Over the past two weekends Maine’s lobster boat racing circuit has seen some good old-fashioned engine screaming, bow-to-bow races, first at Stonington and then at Friendship.
Jeff Eaton's La Bella Vita (Northern Bay 38, 750-hp FPT) overtakes Gerry Genthner’s the Lisa Marie (Libby 34, 690-hp FPT). Jon Johansen photo.At the July 12 Stonington races, 113 boats showed up on race day. This is a harbor where there are always some very intense heats. Take the class-K race (701 to 900 horsepower, 28 feet to 39 feet 11 inches) as an example.
Gerry Genthner’s the Lisa Marie (Libby 34, 690-hp FPT) has been the dominant boat in this class, but Jeff Eaton brought his La Bella Vita (Northern Bay 38, 750-hp FPT) to Stonington and everyone knew there this would be a good match up, and so it was. But instead of Lisa Marie prevailing, it was La Bella Vita across the line first, followed by Lisa Marie and then Nick Page’s All Out (Calvin Beal 38, 750-hp John Deere). All Out is a new boat recently launched at SW Boatworks. La Bella Vita’s winning time was 40.2 mph.
But in the Fastest Lobster Boat race, La Bella Vita was up against Little Girls (28-foot Calvin with a new Ford engine) and Wild, Wild West (West 28 with a 1,050-hp Isotta Fraschini). Little Girls took that one, followed by Wild, Wild West and La Bella Vita.
At most of the races there are events for skiffs. That’s where you found the youngest racer of the day at Stonington, seven-year-old Madison Wiberg in Shit Happens, (Holland 14, 25-hp outboard). She guided her skiff down the course and was seen waving to spectators.
At Friendship there were only 33 boats. That was less then normal but it was a foggy day. Lisa Marie and La Bella Vita continued their battles. In the class-K race, both were bow-to-bow coming down the course, with the radar gun getting a reading of 40 mph on the two boats. At the end it was La Bella Vita by half a boat length.
That order was reversed in the diesel free-for-all with Lisa Marie ahead by half a boat length at the finish. In the Fastest Lobster Boat Race, it was close but the order was reversed with La Bella Vita taking it, again by half a boat length.
Galen Alley’s Foolish Pleasure, which has run over 70 mph in the past, continues to have problems. In her class-E race (V-8, over 525 cid, 28 feet and over, superchargers/turbos) at Stonington, Foolish Pleasure was the only boat and ran easily at 50.4 mph. That’s a slow speed for Foolish Pleasure but even that led to engine problems and after the race Alley loaded the boat on a trailer and left.
At Friendship, Alley’s woes continued. Again he took his class at 57 mph, but in the gasoline free-for-all broke a bell housing. Reportedly, he thinks his engine isn’t lined up correctly.
If that gets fixed, there’s a chance he will show up at least at Winter Harbor and maybe Portland, for “Galen does love to put on a show,” says Jon Johansen, president of the Maine Lobster Boat Racing Association.
The next race is July 26 at Harpswell. That’s followed by Winter Harbor on August 8, Long Island on August 15 and finishes on August 16 in Portland.
