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January
2002
Offshore Magazine
Lobstering Ladies
A new Maine calendar celebrates the hardest-working
women in the lobster business.
By Dan Mathers
If there’s one unwritten rule among Down Easters, it’s
that bikinis are bad for lobstering.
Okay, so maybe that isn’t something rolling off the
tongue of every wise, old salt in a Maine lobsterboat.
But it’s still true.
That’s why you won’t find any bikini-clad subjects in
the Lobstering Women of Maine calendar for 2002.
Instead, sweatshirts and workboots are the fashion of
choice.
The calendar was created by Rockland, Maine’s Graycook
Productions - the same folks who created last year’s
popular Bachelor Lobstermen of Maine calendar. On the
heels of their successful men’s calendar, the company
decided to also celebrate Maine’s lobstering women with
their own edition. And, they say, it has so far proven
equally successful, with orders coming in from China to
Europe.
While these pin-up girls might be easy on the eyes,
they’re not just pretty faces. They work one of the
toughest, most dangerous jobs in the country, for man or
woman.
Take Lauren for instance, who is shown sitting in a
boat, oars in hand and coiled rope by her workboots.
Lauren (a.k.a. Miss September) has been lobstering for
12 years and says she knows very well that “it’s bad
luck to whistle on a boat or say the word ‘pig.’ ” Then
there’s Jane (a.k.a. Miss October), who decided to
become captain of her own boat at an age when many
retire. She says, “You’re never too old.”
The calendar is also filled with factoids about
lobstering, such as how a lobsterman’s (or woman’s)
typical day begins at 4 a.m. so that the fleet can be
back in port before the southwest winds pick up in the
afternoon.
The calendar celebrates the female spirit throughout the
year, and caps it all off in December with Linda
Greenlaw, of Perfect Storm-fame and author of The Hungry
Ocean. Greenlaw, who now works her own lobsterboat, the
Mattie Belle, off Isle au Haut, Maine, says, “Finally! A
women’s calendar where T & A stand for turbocharged and
after-cooled.”
To order a calendar, visit www.graycook.com.
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