Need a new lobster boat? How about starting out with a Mitchell Cove 35 bare hull?
If you are lucky, the bare hull that Feeney’s Boat Shop in Cutler will finish off the beginning of this week can be yours. And it won’t cost you much more tha a steam down to Winter Harbor, Maine, on Friday or Saturday. There you can sign up to enter the Winter Harbor Lobster Boat Races on Saturday and pay the entrance fee.
At the conclusion of the races, your name will be entered into a drawing. If the card with your name is pulled, you just won a new lobster boat hull.
The awarding of the Mitchell Cove 35 at this, the 55th running of the Winter Harbor Lobster Boat Races, is more than just a great prize for a lucky fisherman; it’s being given in honor of Keith Young and the years he’s dedicated to the Winter Harbor races, as are all of this year’s races in Winter Harbor.
Keith has been involved with the Winter Harbor Lobster Boat Races for up to 40 years, many of those as chairman of the race committee. This year he is battling cancer; it’s the first year Keith hasn’t been involved with the racing season.
A lot of businesses and individuals have come together to make this honor possible. A partial list includes Feeney’s Boat Shop, which donated $7,000 worth of labor; Darlings Auto Mall in Ellsworth put in $5,000; Composites One donated materials to build the hull; DC Air and Seafood put in $7,000 and a Mrs. Dixon donated $20,000, much of that is for a fireworks display the evening of the races.
In 2002, the Winter Harbor Races, with Keith heading up the race committee, brought 135 boats and gave away a Duffy 35 hull. This year the goal is 200 boats. “We’re trying to break that record for him,” says Chris Byers, chairman of the Winter Harbor races.
So, if you want to honor a guy who's put in a lot of work for lobstermen and maybe go away with a new boat hull, as well, then head on up to Winter Harbor and enter a race. And, yes, the word is that Keith will be there.
