ME Boatbuilders Show - Portland Maine

If owning a classic Maine built power or sailboat is your dream, then you need to attend the Maine Boat builders show on Fore Street each year in Portland. I was happy to help my friend Tony Widmann sell or attempt to sell boat show attendees who came by the Harbor sailboat display area. You can see a sliver of the Harbor 25 behind Tony and me in this photo. The Harbor 25 is a California built boat with classic Down East Maine styled lines. After the show, the boat you see in the photo is en route to Lake Sunapee New Hampshire for delivery to it's new owner.

I've known Tony for four years. Last year Tony hired me to sell his Freeport house when he decided to relocate to Connecticut. Tony is a venerable yachtsman and a terrific guy who owns Proper Yachts: Fine Sailboats and Powerboats for Sailors http://www.proper-yachts.com/ Proper Yachts has the New York and New England distribution rights to the Harbor 20, Harbor 25, and soon to be the Harbor 30.

I met many people at the show who know me as a Realtor; consequently I had many conversations explaining that I was still in the real estate business. Saturday morning, I had a showing at a wonderful listing of mine at 72 Webster Road in Freeport. The potential buyer is from Virginia and she couldn't have been more taken with this lovely home. You can see it on http://www.realtor.com/; simply select the price range from $400k to $450k option as the home is priced at $449,900.

After the boat show, Tony took me to the Muddy Rudder in Freeport for dinner. I enjoyed hearing about Tony's illustrious business career including a few good stories about his Navy days as an officer. Officer Widmann served in the Navy during the Korean war aboard a 350' (approximate length) ship called the APD Liddle. I laughed when Tony told me that APD was jokingly referred to by the crew as the All Purpose Dog. The Liddle had served in the Pacific theatre during World War II. The Liddle survived a Kamikaze attack which tragically killed many sailors, destroying the wheelhouse and communication tower. Although it's engines were unharmed, the Liddle limped back to port in Hawaii with a manual steering device which made it difficult to manoeuvre through the heavy swells of the Pacific. The ship was moth balled after the war and then brought back to life for the Korean war. Tony was an officer with about 100 men serving under him. The ship conducted a wide range of war game missions to keep the sailors prepared for anti-submarine fire including non-explosive torpedoes that were fired at the Liddle. Tony remembered a refueling operation in the middle of the Atlantic with an aircraft carrier. During one refueling mission, the Liddle almost had a dangerous collision with the aircraft carrier when the two ships got dangerously close. As I recall from Tony's story, the captain of the Liddle
was left speechless when he saw that a collision was imminent. Fortunately, a junior executive officer took decisive corrective action which prevented the collision. The captain tried to save face with his men and tried to blame the executive officer for the near collision. Several months later the captain was forcibly removed. He apparently made regular mistakes and bad decisions.

That's it for now. As you can see I can easily ramble on with nautical intrigue.