Ask any lobsterman who enters Maine’s summer races which one he would most like to be at, and Stonington is probably at the top of the list. The race’s organizers always have good prizes. This year it was a Carolina Skiff with an engine, and then there’s the party the night before the Sunday race.
Little Girls leads the WTF, but the WTF won the Fastest Lobstah Boat Afloat at 47.4 mph. Jon Johansen photoThat the party’s reputation extends beyond the lobstering community explains the roadblocks this past Saturday evening and the presence of more than the usual number of Hancock County sheriffs.
But the next day there were no barriers on the water for the more than 100 boats that signed up to race.
Thirty-one events were scheduled for Sunday from a race for skiffs 16 feet and under, powered by an outboard no more than 30 horsepower with a skipper 16 years or younger to the fastest boat afloat races — no age limits on skippers and no horsepower limits.
Robbie Eaton in Making Knots won the skiff race.
The most anticipated races were the diesel and gasoline free-for-alls, followed by the Jimmy Stevens Cup for the fastest working lobster boat and the Fastest Lobstah Boat Afloat.
Andy Gove’s Uncle’s UFO, a Northern Bay 36 with a 900-hp Mack, won the Jimmy Stevens race at 43.7 mph, followed by the Lisa Marie, Blue Eyed Girl and Gramp’s Bird.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, or WTF as it is better known, a 28-foot Northern Bay with a 560-hp Fiat, was first at 47.4 mph in the Fastest Lobstah Boat Afloat race. For part of the race Little Girls, a 28-foot wooden lobster boat, with a 675-hp gasoline engine, was in the lead, but WTF pulled out ahead at the end. They were followed by Wild Wild West, Uncle’s UFO and Miss Katie.
There were a couple of no-shows. In the week since the Jonesport-Beals Island race, Galen Alley couldn’t fix his oil pressure problem on the 2,000-plus-horsepower Foolish Pleasure. And Alfred Osgood’s Starlight Express with a 900-hp Mack sporting four turbos reportedly had a heat exchanger problem solved but not in time for the race.
The next race is Aug. 9 in Winter Harbor.
