Portland Yacht Services was a hive of activity on this morning in late April as the boating season was about to burst open like the trees, shrubs and flowers along the Portland, Maine, waterfront. The pace at the boatyard on West Commercial Street was industrious, but not frenetic. Everything felt under control as I walked the full-service yard with owner Phineas Sprague Jr. and his wife, Joanna.
The yard is unique for the range of vessels it repairs and services: 70-mph freshwater bass boats and 90-foot fishing draggers; classic wooden cruisers and many of the tugs, ferries, lobster boats and other commercial craft found in Portland Harbor; wooden schooners and the full array of fiberglass pleasure boats. That’s the reason the shipyard invested in a 300-ton Travelift to augment its 150-ton lift.
I’ve been around a lot of boatyards in spring, and this one felt particularly calm. There was plenty of work going on but no shouting. No foreman losing his cool on a wide-eyed scrub new to boatyard work. Everyone was focused and busy. We walked and talked for more than two hours as I scribbled notes and surveyed the diverse fleet of recreational and commercial craft in the 16-plus-acre yard. After an hour, I was surprised to realize that the cell phone in the chest pocket of Sprague’s wool vest rarely rang. In most yards this time of year the top guy is inundated with calls from owners or yard workers. What was up?
“You noticed no phone calls,” Sprague said. “They don’t need me. That lets me be free to
