March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

2 brothers tops at trap hauling> Eatons’ time best in Stonington race

STONINGTON — The murmur from the crowd as two fishermen wearing blaze orange sprint down the weathered pier to their boat is a sure sign something worth watching is about to happen.

“Those are Ken Eaton’s boys,” notes a knowing white-haired bystander, as if that simple statement explains everything. “They’re strong and they’re fast,” he adds.

When the sturdily built, brown-skinned duo take a short leap from the pier onto the waiting Helen Arlene, dark-haired brother Tim slips a little, landing on his ankle. Despite the misstep, Tim’s lighter-haired brother Jeff kicks the lobster boat into high gear, and the two men donning oilskin overalls speed off.

After the pair whizzes past the pier a short distance, the throng of onlookers can just make out their fog-enveloped outline as they whip first one wire-mesh trap, then another, onto the deck, and snap them open and shut.

Working the trap lines ripcord-fast, Tim Eaton tosses the traps back over as Jeff Eaton turns the boat about and shoots back through the pink markers denoting the finish line.

In one minute, 20 seconds, the Eaton brothers have successfully defended, by six seconds, the first-place honors they have cornered three years in a row at the annual trap-hauling contest.

The event was one of several on Fisherman’s Day sponsored by the Island Fishermen’s Wives Association to salute the fishing industry. Each of five pairs of fishermen replayed the basic trap-hauling contest scenario, with the top three winning trophies and cash prizes.

Playing down the victory even as he admitted that convivial bragging starts three weeks beforehand, a hot dog-eating Tim Eaton said he was glad he kept his concentration, and his footing, during the competition.

“That water would have been hard to breathe,” he said, grinning from beneath his dark cap.

On a more serious note, Tim Eaton said he worries about getting his hands caught in the gear as the lines flash through them, or losing his balance and going overboard in choppy seas.

“Staying in the boat is vital,” he said.

Jeff and Tim Eaton have somehow managed to stay afloat since they began fishing about a dozen years ago in high school. They fish separately, but each hauls 300 to 400 4-foot traps daily, Tim estimated.

The older of the brothers, 30-year-old Tim, said the heavy lifting involved in hoisting 75-pound traps is the hardest part of his work. “I’m lifting traps half my weight,” said the slim, well-muscled fisherman as he glanced down his tattooed arm for emphasis.

Tim’s brother Jeff faces similar demands.

Wearing the trademark purple and white T-shirt of her organization, IFWA volunteer Luann Eaton described her 28-year-old husband, Jeff, as a hard worker. It would have been hard to argue with her Sunday, as Jeff captained the winning trap-hauling boat and still had to worry about pulling off the festival’s lobster dinner he had helped coordinate.

Wearing his own “Wives” T-shirt, Jeff Eaton could be seen during a brief break in the action Sunday leaning against the pier railing and scarfing down a pepper-and-cheese steak, as he waited his turn at the wacky rowboat races. The races pair a fully sighted “navigator” with a blindfolded oarsman.

Most days are more work than play as Jeff Eaton fishes for lobsters or sea urchins. His children, 16-year-old Wilbert and 10-year-old Helen, are getting into the act.

Wilbert has been hauling traps for three years, and has his own powerboat, said his mom. Helen, a “daddy’s girl,” likes to do everything her dad does, although she’s not yet proficient in boat operation.

In keeping with the festival’s emphasis on safety, the most serious injury incurred in the hourlong trap hauling contest was probably third-place winner Billy Nutter’s cut finger and sore head.

“Skipper cut me and kicked me in the head,” said Nutter, laughing about colliding with his partner as they made the leap into their own boat for the contest.

Nutter credited the event with showing people the risks and challenges fishermen face every day. He said he had just recently begun to work again since having to invest $50,000 to replace a 43-year-old boat that sank in January.


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