You know when working boats steam nearly 100 miles to spend a day racing down a 1-mile course, their owners take lobster boat racing seriously. That was Winfred Alley’s Faith Melle, a Libby 34 with a 425-hp Cummins, and Dana Beal’s Natalie E, a Libby 41 with a 1,000-hp FPT.
Both came out of Maine’s Jonesport area to travel to Harpswell for the seventh lobster boat race in Maine’s 2024 Lobster Boat Racing Season. Joining the two vessels in the race on Sunday, July 28, were 46 other lobster boats, a total of nine more boats than the 37 that showed up for the 2023 race.
The gasoline races, especially those involving Randy Durkee’s Black Diamond (Holland 32, 672 Chevy) and Steve Johnson’s Lynn Marie (Sisu 26, 632 Chevy), were a focal point for much of the day. The two boats put on “three very, very close races, within half a boat length,” said Jon Johansen, president of Maine Lobster Boat Racing, "Both boats were very fast, and they were right with each other. They were the fastest two boats in Harpswell."
Their first encounter was Gasoline Class E (V8, over 525 ci, 28 feet and over). “You had no idea who was going to win it. They both screamed up the course side-by-side,” said Johansen. Black Diamond edged ahead and took that race by half a boat length at 51.4 mph.
Their next encounter was the gasoline Free-for-All, won by Lynn Marie at 55 mph. Lynn Marie also took their concluding encounter, the Fastest Lobster Boat Afloat race, hitting 54.2 mph, beating not only Black Diamond but five other boats as well. Lynn Marie’s fastest time was in the last race of the day, Fastest Lobster Boat in Casco Bay, beating four other boats at 57.7 mph.
The Diesel Free for All was another good race. With 11 boats lined up at the start, it came down to Andy Johnson’s Whistlin’ Dixie (Holland 40, 1,000-hp Cat) and Jeff Eaton’s La Belle Vita (Northern Bay 38, 815-hp FPT), said Johansen. La Belle Vita won at 45 mph, and Whistlin’ Dixie got second place.
Earlier in the day, La Belle Vita took first in Diesel Class K (701 to 900 hp, 28 to 39 feet 11 inches), at 44.7 mph, beating Regency (Calvin Beal 38, 800-hp Scania).
Diesel-powered lobster boats generally don’t keep up with the faster gasoline-powered boats, which is why La Bella Vita and Whistlin’ Dixie took third and fourth place in the Fastest Lobster Boat Afloat race, behind Lynn Marie and Black Diamond.
It looks like the 100-mile journey made by Winfred Alley and Dana Beal to compete in Harpswell paid off, as both won their individual races. Alley’s Faith Melle took first in Diesel Class F (336 to 435 hp, 34 to 39 feet 11 inches), crossing the finish line at 36.2 mph and beating three other boats.
Beal’s Natalie E beat one other boat in Diesel Class N(A) (40 feet and over, 751 to 1,000 hp), hitting 44.4 mph.
The next race is at Winter Harbor on August 10. The following day, lobster boats line up and race at Pemaquid. A big attraction for the Winter Harbor races is a Crowley-Beal 33 fiberglass hull that will be given away.
Like at the Stonington races where a big incentive was the giving away of a 25-foot hull, racers’ names will go in a hat and at the end of the day one lucky racer in Winter Harbor will win a new fiberglass hull.
Read the recap on the Friendship lobster boat races HERE.
