Beals Island Lobsterboat

Sunday saw the third annual Temple Tiny Regatta, in Center Harbor here in Brooklin, Maine 

TTR tradition means wearing as much nautical regalia as you can scavenge and sailing the smallest boat you can find as fast as you can, without smashing into too many other people doing the same thing. I like the lines of this classic Beals Island lobsterboat, which had come across from Rockport for the day.

When I was a kid in Cape Porpoise, Maine in the Sixties this was pretty much the vernacular style of work boat, often powered by a Buick V8. Lobsterboats run diesel now, and like everything else in American life they have been supersized. So it was nice to see the Janette Lamson looking so sleek and nimble. According to her owner, Alec Brainerd of Artisan Boatworks in Rockport,  
"She was built by Vinal Beal along with his son Osmond on Beals Island, Maine in 1963/64. I was told that it was the first boat that Vinal & Osmond built together.  She's skeg-built, cedar on oak, with glass over the house and deck. She's 33' long, 9 1/2 ft wide, and has a V8 455 Olds engine. (The perfect marriage of Maine and Michigan!) The Janette Lamson will be available for bare boat charter by the week once we finish a few interior modifications."--AB