By the time most of you see this, the pages of the old shop calendar will have turned to June.\u00a0 And that means just one thing.<\/p>\n
The start of another season of lobster boat racing here on the coast of Maine \u2026 and by all early indications this one promises to be a corker.<\/p>\n
Jon Johansen and the Maine Lobster Boat Racing Association (MLBRA) have lined up a schedule of 11, possibly 12, racing days running from season kick-off in Boothbay Harbor on June 20, to a wrap-up weekend on Aug. 16 with overlapping events in both Portland and Pemaquid.<\/p>\n
Pick any summer weekend and there\u2019s a good chance there\u2019ll be thunder on the bay somewhere along the Maine coast.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s simply no explaining lobster boat racing, or understanding those who are fiercely passionate about it.\u00a0 Either you get it or you don\u2019t \u2013 and given the way the sport has grown in scope and popularity over the past few years, a whole lot of folks do get it<\/i>.<\/p>\n
There are no accurate records, but by most accounts fishermen started racing lobster boats as soon as there was more than one of them in any given harbor.\u00a0 Eventually the friendly in-from-the-grounds-to-the-dock grudge matches morphed into more organized events.<\/p>\n
The sport had fallen into one of its periodic slumps in the late 1980s when our own Brian Robbins led the charge to revitalize the competition by adopting a set of standarized rules and classes for every town, every race.<\/p>\n
It was radical \u201cnew think\u201d at the time, but the idea caught on and by the early 90s, fishermen were racing for points and some pretty nice year-end prizes thanks to the sponsorship of Commercial Fisheries News<\/i> and C.E. Shepherd wire.<\/p>\n
Sadly, some of the biggest luminaries of that era have either crossed the bar or retired from racing.\u00a0 Corliss Holland, Vin and Vid Young, Ray Cronk (of C.E. Shepherd) are just a few of the faces of late 1980s-early 1990s racing that are missed today.<\/p>\n
But, as is the way with most things, new characters have stepped up to fill those shoes.<\/p>\n
One of them, Steve Johnson, is profiled in this month\u2019s new feature, Off Course: Tales from the Maine Lobster Boat Races, on page19.<\/p>\n
Stevie is a nut, certifiable and proud of it.\u00a0 He embodies the absolute lunacy of lobster boat racing.\u00a0 More power, more power, more power.<\/p>\n
But for every Stevie \u2013 and there are more than a few of them among the serious racing campaigners \u2013 there is some kid, hard charging down the bay every day the way you do when you\u2019re young, who just wants to \u201crun what you brung\u201d in front of a hometown crowd some sunny Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
This year, racers will be running in a card of 24 class races at each MLBRA-sanctioned venue, along with whatever local races each committee chooses to add.<\/p>\n
Speaking of those committees, a tip of the hat is in order.\u00a0 The thankless process of organizing each event, lining up sponsors and prizes, plus assembling a crew to start, manage, judge, and finish off each long day of racing falls to unpaid volunteers up and down the coast.\u00a0 God bless \u2018em.<\/p>\n
Beyond the obvious draw of boat-to-boat competition, the Maine lobster boat races also provide a popular test bed for boat builders, engine companies, and other suppliers to showcase their products in a fun-not-work environment.<\/p>\n
And the ultimate winners in all of this?<\/p>\n
The spectators, of course.<\/p>\n
Whether you raft up on a boat course-side, or just take in the races from the shore, you simply aren\u2019t human if that first roar of big power coming off the starting line doesn\u2019t run a chill up your back.<\/p>\n
Silly?\u00a0 Sure.<\/p>\n
But a great way to spend a day?\u00a0 You bet.<\/p>\n
So check out <www.mainescoast.com<\/a>> for this year\u2019s schedule.<\/p>\n See you at the races.<\/p>\n Get a Print edition of CFN mailed to you.\u00a0PRINT<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Quickly enjoy online access with our flip-book.\u00a0ONLINE<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>[add_to_cart=6856]<\/strong><\/p>\n (Read online immediately with access key and download a copy. \u00a0Not sure<\/a>?)<\/em><\/p>\n![\"CFN_6_15cover\"](\"https:\/\/fish-news.com\/cfn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/CFN_6_15cover-243x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Read the rest of the June issue of\u00a0Commercial Fisheries News<\/em>. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n