There's no more appropriate place to hold lobster boat races in Maine than Moosabec Reach, the stretch of water running between Jonesport and Beals Island, two places many consider to be the breeding ground for Maine's wooden lobster boat.

Every summer a very large contingent of lobster boats gather to celebrate that heritage in a manner that Beals Island and Jonesport lobstermen readily identify with - speed - and this summer was no different.

On June 29, 95 boats – four more than last year – showed up to race along Moosabec Reach's nearly mile-long course. It was a cold day, in the low 50s and blowing, said Jon Johansen, president of Maine Lobster Boat Racing.

"We were waiting for the snow but it didn't come," he jested. A large number of those 95 boats – about 25 percent – were skiffs. "Some are some aren't lobster boat skiffs, but for the most part it's a stronger commercial group than it's not,” Johansen said.

The races started with the three skiff classes: Race 1: Class A, Skiffs 16 feet and under, outboards up to 30 hp, operators up to 18 years old. Race 2: Class B, Inboard,

Outboard or Outdrives, 31 to 90 hp. Race 3: Class C, Inboard, Outboard or Outdrives, 90 hp and higher. Teagan Gray's Shit Digger won Class A at 23 mph, and Ralph Davis' Alpex won Class B at 47 mph; 15 skiffs were entered in that race. White Lightning took Class C at 51 mph. The next category was Gas Powered Work Boats 24 Feet and Over.

As in previous races, gas-powered lobster boats are a dying breed, and only three showed up for five race classes. The fastest gasoline-powered boat was Mark Freeman's Foolish Pleasure, which has a 650-hp 455 Stroker engine and clocked in at 52 mph.

The cold weather adversely affected at least one boat. That was Little Girl, a 28-foot Calvin Beal Jr.-built boat whose owner, Shawn Alley, had “got a big Chevy engine and rushed to get it together,” said Johansen. It would have raced in Gasoline Class E (V-8, Over 525 cid, 25 feet and over, superchargers/turbos). But Little Girl was a no-show. “Alley felt it was so cold that the 0-ring at the bottom of the oil filter wouldn't seat right, so it was blowing oil out.”

Speaking of Calvin Beal, he won two diesel races in the Jeanine Marie, in Diesel Class A (up to 235 hp, 24 to 31 feet) at 30 mph and Diesel Class E (336 to 435 hp, 24 to 33 feet) at 34 mph. The slightly weird thing is that he was racing the Jeanine Marie both times, but they were two different boats. 

“They are named the same, but one is white, and one is black,” said Johansen.

There are certain mistakes in lobster boat racing that will always be hard to forget, such as what happened to Marina Beal's My Turn in the 15th race of the day. Diesel Class G (436 to 550-hp, 28 to 35 feet). My Turn was leading Steve Carver's Another Girls, but, as Johansen notes, “You got to know where the finish line is.” Thinking she had completed the race, Beal turned My Turn off to the side of the course before reaching the finish line, allowing Another Girls to be first across the line.

Putting a bit of perspective on that, Johansen said, “it wasn't the first one and it won't be the last.”

After dominating both the Boothbay and Rockland races and then missing the Bass Harbor races, Jeremy Beal's Maria's Nightmare II returned to race at Moosabec Reach, taking the Diesel Free-for-All at 55 moh and the day's last race. The World's Fastest Recreational Lobster Boat at 52 mph.

Obsession and Natalie E are two other boats that have been competitive at the previous three races, with Natalie E winning the Class N(A) (40 feet and over, 750 to 1,000 hp) races at Rockland and Bass Harbor, but at Moosabec Reach, against eight other boats, Natalie E "went kind of dead in the water," said Johansen, giving Obsession the win. Throwing out a possible reason. Johansen said. "sometimes these engines will shut down. They don't like that if you shove too much fuel into them." (Natalie E is powered by a 1,000-hp FPT.) The next race is July 21 in Stonington, with an unusual incentive for potential participants.

"Stonington is giving away a 25-foot hull," said Johansen. "It's the first time they've done that." The hull was being laid up at Jeff Eaton's Eaton's Boat Shop & Fiberglassing in Deer Island, Maine, as the Moosabec Reach races were taking place.

At Stonington, everyone who races "will get a name in the hat," said Johansen, "then it's the luck of the draw.”

Read the recap on the Bar Harbor lobster boat races HERE.