Maine Yacht Center refitted the hi-tech IMOCA 60, Great American IV, for Rich Wilson who is competing for the second time in the grueling Vendée Globe, a 28,000-mile solo circumnavigation.
Nautical charts of the Maine coast were first produced in the late 1860s. Since then, evolving technology has led to increasingly detailed knowledge of the ocean bottom.
Maine’s stellar reputation for new boat construction gets the limelight. But it is all-purpose yards like Great Island Boat Yard with their capacity for service, repairs and refits that are the backbone of the state’s maritime industry today. Searching for more meaningful lives, Great Island owners Steve and Stephanie Rowe left high-powered corporate jobs to run the yard.
Founded by Bill Lowe of Owls Head, Maine, who started out making special metal fittings for yachts, Lowe Hardware has expanded into the high-end custom hardware home market. The company makes doorknobs, pulls, hinges, cabinet handles, and even fittings for furniture, in finishes that range from shiny or rough bronze to gold-plated brass or nickel.
<em>Tubby Legs</em>, a Finboat designed by Harry Bryan of New Brunswick, Canada, has a flexible fin off the stern. Reciprocating foot pedals push the fin back and forth, propelling the vessel through the water like an undulating fish. It’s the eighth boat built at Islesford Boatworks, a summer boatbuilding school.
