We’ve been good all year wearing our masks and keeping our distance from one another to beat COVID-19 and, as a result, it could be Christmas in July with us all singing “super yachts are coming to town.” After three years without a harbor pilot, foreign super yachts of 253 feet and up can now cruise into Boothbay Harbor.

Local businessman and maritime go-to man Mark Gimbel said the Hodgdon family reached out to him, Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce and harbormasters Jeff Lowell of Boothbay Harbor and Pete Ripley of Boothbay on the potential for Euro-based super yachts.

Said Gimbel, “Timmy and Audrey Hodgdon … told us (based on information from) their connection with the super yacht community, domestically and in Europe, that European ports were pretty much closed down due to COVID, so they were looking for alternative places to cruise for the summer and fall.”

Audrey Hodgdon, the company’s director of sales and marketing, said the interest came from several of their contacts finding it difficult to land in any of the Mediterranean ports on their itineraries.

“Up to this point, the yachts that you've seen in the Harbor are under 253 feet, so are able to visit without a pilot … (Now) yachts of any size can come into the area … We have been contacted by a few that do require a pilot and are interested in coming to Boothbay Harbor this summer.”

Due to all the hard work over the past several weeks, the local group – with much outside help, Gimbel noted – worked with the Maine Pilotage Commission to get a pilot for the Harbor. Gimbel said the pilot is Brian Downey, MPC administrator since 2013.

Downey and an associate pilot will visit next week for an informal meet and greet with Gimbel, Lowell, Ripley, the Hodgdons and Bruce White of Sea Tow Portland, said Gimbel. “We'll probably give them a tour of the inner and outer harbors even though they've assessed the harbor. With us locals showing them around, I think it'll be a little better for them when a boat does come in.”

Super yacht traffic might run through September, though ships that size cannot typically give a lot of notice, said Gimbel. The hope is these ships will want to come back and more visitors will come see the spectacle. “It's kind of an interesting thing for boaters to go out and circle around some of these big boats. It might create a different venue for some of the excursion boats to sell trips, come out and see the European mega-yachts.”

Said Hodgdon, “Our interest … is for the economic benefit of the Boothbay Region. Many of these big boats often times spend the summer season in the Mediterranean, but because of COVID-19, a higher number than usual have made the decision to stay stateside.”

Addendum: Setting the record straight

By Timothy S. Hodgdon

In 2017, it came to our attention that vessels over 253’ require a pilot to come to Boothbay Harbor and we realized that a pilot did not exist with no way to get one trained within the way the law was written. Experienced pilot Earl Walker had retired after many years of top-notch service to our region. Because of this fact, Boothbay Harbor was being passed over as a destination of choice in favor of
places that were not dealing with this issue (i.e. every other place on the coast of Maine). The economic impact of these large yachts coming to a community is huge. With some significant effort and after three years, as of last Friday July 17, we were able to get this pilotage issue changed and Boothbay Harbor now has a marine pilot available.

One focus of this article that may be misleading and clearly is misinterpreted in the editorial replies is that yachts of this size are not banned from Europe during this global pandemic. Rather, when this virus situation first broke there were many hot spots in Europe such as Italy and other countries making Europe an undesirable place to visit and cruise for these owners. Additionally, many of these large yacht owners are U.S. citizens and have no interest in themselves, their families, or friends traveling to and being in Europe. Consequently, they would rather be in the USA.

Those that we know are honoring the state requirements of quarantining (unless you are a resident of NH, CT, VT, NY, or NJ) or are getting tested. Many are testing their entire crews and conducing themselves appropriately and as safely as possible. Their owners, families, and friends are on board at times and you can believe that they are motivated towards safety with adequate resources to see that it happens. Just like other land-based visitors to the region from out of state, maybe some are less compliant than others but not those that I am aware of.

These yachts (over 253’) represent contracts on the yacht tenders side of our business but their coming to Boothbay Harbor is of no direct benefit to our company in that regard. For other parts of our company they are too big to get into our facilities, they cannot buy fuel from us due to scale, and can’t dock at our marina due to size. They do occasionally need something looked at or fixed that we can help with; but minimally and for the most part, such a service would be a courtesy. However, they do buy provisions at local fish markets, grocery stores, and hardware stores, shop in town, buy lobsters, and eat at local restaurants. They visit local attractions, use local services, buy shoes, or a painting etc. During this current global situation, I doubt that they will venture off their yachts as much as usual with visiting the area and supporting the local economy; but it certainly can’t hurt. Our community needs to generate business during these bizarre days (jobs and revenue). Our interest is towards the benefit of the region today with a longer-range vision ahead.