling his 800 lobster traps. Continued... |
