In Maine, we race our Lobster Boats too!

Maine is home to many unique adventures that any native Mainer or someone visiting Maine must experience every summer. Living away from Maine there were a few things that I dreamt of doing as soon as the crisp salt air hit my nose. At the top of my list was camping at Acadia National Park, visiting Popham beach and eating a plethora of authentically Maine food such as a steamed hot dog or an Amato's Italian sandwich. But there is one thing that every island girl such as I should do every summer and that is attend one of the local lobster boat races. Yes, we do race our lobster boats here in Maine and I got the pleasure of attending the Harpswell lobster boat races this past weekend.

To briefly paint a picture, gather up your closest friends, hop on a boat and head out into the harbor. There you will find hundreds of people and boaters such as yourself all anchored and tied up to each other cheering on the passing boats, as they go "streaming" past you 3 at a time. There are different size and weight categories for each race so when I say "streaming" past you, that often times means just puttering along until the finish line is reached.

The lobster boat races are held in several different harbors all along the coast of Maine including our hometown of Harpswell as well as Rockland, Searsport, Boothbay Harbor and Pemaquid. To top it all off, no race would be complete without an awards ceremony culminating all the winners at the end of the summer. As you could imagine the boat races are a rather big deal to many lobstermen and whether you're actually racing or just showing your support for a boat that is racing, it is certainly not an event to be missed!

Even this guy shows up at several of the races, clearly quite the head turner, usually blowing most lobster boats out of the water, but I did witness one lobster boat beat him fair and square across the finish line!

If you're planing a trip to Maine, or perhaps enjoying some of our memorable Downeast lobster rolls in your hometown, be sure to take a moment, sit back and smile at the lobstermen that made it possible for you to enjoy this fresh Maine lobster, and picture them as their boat goes streaming past you in the ultimate Maine race to the finish.