Downeaster

The 2022 lobster boat race season wraps up

By Michael Crowley

At the Long Island races in Maine, Downeast Nightmare was the fastest boat at 48 mph, while sometimes going airborne to do it.

he Aug. 21 race in Portland, T Maine, was the last of Maine’s 2022 lobster boat racing season, after 573 boats came out for 11 events starting with June 18 at Boothbay Harbor.

That number “is down about 70 boats” from the previous year, said Jon Johansen, president of Maine Lobster Boat Association.

Four races were in August, beginning with Winter Harbor and Pemaquid’s Merritt Bracket races on the weekend of Aug. 13-14, followed by two more races the next weekend at Long Island and Portland on Aug. 20-21. The Pemaquid races are officially titled the Merritt Bracket races in honor of a mechanic who, said Johansen, “could keep all the boats going.”

Both Winter Harbor and Pemaquid had good turnouts, Johnson said, with 100 boats arriving at Winter Harbor and 69 racing at Pemaquid. When 21 boats signed up for the Diesel Class N race (40 feet and over, 751 hp and over) it was divided into two heats. Ten boats in one heat and 11 in the second heat. The seven fastest were then matched up in a finals race, won by Todd Pinkham’s Terrie J., a South Shore 42 with a 750-hp FPT, at 41 mph.

The biggest surprise was Jeremy Beal’s Maria’s Nightmare II, a Wayne Beal 32 with a 1,000-hp Isotta, that set the diesel speed record of 68.3 mph on July 2 at Moosabec Reach. At Winter Harbor, Maria’s Nightmare II was the only boat in her class race (Diesel Class L, 901 hp and over, 28 feet and over) and hit 56 mph.

At that point she was the fastest boat at Winter Harbor, but in the Fastest Lobster Boat race, the last race of the day, Maria’s Nightmare II finished 5th. The issue was faulty pistons; she was smoking bad enough that Beal said of his boat, “now you can call the boat old smoky.”

A very competitive matchup was between Jeff Eaton’s La Bella Vita and David Myrick’s Janice Elaine. Both are Northern Bay 38s with 815 hp FPTs. Janice Elaine took took Diesel Class K (701 to 900 hp, 28 feet and over) – no speed was given – and the Diesel Free For All at 45 mph, but La Bella Vita came back for the last race of the day, the Fastest Lobster Boat race, and took it at 46 mph.

La Bella Vita was the only boat racing in the Winter Harbor races to make the 100-mile trip the following day to race at Pemaquid. There LaBella Vita ran up against Andrew Taylor’s Blue Eyed Girl, a Morgan Bay 38 with a 900-hp Scania, and came in second to Blue Eyed Girl in three races. Probably one of the more unusual engine choice for a lobster boat was in Chip Johnson’s Five Stars. That’s a Calvin 42 powered with a 750-hp Renault Mac that came out of a French tank. Five Stars ran in the 17th race of the day (Diesels 801-hp and over, 40 feet and over) and its tank engine put Five Stars first over the finish line at 36 mph but she fell to third behind Andrew Taylor’s Blue Eyed Girl and La Bella Vita in the Fastest Lobster Boat Afloat race. Andrew Taylor’s Blue Eyed Girl won at 49 mph.

The turnout for the last weekend of the season was about normal with 45 boats arriving at Long Island and 41 boats to Portland. The fastest boat on both days was Downeast Nightmare, a Mussel Ridge 28 with a 1,000-hp Chevy, winning both the Gasoline Free-for-All and the Fastest Lobster Boat races.

Downeast Nightmare’s fastest time was 48.4 mph at Long Island. That speed was despite the fact that the Long Island course had 1 to 2-foot chop running through it, and “if it’s wavy, that boat gets squirrely. It gets a little airborne, ” said Johansen.

Michael Crowley is the former Boats & Gear editor for National Fisherman.

2022 Highliners

Since 1975 the editors of National Fisherman have annually honored leaders in the U.S. commercial fi shing community. The NF Highliners are, as the name implies, the best of the industry – not only at catching fi sh, but giving back far more to the community, America’s rich marine resources, and working to ensure their future.

Chris Brown

Point Judith, RI Mimi Stafford

Key West, Fla Terry Alexander

Harpswell, ME Jerry Sansom

Cocoa, Fla

   HIGHLINER ROLL CALL   

1975 Joe Easley, Spuds Johnson, Nels Otness 1977 Oral Burch, Adolph Samuelson, Wayne Smith, *Dr. Dayton L. Alverson 1978 Dan Arnold, John J. Ross, Larry Simns 1979 Louis Agard Jr., Bart Eaton, Barry Fisher 1980 Kenny Daniels, Joe Novello, Rick Savage 1981 Gordon Jensen, Ralph Hazard, Konrad Uri 1982 Richard Miller, William Sandefur Jr., Gabe Skaar 1983 Dave Danborn, Bruce Gore, John Maher 1984 Dick Allen, Paul Pence, James Salisbury 1985 Oscar Dyson, Mike McCorkle, Rudy Peterson 1986 Jake Dykstra, Richard McLellan, Bill Moore 1987 Al Burch, Earl Carpenter, Einar Pedersen *U.S. Coast Guard Station Kodiak 1988 Frank Mirarchi, Sonny Morrison, Louis Puskas 1989 Nat Bingham, Pete Knutsen, Francis Miller 1990 Arnold Leo, Fred Mattera, Mark Taylor 1991 Ron Hegge, Rick Steiner, Tony West *Clement V. Tillion 1992 David Cousens, Julius Collins, Jim McCauley 1993 John Bruce, Snooks Moore, Jimmy Smith 1994 Tim Adams, Nelson R. Beideman, Joseph Testaverde *Angela Sanfilippo 1995 Michael McHenry, Dennis Petersen, Gary Slaven 1996 William Foster, Robert Smith, Diane Wilson *U.S. Rep. Gerry Studds 1997 Jim Bassett, Mark Lundsten, Pietro Parravano 1998 Bill Amaru, Felix G. Cox, Gary Nichols 1999 Wayne Moody, Jay Stinson, Ray Wadsworth 2000 Scott Keefe, Patten D. White, Richard Neilsen Jr. 2001 Ginny Goblirsch, Jamie Ross, Tim Thomas 2002 George Barisich, Russell Dize, Luis Ribas 2003 Dan Hanson, Chris Miller, Arne Fuglvog 2004 David Goethel, James Ruhle Sr., Tony Iarocci 2005 Wilburn Hall, Bill Webber Sr., Bill Maahs 2006 Vito Giacalone, David Karwacki, Jim Lovgren 2007 Dave Bitts, Eric Jordan, Kaare Ness 2008 Rodney Avila, Tilman Gray, Craig Pendleton 2009 Linda Behnken, Kevin Ganley, Joel Kawahara 2010 Bob Evans, Jim Odlin, David Spencer 2011 Larry Collins, Dan Falvey, Bill Webber Jr. 2012 Dewey Hemilright, Kevin Wark, Wayne Werner 2013 Robert Heyano, Robert Hezel, Jerry McCune *Brian Rothschild 2014 Martin Fisher, Ida Hall, Russell Sherman 2015 John F. Gruver, Kathy Hansen, Jeremiah O’Brien 2016 Robert T. Brown Sr., Ben Hartig, Carl “Sonny” McIntire Jr. 2017 Bob Dooley, George Eliason, Bruce Schactler 2018 Ryan Bradley, Kristan Porter,*Bob Jones 2019 Dick Ogg, Heather Sears,*Jack Schultheis 2020 Jerry Fraser, Frank Patti Sr.,*Bonnie Brady 2021 Julie Decker, Jerry Dzugan, Benjamin Platt, *Jennifer Lincoln

 Chris Brown

Chris Brown has shed for nearly 40 years out of Point Judith, Rhode Island. He is president of the Rhode Island Commercial Fishermen’s Association; president of the Seafood Harvesters of America; advises the New England Fishery Management Council, and serves on the executive board of the Northeast Seafood Coalition.

Brown’s colleagues in Seafood Harvesters say he “consistently beats the drum of accountability and sustainability, reminding both our members and Congress that the bedrock of our management success is not just strong science, but also accurate catch reporting that helps to reduce uncertainty in management decisions.”

Brown’s voice is widely respected in the halls of Congress, throughout NOAA Fisheries, and across the industry nationwide. He is frequently called on to speak at Capitol Hill brie ngs, NOAA workshops, and with shing organizations on every coast.

 Mimi Stafford

Mimi Sta ord landed in Key West, Florida, fresh out of college after learning marine biology and microbiology in the early 1970s. Jobs in the eld were hard to come by, and with her husband “tried our luck with n shing, diving for lobsters and specimens, and shing for sponges, lobster and stone crabs.”

Since the early 1990s Sta ord has run traps from a 24’ T-craft for lobster and stone crab, and spent much more time on sustainable shing and habitat protection. Sta ord has served on the Reef Relief environmental board since 1990, the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen Association, the Florida state and South Atlantic Fishery Management Council spiny lobster advisory boards, and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary advisory board among others.

 Terry Alexander

Terry Alexander of Harpswell, Maine, has shed for over 40 years, running his 62-foot trawler Jocka for Gulf of Maine ground sh and squid down into the Mid-Atlantic waters. His other boat the Rachel T can harvest northern shrimp, gillnet for ground sh in the late summer and winter and for monk sh in waters o Rhode Island. Alexander has hosted much signi cant cooperative research on both boats, from Nordmore grate work in the northern shrimp shery to the industry-based cod survey for the State of Massachusetts in the Gulf of Maine.

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A fourth generation sherman, Alexander has been shing for 44 years since he started at age 19 running boats out of Cundy’s Harbor, Maine, and became a full time captain 21 of the 70-foot trawler Miss Paula. Around 1995 he began started getting involved in sheries management as an advisor on di erent panels covering shrimp, ground sh and monk sh.

In 1999 Alexander bought a 62-foot berglass hull that had been sitting in a eld in South Portland since 1984. Following a design by boat builder Dain Bichrest it was rebuilt as the Jocka (prounounced ‘Joker’) and has been shing since October 2002.

Alexander was appointed to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council in 2009, served a term, and then was appointed to three terms on the New England Fishery Management Council from 2012 to 2021.

Now back on the boat full time, Alexander has participated in a wide range of Atlantic sheries over his career, including scallops, shrimping, pogie seining, joint venture shing, monk sh, ground sh, whiting and squid.

Alexander serves on the board of the Responsible O shore Development Alliance, a coalition of shing communities working to in uence o shore wind energy development in U.S. waters. He has served with the Sustainable Harvest Sector and the Associated Fisheries of Maine.

 Jerry Sansom

Most of the Highliners spend their workdays on sh decks and at the helm. Over the years the editors have honored others with a Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing their lifelong work with shermen and their communities. This year, that recognition goes to Jerry Sansom of Cocoa, Florida.

For nearly half a century, Jerry has been the voice for and the face of the individual commercial shermen in Florida as the longtime executive director of the Organized Fishermen of Florida.

Fishermen and colleagues say Sansom’s e orts are a major reason that their community has survived in Florida, despite net ban campaigns of the 1990s and continuing political and development pressures. Whether working with shermen or politicians, Sansom was always straight with his answers and recommendations, as well as outlining options and obstacles.

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