Cinbad claims title of ‘fastest lobster boat’

JONESPORT – By Saturday morning the northwest wind had sent the seemingly interminable fog off shore.

The sun was shining, the sky a brilliant blue.

It would have been easy to miss the simple wooden arrows proclaiming “boat race” nailed to a power pole, where the road to Beals Island intersects Route 187 in downtown Jonesport.

At least 200 people, mostly friends and family of the participants, followed the signs across the bridge over Moosabec Reach to Perio Point and the Carver family lobster pound.

They were there for the second annual contest to select Maine’s fastest lobster boat – radio-controlled class. Compared with the real boats, which will race there on the Fourth of July, this also could be considered the budget class.

The big winner, and title of “World’s Fastest Lobster Boat,” went to Cinbad, owned and built by Harry Lauer, 48, of Camden.

Cinbad held off three other class winners, including last year’s champion, Flash, owned and built by Gordon Smith of Great Wass Island.

The outcome was a mild surprise as Cinbad is only 33 inches long and was competing against much longer boats in the final race. Usually the longer a boat’s waterline, the faster it will move through the water.

Although the race marked a defeat for the locals, it was still a Maine victory as Cinbad was constructed from a kit purchased from BlueJacket Ship Crafters of Searsport.

The whole day is a reaffirmation of the old chestnut about the bigger the boy the bigger the toy.

There were certainly some “big boys” competing.

One was Al Kenney Sr., 82, of Addison, but so was Cole Beal, 10, of Beals Island.

No matter the owner, these boats are fathoms ahead of the common toy. Most are replicas of existing working craft.

Once the boats are built, their owners soup up the power plants just like the real-size racers. The Flash is reputed to have 40 volts’ worth of batteries supplying power.

Thirty boats entered this year’s event, about twice last year’s number.

Besides owning the fastest lobster boat, Lauer displayed Roll Out the Barrel, a one-eighth scale replica of a 1939 Chris-Craft barrel-back speedboat. The model, like the original, is done in varnished natural tones. Kenney figures it took up to 175 hours to construct. Roll Out the Barrel never hit salt water this day.

Starting with the showing of the boats at 9 a.m., it was a day for the entire family to enjoy the outdoors and chat with friends and neighbors. There was no admission charge for spectators, many of whom brought their own seating.

A food booth run by the Beals Historical Society did a steady business in hot dogs, hamburgers and baked goods. Kenney obtained all the raffle prizes. (You know you’re really Down East when there are working lobster traps as prizes.)

For many of the competitors, it is a chance to re-create boats past and remember family links.

Jerry Fernald, 68, of Waldoboro brought several boats. One was a lobster boat, Francis G, named after his father. Francis G is a replica of his father’s boat Bluefin, which was the first commercial fisherman built by Bunker and Ellis in 1949.

Perhaps the best story of the day was about Cole Beal, whose boat Cole’s Express won the first heat of the afternoon representing the outboard class. Cole’s Express is a spanking new creation of Brian Smith of Great Wass Island. It is a replacement for Cole’s first boat, which was lost in a trout pond accident.

It seems that Cole and his father, both avid fishermen, were sailing the boat in a friend’s trout pond which contains some good-size rainbow trout. Someone came up with the idea of attaching a line with a baited hook to the boat’s stern as it chugged around the pond. One of the larger trout apparently liked what it saw, and the last anyone saw of Cole’s boat it was headed for the bottom, stern first.

There are no plans to take Cole’s Express trout fishing.