2 years ago
BELFAST (NEWS CENTER) -- The Belfast Boatbuilding Challenge is growing into a celebration of the Belfast's strong maritime tradition. 91 year-old Lawrence Lord is part of Maine's maritime history. He worked aboard the Jacob Pike just after it was built in 1949.
"I was the engineer on here but I cooked, took care of the engines, took care of the radar," Lord said. "I was the handyman and by brother took care of the boat."
Lord was visiting the Jacob Pike at the Belfast Marine Heritage Festival, where the Penobscot Marine Museum has the historic boat on display. It's part of a growing effort to celebrate Belfast's marine history.
"We're trying to tailor the event so we have a reflection of traditional crafts, work that could have gone on here a hundred years ago, Event Chairman Michael Cunning said."
That tradition could be seen in the vendors and exhibits in heritage park, and in the second annual Boatbuilding Challenge.
"Everybody has the same boat, everybody has the same design, everybody has the same tools," Boat Building Commissioner Rob Dwelley said. "They have four horus to build a Monhegan Skip which is just a simple 12 foor long flat bottom skiff that the lobstermen out of Monhegan use."
There are boat building competitions in New York, North Carolina, and South Carolina. But competition organizers in Belfast say their boat builders have a leg up on the competition.
"We certainly have a deeper, more historical basis here than you have in any of those venues," Dwelley said. Kevin Brassbridge and Larry Jones won a second prize of three hundred dollars. Bill Corbett and Jarlath Mcentree of Team Castine won first prize. They took home five hundred dollars with their winning time of two hours, fifty-four minutes and eleven seconds
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