Casco Bay threw a full assortment of conditions at the 23 boat fleet gathered for this year’s 3rd annual Lobster Bowl regatta.
The first day’s racing was owned by Jim Lampman and team. Two members of his crew, Chris and Monica Morgan, had sailed with Will Welles and won the Pape Chevrolet J24 North Americans on the same water they attacked this weekend in the Etchells class. They must have learned a few things that weekend about sailing on Casco Bay: Jim and his crew got both of the bullets in the overall class on day one.
In the Heritage Division – older boats with hull numbers 900 and below still sailing with their original, unmodified keels – the daily bullets went to Canadian Jan Chrosciel skippering Satin Doll, and local longtime Etchells racer Seth Sprague. Jan and his crew came down from the Hudson Yacht Club near Montreal, and they, along with fellow Canadian Paul LaFlamme and his crew on The Lost Boys, gave the event a real international flavor. Seth, a charter member of the Casco Bay fleet, won one for the home team.
Only two races were completed on Saturday in shifty, light winds. The tidal current in the bay compounded the challenge. In the last race the combination of current and dying breeze caught a number in the fleet unable to finish prior to the time limit expiring. After race two on Saturday, PRO Jimi Cullum made the “darned if you do, darned if you don’t” call and sent the fleet home for an early start on the beer keg and Lobster Shore Dinner.
The dinner consisted of lobster, steamed clams, and sweet corn – all cooked over an open fire on the Portland Yacht Club grounds. The meal was followed by a delicious slab of wild Maine Blueberry Cake and washed down with locally brewed Rising Tide beer. It was a classic rock night for all the sailors as they listened to AC/DC tunes and watched the sunset and a nearly full moon rise up over the mooring field on the bay.
After dinner, awards were presented. The “Movin On Up” awards went to two local boats, Todd LaLumiere in Black Sheep, and Tim Caven in Wiki, Wiki. The “Movin On Up” award goes to the boat with the best opportunity to move up the standings with a good second day at the regatta. The famous “Lobster Pajamas” went to Rob Hitchcock, who finished 20th in the first race on Saturday, but battled back for a 7th in race two. The famous PJs go to the boat with the most spread between their best and worst race. Tied for second after day one with 5 points were Peter Sulick and his crew on Lakota, and the feel good story of the weekend, young Matt LaLumiere, sailing his recently overhauled boat Ca$h Money.
Matt purchased his Etchells for $1 and has spent the last 3 years rebuilding it to racing form. Members of Fleet 27, who have watched Matty grow up into a terrific young man, are proud of how he has dedicated the time and effort to restore an old boat to competitiveness. It’s a positive sign for our class when a young guy in his 20s loves Etchells enough to puts the effort, focus, money, and time into a project like this – then sails the boat for the first time in 12 years and ends up that first day of sailing in second place in a competitive regatta.
On Sunday, PRO Cullum decided to move up the start time to 10:00 in an attempt to complete 3 races before an extremely low tide would prevent boats from hauling out and getting on the road. Sunday morning the fleet was greeted by a nice southerly breeze and crystal clear skies. The race committee set the course and the fleet was off in the freshening breeze. Sunday’s southerly breeze played well for Tomas Hornos and his crew on Destiny: they came away with 3 straight bullets in the overall class on Sunday. In the last race, Hornos and Lampman finished one/two to secure their spots atop the leader board.
After finishing the last race, the boats made a quick visit to the beverage boat where the crews got an ice cold Rising Tide brew before heading back to shore. The extremely low tide on the night of a “Super moon” solar eclipse would have prevented any boats not out of the water by 4:00 p.m. from getting hauled till Monday. The last boat began to touch mud on their way to the hoist, but all the travelling boats were able to beat the tide and get their boats on their trailers for the ride home. With the haul out mission accomplished, the entire crowd of sailors, families and friends could relax and enjoy the awards BBQ on the deck at Handy Boat.
At the awards ceremony, local fleet member Henry Clews was recognized for sailing the regatta with crew from our local high school sailing teams to help prepare them for the upcoming youth keel boat qualifier they will be attending this coming weekend on Long Island. The Generations Award, presented by the most senior competitor- the legendary, Pat Stadel – to the youngest competitor, went to 15 year old Nick Leong, a sophomore at Portland High School and member of their sailing team. In the Heritage Division, 3rd place went to Tim Caven and crew Roger Junet and Scott Thomas, sailing Wiki Wiki, hull number 312. Second went to former Fleet 27 champion, Todd LaLumiere, and the Dave White award for first place – a beautiful binnacle mounted on a wooden base – went to Jan Chrosciel and his crew on Satin Doll. Everyone was excited to see an older Canadian boat make the effort to cross the border for the regatta and win the coveted prize. They helped to make the Lobster Bowl a truly international event.
In the overall division 4th and 5th place went to veteran Etchells sailors Don Brush from Vermont, sailing Landed Gentry and Peter Sulick from Florida sailing Lakota. Third overall went to the weekends “Rock Star “, Matt LaLumiere sailing Ca$h Money. Tomas Hornos ended up second in the dog fight for first, and Jim Lampman and crew on Fluffy sailed consistently and came away as 2015 Etchells Lobster Bowl champion.
As good byes were shared, and folks packed up their highly coveted Lobster Bowl 2015 T-shirts, every face was featuring a huge smile as all competitors had enjoyed a fall regatta in beautiful Maine, where you drink locally brewed beer, eat Lobster, and sail Wicked Fast with lifelong friends in a competitive and fun regatta.
Full results here.