Winter Harbor Races:
Big Event and Big Prizes

 

The keyword at the Winter Harbor lobster boat races on August 10th was big. There was the big crowd of spectators, turnout of lobster boat racers, number of prizes and a very big grand prize – a 35-foot Mitchell Cove hull.

No one was surprised that the 10 am start time was moved to 11. The large number of boats registered to race, 175, made for more complicated scheduling and further start delays. But that didn’t prevent the running of some good races.

The weather was spectacular, as was the brief cold shower as the last of the boats were tying up at the wharf after the races. Handing out prizes began on time. There were over 100 prizes with a total value of $45,000 that included custom racing plaques for winners, buckets of hide bait, Stihl chain saws and more. The biggest prize, the 35' foot hull, was valued at $30,000. A lot of sponsors made the Mitchell Cove hull happen.

The winner in the hull drawing was Brian Strout of Milbridge. Strout fishes out of Harrington on the F/V Sunshine Chalet. Only those who registered a boat and completed a race were eligible to participate in the drawing for the hull.

The Winter Harbor race committee last gave away a hull in 2002. Kit Johnson of Winter Harbor won a Duffy 32' hull, which he finished and named Mr. Lucky – a reference to that 2002 lobster boat race draw and likely a nod to his results at the track in Bangor. Johnson won the Diesel Class B, 235 HP, 32' and over in that boat this year.

In all, thirty races were scheduled. Of those, two had no entrants and a few were combined. But with 175 boats registered and several running in a few races it all made for complicated line-ups and inevitable false starts. There were seven races with eleven or more boats racing. A half dozen or so restarts helped make it a long day on the course for the committee boat.

There were no particular speed records broken, but some big boats turned in high speeds. Jeff Eaton’s La Bella Vita turned in 52 MPH in the combined Diesel Class K & L. Heather Thompson in Gold Digger was clocked at 41.3 MPH in the Diesel Class J.

This season the committee chair Chris Byers said an effort was made to put together a record-breaking list of donations and registered boats. The Mitchell Cove 35 was built by Patrick Feeney, owner/operator of F/V Fraid Knot and the Feeney Boat Shop in Cutler. He donated his labor to the project using building materials donated by Composites One LLC.

The move to make the 2019 Winter Harbor lobster boat races a big event, the 55th year they have been run, was in recognition of Keith Young. Young has been involved in the organizing and promotion of the Winter Harbor lobster boat races for 40 years. He was instrumental in making the annual races a popular event. It is coordinated with the town’s annual lobster festival, crafts fair, parade and fireworks display. Young is retiring this year from the lobster boat race committee.

Visitors in town for one or all of the events drifted down to the town wharf where a few vendors were set up to sell pizza, high-tech life jackets, drinks and the 2019 Winter Harbor Lobster Boat Races – Big Pink T-Shirts. There was a gray option, but pink was in and everywhere.