Winter Harbor, Maine, was the place to be on Aug. 25 if you ever wanted to see a lot of lobster boats gathered in one place. It was the last day of the 2024 lobster boat racing season and 183 boats were signed up to race.
That’s the most boats to ever take part in a Maine lobster boat race. It was a make-up race, as foul weather canceled the original Winter Harbor race scheduled for Aug. 10.
Winter Harbor’s previous high number was 167 in 2019, and before that,140 boats in 2004.
“Winter Harbor has always been at the top,” for turnout, said Jon Johansen, president of Maine Lobster Boat Racing, “because they do the hull thing.”
That is, a new lobster boat hull is given away in a drawing after the races. All a lobsterman has to do is race his boat and his name is entered in the drawing. This year, the drawing was for a Crowley Beal 33 hull and top made from a Sargents Custom Boat mold and valued at $50,000. It was also the 60th anniversary of Winter Harbor’s Lobster Festival, of which the races have been a part.
With so many boats, many races had to be run in two heats, with a final race to determine the winner. Even with splitting a race into two heats, it could be difficult to visually separate the boats at the finish line, so “we had to go to the video numerous times to make sure we had the right order,” said Johansen. Unfortunately, because the radar gun wasn’t working, speeds weren’t recorded.
After the Gasoline Class B race there was a tribute to David Worcester , 51, who was from Machias and was killed, along with his Labrador retriever Macy, in a car crash on April 11, 2024, “by a kid who wanted to commit suicide,” said Johansen, “and drove into his lane.”
Worcester operated Dave’s Glass, and as his obituary read, “his favorite projects were installing boat windows in lobster boats up and down the coast of Maine.” Just after the start of the races, more than 100 boats spread out in a loose pack and traveled down the race course in Worcester’s honor.
A good race was Diesel Class N(B) (40 feet and over, 1001-hp and over). Coming up the course, four boats were close together, but in the end, Mack Kelley’s Fifth Generation was first across the line.
In the Diesel Class B (up to 235 hp, 32 feet and over), the race was won by Kit Johnson’s Mr. Lucky. Johnson won Mr. Lucky in a drawing similar to the one that was to take place at the end of the Winter Harbor races. “He’s racing for the 20th year. I don’t think he’s missed any races,” said Johansen.
Probably the fastest boat of the day was Jeremy Beal’s Maria’s Nightmare II (Wayne Beal 32; 1,000-hp Isotta). In the final race of the day, the Fastest Lobster Boat race, Maria’s Nightmare II, after just winning the Diesel Free For All against six other boats, was matched up against Black Diamond (Holland 32, 672 Chevrolet), which had just won the Gasoline Free For All, and La Belle Vita (Northern Bay 38; 815-ho FPT). After the start, Black Diamond appeared to still have issues with its oil pressure; it slowed up three-quarters of the way down the course and didn’t finish. La Belle Vita took second.
At the end of the day, it was time for the boat prize. The winning lobsterman was Kyle Look of Harrington, who got the lucky draw for the Crowley Beal 33 hull and top. Earlier in the day, Look’s Kimberly Lynn had taken 3rd place in the Diesel Class M(A) race for boats 40 feet and over, up to 500 hp.
