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HARPSWELL —  The Vintinners used to spend their summers going on vacation. Then they caught “the bug.” Almost five years later, the family from Durham still can’t shake it. 

“It definitely has a cult following, for sure, the lobster boat races,” Amy Vintinner said while seated on one of the three boats her husband David and their 17-year-old son Mason enter into races up and down the coast of Maine.

This year is the Vintinners’ most race-intensive summer yet, as David and Mason, a rising senior at Freeport High, each paid the $100 membership fee for a plate at the annual Maine Lobster Boat Racing Association banquet and a shot at the end-of-year awards.

Last weekend, they went to Friendship to race. The weekend before that, to Stonington. This weekend, Harpswell.

“Once you get the bug, you just can’t help it,” said Maine Lobster Boat Racing Association president Dana Beal. 

Since Harpswell is one of the closest stops on the Maine Lobster Boat Racing schedule, an 11-race summer circuit that starts in Boothbay and stretches from Jonesport to Portland, the Vintinners won’t need to pack air mattresses or extra coolers of ice, but the preparations for the July 27 race still started a few days early. 

Once all the boats are cleaned, refueled and packed with food, drinks and friends early Sunday morning, it’s off to the races. 

“We make sure that the traps are fishing before we all have fun,” said David Vintinner. Both father and son lobster around Chebeague Island. 

Most lobster boats that enter the races go as fast as 35 to 50 mph, although some can touch 60 mph. While the title of fastest boat in a given class can change from week to week, the true champions are crowned at an October banquet. 

Turnout of each race can vary based on location, weather and prizes, but there are about 10-15 people who try to make it to each stop.

‘THIS IS WHAT WE DO… IT’S HERITAGE’

According to Jon Johansen, publisher of Maine Coastal News and the foremost expert on the sport, lobster boat racing started around 1900 when two Jonesport lobstermen decided to race each other in their Friendship sloops.

Over the years, casual competitions were occasionally held in harbors along the coast, but it wasn’t until the 1960s when races became more organized, starting with Moosabec Reach in between Jonesport and Beals Island. 

Harpswell joined the Maine Lobster Boat Racing scene in 1987. Four years later, in 1991, the races became a fundraiser with all proceeds donated to the Harpswell Santa Fund. Last year’s event raised $23,000 for the fund, which helps local families in need.

Cindy Blackwood, a Harpswell resident, got excited as she talked about the races Sunday morning, saying “as long as they’ve been racing, I’ve been watching.” Over that timeframe, Blackwood said she’s seen the races triple, possibly quadruple, in size, adding that there isn’t another event that brings the Harpswell community together like these races.

“This is it,” Blackwood said. “This is what we do. And it’s not nasty, even the people racing are having fun. It’s heritage.”

For decades, the races across Pott’s Harbor were a community celebration of the town’s working waterfront identity. A volunteer shortage paused the races from 2014-17.

In 2018, local lobsterman Larry Ward and a group of volunteers known as “Larry’s Angels” helped rejuvenate the event.

Unfortunately, Ward suffered from congestive heart failure and passed away the following spring. The 2019 Harpswell Races were dedicated to him and Ward’s family spread his ashes across the starting line.

Momentum was slowed by a canceled race in 2020 and low attendance from poor weather in 2021, but the lobster boat races have returned to being one of the town’s main summer draws.

Erin Scholomiti, president of the Harpswell Lobster Boat Race Committee, said that approximately 1,200 people (about a 20% increase from last year) came to Mitchell Field to watch the July 27 races, now in Middle Bay.

START YOUR ENGINES

Registration inside the garage next to Erica’s Seafood lasted longer than expected, and it took a few tries for Bill Tranter’s Surprise, the finish line boat, to drop anchor for a proper view. But right around 10:45 a.m., after a blessing of the fleet was read and the national anthem was sung, it was time to race.

The “Fastest Lobster Boat in Casco Bay” was the first event on the schedule. Five boats lined up on the southern end of Middle Bay, gradually gaining speed, eyeing the starter boat, waiting for the flag to drop. And once it does, the racers peel down the 3/4-mile long runway, leaving heavy wakes for the nearly 100 other boats watching the minute-long chase. 

Racers can gain an edge by buying new props or tinkering with their computer ahead of the race, but if the boat doesn’t have a clean start, a first-place finish is unlikely.

“Reaction time to when the flag goes down, I mean, that’s kind of the only advantage you’ve got,” Mason Vintinner said. “And just make sure that your boat goes in a straight line, so you don’t get in the way of anybody else.”

As each boat crossed the finish line, Johansen, the longtime scorer and former MLBRA president, called out the name and the place. Ron Barrett gave out the top speeds from his radar gun for Ann Johansen, Jon’s wife, to write down and hand to Dave Sparks, who announced the information over the VHF airwaves before the next race was up. 

Forty-seven boats registered for the Harpswell races, which lasted over two hours. Some classes had no entrants, and some had just one, so races were combined to keep the pace and competitive nature afloat. 

WORTH THE JOURNEY

There was some home course advantage, as Harpswell’s Robert Johnson, manning Miss Ava Elaine for the first year, won the opening race at 46 mph and Class L (diesel boats, 901+ horsepower, 28-39’11 feet) at 48 mph. Nick Martinez and Pretty Woman of Orr’s Island won Class H (diesel boats, 436-550 hp, 36-39’11 feet) and Harpswell’s Sean Clemons and Mean Kathleen won Class J (diesel boats, 551-700 hp, 36-39’11 feet). 

Southport’s Andrew Taylor won the last two races of the day in Blue Eyed Girl, going 50.4 mph in the diesel free-for-all and 48.2 mph in the fastest working lobster boat afloat.

Both Vintinners were impacted by reruns. Mason’s 16-footer, Screen Time initially took second in skiffs Class B but did not finish the second run. Master Mason, David’s 42-footer, crossed the finish line first in the first diesel Class M(B) race, but fourth in the second. Mason’s 29-footer, Amy Kathren, came in second during Class E. But the family isn’t out on the water solely to chase points. It’s to cherish their time with one another.

“We’ve gone to enough races over the years,” David Vintinner said. “It doesn’t ever seem to be the races that we remember, but it’s the boat rides that we remember.”

“Hopefully, one day,” added Amy Vintinner, “Mason will tell his kids, ‘Hey, when I was a kid, Mom and Dad used to run up and down the coast with me.’ Because who gets to do that? I don’t have any friends that have been up all the way up to Winter Harbor by boat.”

Once Sunday’s races are over, Dana Beal brings his 41-footer Natalie E. to the registration dock. The MLBRA president was the only entrant in Class N(A), but he still came up victorious in a combined race by hitting a breezy 43.2 mph. 

“(Monday) morning, early, we’ll put all the stuff back aboard the boat, go to work and think about the next race.”