Maine Marine Rigging (previously Maloney Marine Rigging) hosted a rigging seminar on Friday, Jan. 5 at its rigging shop on Southport. There were 18 attendees, who came from as far away as Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, and from yards and businesses all along the Maine coast. Jay Maloney of Maine Marine Rigging described the seminar as a “basic introduction to rigging and rigging problems.”

The seminar started with short lectures from Maine Marine Rigging’s Maloney, Mike Sussman and Steve Loughran. After lunch, the students were divided into three groups of six for hands-on sessions and demonstrations in splicing, swaging and rod rigging.

The day looked at all aspects of rigging, from traditional to modern but, said Maloney, the focus was on more familiar “day-to-day rigging issues that general-service yards are likely to encounter.”

Attendee Jeremy Maines of Hodgdon Yacht Services said of the day, “It was excellent. They were good at bringing the information to the right level for everyone … all three of them were excellent teachers.”

Although this was not the first seminar the rigging shop has hosted, it was the first held in Southport since Maloney sold the business to Maine Yacht Center in January 2023. Maloney will be retiring at the end of January, when longtime employee Mike Sussman will be taking over as manager. Sussman and Loughran hope to hold more seminars in the future.