TREMONT, Maine — If you are looking for something to race, few vehicles are less suited to the task than lobster boats.
Squat, squarish, loaded with tons of equipment, lobster boats are essentially floating platforms, working craft from which lobster traps are hauled up or dropped off, often in lousy weather.
Yet about 70 such boats are expected to race a mile course just outside Bass Harbor on Sunday as part of the 2018 Maine Lobster Boat Racing season. The races are free and open to the public, according to Wayne Rich, a lobsterman and organizer of the Bass Harbor Lobster Boat Race.
Held nearly every weekend, the 12 races take place up and down the coast in venues such as Boothbay, Friendship, Harpswell, Jonesport, Portland, Rockland, Stonington and Winter Harbor from June to August, according to Justin Seavey, Tremont’s harbormaster, who will be handling safety and security Sunday.
They give Maine’s 4,800 commercially licensed lobstermen a break from the hard labor of their profession and a chance to show off their boats, Seavey and Rich said.
“For me, it’s probably more for camaraderie,” Rich said Friday. “You get to see people from other harbors. You get to talk the fishing industry and then some of it is to look at different styles of boats — the different makers and whose hulls are fast.”
The races begin at 10 a.m. Pre-registration for participants will be held from 8 to 9 a.m. Only severe winds will postpone the event, but the weather for Sunday looks manageable, with light winds and clouds and a chance of showers, Rich said.
“It’ll keep the sunburn down,” Rich said.
The Bass Harbor races are free for racers. Besides giving lobstermen a chance to get together, the races occasionally raise money for nonprofit or community organizations. This year, the Bass Harbor Memorial Library staff will hold breakfast and lunch on race day to raise money for a new building addition, Rich said.
Several hundred spectators are expected. The areas near Swans Island Ferry Terminal, Back Beach off Lopaus Point Road and the former Bass Harbor Marina are among the places spectators can get a good view of the proceedings, Seavey said.
“But if you know somebody with a boat, that’s the place to be,” Rich said.
Follow the Bangor Daily News on Facebook for the latest Maine news.