EASTPORT – The chairman of the boat school at Washington County Community College noted Thursday that the usual buoyant spirit that accompanied the launching of the student-built boats had turned into a “bittersweet day,” now that the boat school program has been set adrift.

In April, the state’s community college leaders agreed to keep a Down East boat building program on hold for a year, despite objections from industry advocates who said the hiatus will keep some students from graduating until 2007.

Known informally as the Boat School, the program involves marine mechanics as well as boat building.

William Cassidy, president of WCCC, recommended the hiatus.

The college president told the panel he would like to have a revamped program back up and running by August 2005. Cassidy did not attend the launch ceremonies Thursday, nor was he available for comment later.

At ceremonies before the launching, an emotional program chairman Bret Blanchard said goodbye to instructors Jeremy Chapman and Rusty Duym.

“This is a bittersweet day. There is hardly anything better than launching a boat that you have built and hardly anything worse than losing your job. We’ll start with the bitter and end with the sweet.

Students and parents gave Chapman and Duym a standing ovation.

Then it was time to push the boats to the water’s edge.

There were four vessels; two Whitehall tenders, a Down East skiff and a kayak, all built by the students. Three women, who are in the school’s Adventure, Recreation and Tourism Program, built the kayak.

Former WCCC President Bill Flahive said the Whitehall design, with the wineglass stern, has been around for years. “It’s a classic boat well known for its stability and rowing,” he said.

A small amount of champagne then was poured over the bows.

Second-year students Dana Giuntini, Jeff Hanley, Walton Kinney and Matt Lacasse stood at the water’s edge, some smoking Havana cigars, in preparation for the launch of their Down East skiff. They did not say where the Cuban cigars had come from, since products from Cuba are banned.

With the joy of the launch, there also was time for reflection. For Kinney, who lives in Damariscotta, the boat building program had made a difference in his life. “I was a ‘lost youth.’ I believe that I was just a small-town kid needing to get out,” he told Blanchard on his final exam. “It wasn’t just book studying or building boats – somewhere beneath all that studying and homework I found out who I really am.”

Lacasse, who lives in Calais, praised the program Thursday, but said he was concerned about its future. “The determining factor to me is if they are going to honor what they are saying. If they are going to pick it back up and it’s going to be bigger and better than they say, I’ll give it to them. But from what I’ve seen, it’s been pretty shady the way things have gone on. It will be interesting when it all comes together,” he said.

“I think it was a big mistake,” Giuntini, of Pembroke, added. “It seems to me if the administration was making moves to suspend the program, that means they are making moves to close it. But there’s been so much public outcry, especially from the marine trades industry, I think if the pressure keeps up maybe they’ll bring it back.”

First-year student Brian Longo, who most recently lived in Philadelphia, Pa., remains optimistic. “I am completely confident they are going to be reopening the school when they say they are,” he said.

But parent Dan Lacasse said he could not believe that a nationally respected program would be put on hold. “If you were running a business would you fire all of your employees and not look for customers and then say I’ll come back a year from now to see if my business is going to flourish or not?” he asked.

Flahive said he was disappointed the program had been suspended. “It does have challenges, it had challenges when I was here,” he said. “We worked hard to make those improvements and to grow, and I hope that this is just another step in that kind of improvement.”