Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine will present its annual boat and coastal lifestyle show on the waterfront in Rockland, Maine, August 13-15. This year’s show will continue to examine how “Tradition Shapes Innovation,” which reflects how the traditions and styles of Maine’s past mix with innovations in design and emerging technologies to shape our future.
A special exhibit-“The Evolution of the Maine Lobsterboat”-will demonstrate how the Maine lobster boat hull has evolved over time. The collection will begin with Maine’s earliest workboat, the dory, and move through more evolved inshore craft-the peapod, the Hampton, and the Friendship sloop-to today’s high-powered lobster boats.
“Maine is fortunate that the past here is not forgotten and that our traditions shape our future,” said John K. Hanson, Jr., founder of the magazine and the show. “There is a continuity of design, and our working heritage shapes our pleasure craft of today.”
Among the boats on exhibit will be:
* A North Shore Dory, also known as a Swampscott Dory, built by the Apprenticeshop. The structure of a dory is flat-bottomed, without a keel, and with the sides and bottom planked lengthwise. The dory dates back to the 1800s.
* Peapods-A Downeast Peapod that is more than 100 years old, another built by Capt. Havilah H. Hawkins, Sr.-and a 14-foot Washington County Peapod. The peapod has a symmetrical bow and stern, and is one of Maine’s most iconic boats.
* A Pulsifer Hampton, a design based on the Casco Bay Hampton, a lobster boat built by Charlie Gomes between 1902 and the 1950s.
* The Friendship Sloop, Rights of Man, built at Lash Brothers boatyard in Friendship and launched in 1965. A popular design up and down the coast, in 21- to 50-foot lengths, with an elliptical stern, gaff rig and often with a clipper bow.
* The Jonesport-style lobsterboat Brimstone, the second to last built by Harold Gower of Beals Island. The skeg-built hull produced a lighter hull and greater speed.
* The “World’s Fastest Lobsterboat” Man O War, a classic fiberglass lobsterboat, designed by Carroll Lowell and built on a Holland 38 hull by Custom Coatings of Thomaston.
Northeast Historic Film of Bucksport will host a weekend of maritime movies at the Rockland Yacht Club building on show grounds. Featured will be “In Our Wake-Maine’s Maritime Heritage on Film,” which includes historic imagery of lobstering, four-masted schooners, rescues at sea, tuna fishing and a launching from 1902. Additional films and talks will also be offered.
Daily demonstrations will take place in the inner harbor, featuring unmanned sailboat models from Educational Passages that were designed to sail (down wind) for months. The models are being used to study ocean wind and currents, and are equipped with GPS technology that allows online monitoring of course, position, speed, and wave height. The project is the result of a collaboration among midcoast-area designers, builders and schools.
The 8th Annual World Championship Boatyard Dog® Trials: This zany head-to-paw competition among the cream of Maine’s canine corps will be held Sunday at 10:30 a.m., and is always a crowd favorite. (Pre-qualified dogs only. No other dogs or pets allowed on show grounds.)
For more information about the show, its exhibitors and collaborative community events, visit www.maineboats.com