(upbeat music) (projector clicking) - Have you ever wondered where the television signal you're watching is coming from?

♪ I love to go a wanderin' (projector clicking) ♪ along the mountain track - Welcome to True North.

(upbeat music) (mysterious music) - Good evening and welcome to Mainewatch (upbeat music) (projector clicking) Welcome to From The Vault, a celebration of 60 years of Maine Public Television.

On this episode, we take to the skies for two programs that feature ballooning in Maine.

Our state is home to a few historic ballooning milestones.

The first successful transatlantic flight in a gas balloon began at a potato farm in Presque Isle on August 11th, 1978, with the first successful hot air balloon flight across the ocean taking off from Sugarloaf Mountain on July 2nd.

1987.

Another first began on September 5th, 1992.

And that's what we will feature in our first program.

We will go back to 1993 for "The Great Transatlantic Balloon Race".

Five international teams set off from Bangor for the first ever balloon race across the Atlantic Ocean.

It was a daring proposition with only five successful crossings having previously been made out of 16 attempts with three resulting in death.

You meet the people involved and fly along to experience the danger and magic of ballooning across an ocean.

Then we check out a variety of transportation methods as we go back to the year 2000 for an episode of "True North".

We start with the annual Great Falls Balloon Festival in Lewiston.

Now perhaps you went to this year's event, which has been a yearly attraction since 1992.

Then we trade air for water and sail along with the Eggemoggin Reach Regatta, an annual event since 1995, with the most recent one just a few weeks ago.

Then we hit the road and had to Gardiner to visit cruise-in night at Ainslie's Market.

If you've been to the waterfront, cruise-in night there on summer Thursdays, well you can see where it all began back on Route 201.

We have a lot of ground and air and water to cover in this episode.

So let's get going.

As we go back to 1993 for "The Great Transatlantic Balloon Race".

(instrumental music) - [Narrator] Since the beginning of time, human beings have wondered about the vast expanse of the Atlantic ocean.

To cross it has been a quest of many great explorers, Columbus, Magellan, Lindbergh.

Today crossing the Atlantic is an everyday occurrence.

Aircraft crisscross the ocean constantly, but only a handful of people have crossed it in a balloon.

To cross it in a balloon is an adventure requiring experts and the latest technology.

To race across the Atlantic with five balloons is something that had never been done until the Great Transatlantic Balloon Race.

(upbeat music) Five teams arrived in Bangor in mid August, 1992, to prepare for the first ever transatlantic balloon race.

They came from the countries of Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States.

The teams consist of many of the world's most renowned balloonist and adventurers.

Among the more colorful figures are Wim Verstraeten of the Belgium team.

He was the first person to fly over Mount Kilimanjaro in a balloon.

His partner, Bertrand Piccard, holds the world altitude record in a hang glider at 15,000 feet.

Jochen Maas of the German team is a formula one racing champion and a winner of the Le Man's 24 hour race.

His co-pilot, Erich Krafft, flew a balloon across Australia in 1988.

Evert Louwman of the Netherlands is a transatlantic veteran, having made an unsuccessful attempt in 1985.

Richard Abruzzo of the United States is the son of the legendary Ben Abruzzo, the captain of the first balloon across the Atlantic.

Don Cameron of Great Britain, is one of the architects of the balloon race and the designer of the identical balloons the teams will be flying.

His co-pilot is Rob Bayly, television producer for the BBC.

- The dream of 10 years that's coming true.

Don Cameron and I had the idea when we're at a balloon meet in the United States down in New Mexico in 1982.

At that time, the Atlantic had only been flown once successfully and that of course was by Richard Abruzzo's father's team.

And we got together with a load of pilots down there and we said, Hey wouldn't it be great to have an Atlantic balloon race?

And they all said, sure.

- It's a kind of obvious idea, really because there was the race to be first across the ocean.

And then since then a number of balloons who have done it, but it's such a wonderful sport.

It's just a combination of human and technical things that it deserves to be kept going and by racing it, it gives it a forum to do that.

- [Narrator] For Don Cameron, the race is more than the challenge of a new balloon design.

It is a rematch with the Atlantic.

He was one of the first to attempt to cross the Atlantic more than a decade ago.

His team made it to within sight of the European coast only to be forced to ditch in the ocean.

- It was more than disappointing.

We felt quite good.

We'd got further than anyone else ever had before.

And we thought we'd do it next year.

But unfortunately an American team did it three weeks later.

So that was frustrating.

- I invited Don onto a program I was working on about 10 years ago, a children's television program.

And the main reason was to have him talk about his transatlantic attempt he just made.

And I got so fascinated by this.

I decided it would be a nice sport to carry on with.

And I kept in touch with Don and with ballooning but actually I met Julia soon after that.

And we just were talking together and saying what sort of sport should we do together?

We had no idea that we would get involved in a race of this magnitude at that time - Julia Bayly, Rob's wife, is manager of the team and an expert balloonist.

- Ballooning is very like other outdoor activities.

I was into sailing before we became balloonists and before we were married, in fact I taught Rob how to windsurf.

At least I taught him how to go out there.

- You did not teach me how to windsurf.

- I taught him how to go out there, but not turn around.

So I had to go and rescue him in the rescue boat.

But then when we got married, sailing wasn't Rob's thing.

He's not particularly the world's best sailor.

So we looked at the sport that we could do together.

- [Narrator] The balloon to be flown by all the teams is called a Roziere Balloon.

It consists of a bag containing 77,000 cubic feet of helium which is heated by a propane burner.

The burner is what makes this design unique.

In a traditional gas balloon, the balloon is lifted solely by the gas's buoyancy.

At night, when the temperature drops the gas loses buoyancy and the balloon will descend unless weight is thrown overboard.

In the morning the combination of higher temperatures and reduced weight will cause the balloon to rise quickly unless gas is released.

The alternate loss of weight and gas dramatically reduces the balloons flight time.

In the Roziere design, the burner heats the gas at night to maintain altitude.

This reduces the need to drop weight and release gas making for much longer flight times.

The gondola, made of lightweight Kevlar, carries the latest communication and navigation equipment.

- This one is the antenna for the VHF radio for speaking to air traffic control.

This is the satellite communication system which is a really wonderful system.

We have a little computer on board and we can type in a message.

It goes up to a satellite, goes down to a cost station in Holland, and then it can go to any fax number anywhere in the world.

This little antenna here is the GPS antenna.

I was running it this morning and it was giving the latitude and longitude to 100th of a minute.

And it was saying on it that it was achieving an accuracy of 93 feet.

So this is quite unbelievable.

When I tried to do this 14 years ago the best system we had was Astra navigation using the sextant, which gives an accuracy if you're in practice of something like three miles.

So it's a lot better.

I'm still taking this sextant just in case all of these electronic wonders fail.

That sound is the sound of a weather facsimile chart coming over the airwaves.

This one's coming from Norfolk, Virginia and it's an extremely useful feature.

It's coming into an HF transceiver here.

That's a short wave radio and passes from there into the weather facsimile system.

And from this slot at the end of the transmission we'll probably get a map which gives us the up to date weather charts.

Very valuable thing to have because relying on verbal descriptions can be not quite so good.

This is being used as a trash basket at the moment, but these are the facilities, rendered more hygienic by the use of plastic bags.

The nautical fraternity call it the bucket and chuck it system.

- [Narrator] In their first few days in Bangor, the teams are treated to a great deal of hospitality.

They meet their ground teams made up of local groups.

The atmosphere surrounding the whole event is festive but everyone realizes that the weather is the key factor in starting the race.

- We need two conditions to fly, which is a good system that blows us from west to east across the Atlantic.

But you need good launch conditions too.

And for that, we need nice calm conditions on the ground.

- [Narrator] Not knowing when or if a launch will be possible, the teams take advantage of the time to train with the equipment and to do some occasional sight scene.

Meanwhile, some events are scheduled to keep up the excitement.

One event that generates considerable interest is what is known in ballooning as a moon glow.

With music provided by musician, Steve Jollif, hot air balloons light up creating a picturesque event.

(flute music playing) - But after the partying is over, the serious business of waiting continues.

Time after time, the race is hampered by either dreadful surface conditions or an airflow pattern over the Atlantic that would steer the balloons way off course.

And the teams are becoming anxious.

- The Atlantic flow is deteriorating as fast as the local conditions are getting better.

So it's very frustrating.

And of course, we're getting very worried because we don't have that many shopping days left as somebody put it.

- [Narrator] But just a few days later, weather conditions have changed.

- Looking very good at the moment, we have quite a big area of high pressure over the Atlantic and high level tracks going over it.

So it gives the opportunity on paper to not only fly over, but to fly over in good weather the whole way.

It's rather slow, but we don't mind that if it's true.

With weather, you just never know.

So we're going to be cautiously optimistic at this stage.

- [Narrator] After the final weather briefing, the teams begin to make preparations to move the equipment to the launch field.

(instrumental music) - I'm optimistic.

You have to be, and I'm hopeful we'll get off.

But, also I'm not gonna say for sure that we're going.

- I think the most emotional thing in your life to do this is crossing and I did it once as you maybe know.

And we fell then in the middle of the ocean.

So for me, it has some, I still see the ditching in the water, et cetera.

So I would say I've have special butterflies in my stomach.

- You feel, I feel fine.

You know, I had a bit of sleep this afternoon, but having seen this project build up over a year, which is I mean, more than the other teams actually, the other teams we all came together a month ago and we've seen everything here.

But I've been watching the balloons right from the first stitches being sewn and the capsules being painted, you know?

And it's just a fantastic project coming to a peak like this.

- Good evening, everybody.

Sorry to kept you waiting.

We've just had a weather update.

The weather situation is very good and we are going to fly.

The expected takeoff time is between 2:00 AM and 3:00 AM - Don't you drop that.

- Too far, we're too far up that way.

- I dunno whether to run around and do things or to stand still or not do anything.

People keep offer me lifts.

I have a golf cart and the lion's top here, but I really rather walk to get the energy and the adrenaline going.

I've had something to eat.

And once I think the helium starts going, that'll take ages and it'll take good two hours to fill the balloon.

But that really means it's it.

And, and there'll go.

So apprehension, nerves.

I dunno why nerves cause my job's nothing compared to theirs, but still jealousy that I wish I was going.

(gas roaring) (instrumental music) (audience applause) - [Announcer] The ceremonial green flags, on the count of three.

One, two, three.

Be on your way gentlemen.

(audience applause) (instrumental music) (spectators clapping) - Okay, you're free and clear.

(crowd cheering) - I love you.

(crowd cheering) (crowd cheering) - We've been flying for four hours or so.

It's now dawn, now after dawn, nice and bright.

We're moving too fast to the south really.

And we expect across the bottom of Nova Scotia, I guess.

So we haven't quite left land for good.

Well, we've called Moncton on the radio, the Canadian air traffic we're running through, and they assure us that the noise we've been hearing is one of the fog horns coming up from Yarmouth.

There are 15 fog horns down there and they all groan at various pitches.

So from 9,000 feet below, we're hearing fog horns.

There's no panic, there's nothing wrong with the balloon.

(radio transmission from the Concord) - We heard you, Concord.

I think we just got a little bit of a bang from you.

- We floated between about 7,000 to 12,000 feet for most of it.

Above 10,000 feet, we were using oxygen to breathe I was surprised overall, how hot it got.

I took clothing, a lot of thermal insulated clothing.

We had these warm coats, which we could have wrapped up in and embarrassing shots of us sitting around, Dom in his string vest, and me and my briefs.

Just keeping cool in there.

(radio transmission) - It is now day three.

I calculated we've been in the air 80 hours.

- Is it day three?

Or I lost track of how many days.

- Yeah, we've done two nights.

- Two full nights.

- Yes.

- And we took off on the night, that's right.

- So - We're certainly not going to be home tonight.

- 80 hours is a pretty respectful flight.

- I know.

- We seem to have got off lucky.

We've got light drizzle out there now, (burner roaring) but Chrysler Two had huge problems.

They had heavy rain, flying through rain all night.

Had to burn light mad just to stay up.

And we haven't got the latest but we understand they're gonna have to ditch today.

- Yes.

It's rather rather unpleasant.

And of course, none of us knows who's next.

If this weather does turn nasty.

So even a shower is worrying.

We wonder how much more of it is going to be.

But the rain we've had is clearly nothing like the rain that was suffered by the Germans.

- [Germans] Well, we are, we are still airborne, but we are close to the water and our gas is nearly over.

- Are you planning a ditching then in the near future?

- [Germans] Yeah, we have to.

- Did you get very wet inside?

We just had some rain here and it immediately was leaking in.

- [Germans] Well, we got rain through every hole.

We have to start five centimeter of water in the capsule.

- What in the bottom of the capsule?

Five centimeters of water?

- [Germans] Yes.

- And Jochen are ditching.

- They're ditching and I've just been looking at this sea and it's fairly rough.

It's not terrible, but it's fairly rough.

It's probably 25 knocks down there.

- Obviously there's a rescue boat there with them.

They've been planning this all afternoon.

Jochen's been incredibly professional.

I mean, just listening out.

He's really calm.

- He is.

- He's just talking through it and I'm sure they'll be fine.

- Yes, he is a switch and guide.

Would you say that's rain falling over there?

I think it is.

- Yes.

10 miles away.

- Still get plenty sponge.

- Yeah.

About 20.

Well it's now 9:51 on our fourth day flying and is rather good news basically.

You've been flying, I've just woken up so I'm a bit blurry eye as you can probably tell.

Is that the longest you've ever flown?

- Yes, it is, never flown as long as this.

- Congratulations.

(Don and Rob laughing) - Well, I wanted a congratulations.

- The longest I've ever flown was about three days ago.

Anyway - We've got this morning, all night we went through some rather dark clouds and odd little bits of turbulence and the beginnings of showers.

And we kept worrying that we were going to meet the same fate as the German team and anyhow we got through it.

The light came through and it was clear that we were under a very heavy layer of gray cloud.

We went up through that and found that we had clear air between layers.

And went up through the next layer and to great relief, we were in blue sky at 6,800.

(tank roaring) - That's it?

- Right, well only 20 miles to go.

We're in our survival suits.

These, we put these funny suits on because we had that bit of a panic earlier with the envelope making strange cracking sounds.

We never found out what it was, but - No.

- We're still here.

- It stopped doing it and we can't really find out until we do a thorough inspection, but it was good exercise anyway, cause we always talked about what it would take to get into these.

And it took 10 minutes.

- Wow, I wasn't timing it exactly.

- It was reasonably quick, but you could imagine some things it wouldn't be quick enough for.

- So anyway, we've got them on.

We're boiling hot and I'm about to take mine off I think.

Tempting fate, but we are 20 miles, We are one hour, one hour from the coastline.

20 miles and our fingers are crossed.

We, anything, God, I mean.

- When you Atlantic balloon, when you Atlantic balloon, anything can happen and having done it once before and got in sight coast and not reached it, I'm extremely cynical this time, but.

- I keep telling Don isn't this great, you know we're gonna be the, I think it's the seventh ever balloon across the Atlantic.

And he says don't your chickens yet.

(Don and Rob laughing) - Absolutely.

- Anyway, I'm buying Don a glass of red wine if we get there cause he's been off it for the past three or four months, so, is that right?

- That's right.

Yes.

Been in training.

- Let's see when the coast comes in sight.

Let's have a look at the map.

So we're proceeding on this track in here off the coast of Portugal.

- We are both near.

- And who have we got, Americans south here.

And it's amazing that the Americans are here.

The Dutch were there.

So they're not that far apart.

And they've shot up towards England.

- They were there yesterday.

- Yeah, the Americans are there now.

(tank roaring) - Come on, cut the shell.

- Okay we're going to swoop again.

(dramatic music) - It's a marathon doing an Atlantic balloon flight but quite an adventure and I don't think it has a happy ending.

We're rather a nice spot.

- Balloon's in left in one piece and we're in one piece.

We're in Portugal.

(instrumental music) - On this episode of True North, we'll take a look at some of the fun and sometimes unique ways Mainers like to get around.

We'll take a flight on a hot air balloon and get a bird's eye view of Lewiston Auburn at the Great Falls Balloon Festival.

We'll find out why wooden boat enthusiasts make an annual pilgrimage to the Eggemoggin Reach Wooden Boat Regatta.

And we'll step back through time to the era of Chubby Checker and cool hot rods at Cruise Night in Gardiner.

That's coming right up on True North: The main PBS series that celebrates our rich cultural fabric one Maine story at a time.

(up-beat intro plays) Welcome to True North, I'm your host Peggy Keyser.

Mainers are certainly known for their practicality, their Yankee ingenuity, and their appreciation for quality from the past.

That's why we're here at the Owls Head Transportation Museum where we knew we would find plenty of examples of vintage modes of transport.

On this week's True North, we're gonna take a look at some of the more interesting ways that Mainers choose to get from here to there, whether they have a definite destination or they're just heading out for a joy ride.

First up, we'll fly to LA, that's Lewiston Auburn, to see Maine's largest congregation of hot air balloons as producer Anne Sielaff takes us for a ride at the Great Falls Balloon Festival.

(plane engine revs) (sentimental music plays) - [Anne] Normally I'm pretty scared of heights, I really don't even like to think about them.

But for some reason I have always wanted to take a hot air balloon ride.

I think my desire to try this was mostly to get a chance to see the beautiful scenery from up over a thousand feet in the air, but also to experience what it's like to float rather than fly through the air.

And the Great Falls Balloon Festival in Lewiston Auburn is a wonderful way to experience it.

- [Walter] Ballooning is a very solitary sport, and this gives us a chance to all get together and swap stories and have a little fun.

And we enjoy the show as much as anybody else does.

Most of the festival participants here have come back year, after year, after year.

So we're getting a reputation into England as being one of the premier festivals.

And I believe we're one of the top two or three largest in New England as well, as far as the number of balloons go.

- [Doug] The festival is in its seventh year.

It started as a project for the Chamber of Commerce.

When we were looking for some reason to attract tourists or some way to attract tourists to Lewiston Auburn, a pretty blue collar community, and we saw the tourists going into the mountains, we saw the tourists going up the coast.

And we were trying to figure out ways to do that.

And the balloon festival came out of that one person's idea.

And we started from there.

- [Anne] What started as a small festival for just a few balloonists, has turned into a major event for the Lewiston Auburn communities.

Attracting over a hundred thousand people to the area during the course of the three day event.

The balloon festival works hard to keep track of the impact this festival has in the Lewiston Auburn area.

- [Man] I hear this is the best pizza in the whole place.

- [Woman] Oh yeah, right.

- [Man] That true?

- Oh yeah, no doubt.

Hey... - [Anne] Something else very special about this festival is that all the food vendors are non-profit groups.

And along with making a substantial amount of money, they also enjoy spending time out in the community.

- It's a fun event.

We have a good time.

We make money that helps out a lot with services like Meals on Wheels, or congregate meals, or services helping seniors in their home.

We find it's real rewarding for employees to come down and put in their time, so that they feel they've been a part of it.

It's a lot of fun.

- We're gonna raise money for cheerleading and we're hoping to get... to get friends.

I don't know.

(girls laugh) Hope to have a good time.

- Yeah.

- [Anne] Yeah, so the money that you raised doesn't... is gonna go to... - For sports, - Yeah, sports.

And in-between sports together.

- It's gonna go for all sports like soccer, field hockey, cheering, football.

- [Dan] It's not a a centralized festival where it all happens in one place.

It happens there, but once the balloons take off, the festival becomes with the balloons, wherever they're going, the festival tends to follow along.

And wherever the balloons land, it just becomes a great big party.

(guitar strums play) (guitar music continues) (music drowns out man on radio) - Uncle Sam, but we lost him.

- [Woman] You lost who?

- Uncle Sam, big guy, big red ballon head.

Anybody seen him?

- What are you... (plane engine rumbles) (vehicle crackles) (shoes crunch) - [Anne] So anybody could learn to fly a balloon if they wanted to, or did they have like classes where... - Time and money.

- [Anne] Time and money.

- As a...

I'm a commercial pilot.

And as a commercial pilot, we are instructors, which is the only class of aircraft which doesn't have a separate instructor rating.

Morning!

I talked to fixed wing pilots and they all say, "You know you guys are the last of the pure fun flyers, 'cause you never know where you're gonna wind up."

- [Woman On Radio] You wouldn't happen to be crossing a river over there would you?

- No, I don't believe it.

I'm gonna try to work my way out towards Danny's house.

- [Dan] You know, a fixed winger, he takes off.

He knows where he's going.

He has a destination in mind.

We don't.

You know, we're all gonna go out there somewhere, but it's to actually know where I'm gonna land, ain't got a clue.

- [Orvin] You just got so much time to casually look around and see what's going on around you and talk to people on the ground.

And it's just a completely different sensation for flying.

It's a hobby that's outta hand.

But because of it gives us the opportunity to do quite a bit of traveling.

This my first time to Maine, I've been to upstate New York flying balloons but I've never been to Maine.

And I was anxious to come here and it's gorgeous out here.

Very, very, pretty country.

Back where I'm from, we... it's all open countryside, all crops.

We have landing spots everywhere here, with all your trees you have to kind of pick and choose your landing spots as they appear.

- [Anne] Being in a balloon allows you to fly very close to the ground, and I would think you might see things a lot of people don't.

- It's not unusual to see someone out on their deck clothed less than... less.

(air whooshing) Sometimes they're so in awe by the balloons going over, they forget about the fact that whoops, they forgot to get totally dressed in the morning.

And that's always kind of comical.

- [Dan] 'Cause we fly over at six o'clock in the morning, people come out in their pajamas and night coats and everything else.

You're always, you know, "Good morning," you know.

(indistinct) Is the coffee on?

- [Anne] Something else I didn't know before I took my balloon ride was the tradition of sharing champagne once you've landed.

So Walter, can you tell me what the champagne... Why you do this ceremony?

- The tradition started back in France where they first started ballooning.

That the natives as they landed in a locals yard, they would be misinterpreted as aliens from outer space, so they would carry a bottle of local champagne with them to present to the landowner to prove that they were not indeed from outer space, that they were a local of balloon pilots.

- [Anne] What year?

What years are we talking?

- We're talking like in the late 1800's.

- [Anne] Yeah?

- Yeah.

- [Anne] That's neat.

So do most balloonists do this then?

- Yes.

It's tradition.

- [Anne] Tradition.

- This is to thank you for the use of your field and... - Oh wow.

- We really appreciate - Thank you very much, Walter.

from your land, we all thank you.

- Yeah.

That was very nice.

- Glad you enjoyed us.

Thanks for your help.

- That's the part of any festival to me is coming into a community where I've never been and then meeting the local people, relying on them, developing an instant trust factor.

They trust me, I trust them, developing that bond with not just the passengers that I take, but also with the crew that I work with here for the weekend.

We become friends for... friends forever.

- [Man] What's the name for this procedure?

(men and women laugh) - The most fun part is seeing people who've never been up in a hot air balloon before, seeing their face when they leave the ground and being completely nervous, and scared, and giving them a nice flight, an enjoyable flight.

And seeing that it's not as scary as everybody thinks.

I wouldn't go up in one of those crazy things for nothing.

And if I can get 'em up in the air and give 'em a nice flight, so they enjoy it and seeing their face.

That's a real fun part.

- [Anne] For True North, I'm Anne Sielaff.

(up-beat music plays) - There's nothing quite like a hot air balloon.

It's silent, passing, and drifting at the whim of the wind make it one of the least practical ways of getting around, but certainly one of the most romantic.

But romance can be found in many places.

The sea, for instance, can be one of the most romantic and timeless settings.

Add a few sleek boats, and the romance of the sea comes to life, especially on a wooden boat.

Let's join producer Brad Smith at the world's largest wooden boat regatta on a reach they call Eggemoggin.

(calming music plays) (men shout) - There is something about these boats that touches people, somewhere deep.

- I teach solely on wooden boats.

Pretty much only sailed on wooden boats.

- When you're in a wooden boat and you're going through the water, it sounds different, it feels different.

- [Brad] Every summer, classic wooden boats tack our jive their way down Penobscot, Jericho, and Blue Hill Bayes to the Mecca of wooden boat racing: The Eggemoggin Reach Regatta.

- 14 years ago, my wife and I, and my yard foreman Frank Hall and his wife, had an idea of starting an event and for wooden boats to race.

And we started in the first year, we had 30 boats, next year we had 60, the next year we had 120.

- [Brad] What role does Maine have to play in attracting these boats?

- Maine seems to be where an awful lot of craftsmen have gravitated to build custom wooden boats now.

Of course we had a great history and heritage of that and there's still a lot of yards that are building boats now that have been in that tradition for generations and generations.

It's the place to get a boat built on the east coast.

- [Brad] Maine indeed is the epicenter of boat building in the United States.

And Wooden Boat, the boat building school and magazine which hosts the regatta at their waterfront campus here in Brooklyn, has been a major catalyst in preserving this tradition.

- When I started the magazine in 1974, I expected that all we were doing was preserving the remnant of a wooden boat industry.

Then as we got going, as the momentum built, we were growing at a rate of about 10,000 a year until 1984, when we reached a hundred thousand circulation.

I just had no idea that there was that much interest, that much depth of passion for these things.

- [Brad] And what does that tell you about the population?

And is there an international component to this wooden boat phenomenon?

- [Jon] I think what happens is that people sense this... power in craftsmanship that is that they wanna belong to.

And it doesn't matter what language you speak or what political system you come from, you can identify with that.

But indeed it's very international, it's very global and which is a wonderful thing.

We get students coming to the school, for example, from lots of different countries, including Japan, and Australia, and Germany, and South Africa.

- Jon, tell us about the Eggemoggin Reach Wooden Boat Regatta that's coming up tomorrow.

- The Eggemoggin Reach Regatta is a race that's about 11 or maybe 12 years old.

That's been mostly hosted here at Wooden Boat off our office and school grounds.

And it's about a 12 mile race.

We have maybe a hundred different boats, all wood of course, built anywhere from the turn of the century right up until last year, in a variety of divisions from very classic to the racing classes.

And it's a very exciting... gathering of great boats and great people.

- [Brad] Captains and crews gather early to hear the rules and learn just what course to set.

- You'll start going upwind to non-eight off the Torrey Island, the starboard rounding.

- [Brad] And then it's out to the boats with the help of a formidable fleet of Hampton power launches.

(calming music) - [Jon] Some of them are very serious racers.

Some of them are just, they just love their boats, love gathering with other owners of these boats.

And you know, they sail around the course to have fun.

It's not very competitive.

It's not very high pressure.

Although anybody who races knows that there's some pressure there.

(calming music continues) - [Brad] With a hundred boats in the fleet, the race takes several hours to finish but it's a glorious day for all those able to sail.

♪ Rockin' in a wooden boat.

♪ Rockin' in, rockin' in.

♪ Rockin' in a wooden boat.

♪ Rockin' in, rockin' in.

♪ We'll be going on forever.

♪ Rockin' in a wooden boat.

- It's putting you out in nature.

It's letting you deal with nature.

You may, you know, sometimes I think in our society, we feel like we can control things and you know, we have a grasp of things and when you're out in a sailboat, dealing with whatever the wind is, that's what you gotta deal with.

(calming music continues) - [Jon] I cannot prove this scientifically, but I insist that wooden boats have a soul.

Now, you know, that's a... that could easily be... a cynic could say, "Nah, nah, nah, come on, boats don't have souls."

Maybe they're right.

But for me, they do.

I think for most people who have wooden boats, they do.

There's something alive about a wooden boat.

(harmonization) ♪ Rockin' in a wooden boat.

♪ Rockin' in, rockin' in.

♪ Rockin' in a wooden boat.

Rockin' in... ♪ - [Brad] With the race over, cruise strike sales set the hook or grab a moring and rush into Wooden Boat to see the race results and find out the winners of the various classes.

- This year, the winner of this trophy is... Saphaedra!

(crowd cheers) - And the varnish!

- Hey, come forward.

Austin, I need some help here.

- [Brad] The big winner this year is Saphaedra the 51-foot catch built in 1965 by Paul Luke in East Boothbay.

Skipper Queenie Foster gathered her crew just before sunset for a final word.

- Great time.

Absolutely loved it.

Fabulous.

Thank you very much, Queenie.

- [Queenie] You're welcome.

- A great day.

Couldn't ask for anything more than what we had today and just great competition all the way around.

Just a great day.

- Well, I love sailing on Saphaedra.

She's a very powerful and beautiful boat at the same time much like her skipper, Queenie Foster.

Thank you very much, Queenie.

- It's taken us a long time to learn to sail her, but she's always been a great boat.

Just took us a while to learn about the boat.

And she's an Aage Nielsen design and Aage never designed a bad boat or an ugly boat.

You feel lucky to have her.

- Great.

Well, congratulations.

- Thank you very much.

- All right.

- [Brad] With the awards distributed and the pictures taken, it was time for an old fashioned Downey's Cookout for 600 people.

- Yeah.

I do.

- [Brad] A time to relive the race and recount the fun moments of a perfect day on the water for these wooden boat aficionados.

- That boat's too big and I'm too old.

(people chortle) It really hurts.

- If you go down to that waterfront tonight as the sun sets and it hits all those boats and all you see is that varnish, and all these great paint jobs on all these boats and there's masts all over the place.

It's a sea of masts and just a thing of beauty.

- [Brad] For True North, I'm Brad Smith.

- Maine is home to the best boat builders in the world.

It's no wonder that wooden boat enthusiasts make the annual pilgrimage to the waters off Brooklyn and center Harbor to rekindle their friendships and celebrate the souls of these wooden craft, often with beautiful names like Wandeler, Serenity, and Free Spirit.

It's also interesting how we have a tendency to apply human qualities to our modes of transportation.

That is certainly the case with our love affair with the automobile.

In our final segment, producer Frank Farrell introduces us to a man we'll call Motorhead and his trustee wheels, Sissy as they pull into Cruise Night: a familiar event taking place all across the state on a warm summer evening.

(groovy music playing) (harmonization) - My name is David Clapp.

We're on our way to Cruise Night at Ainslie's Market in Gardiner, Maine.

Everything, 454's, 59 Cadillac convertibles.

I got my cruiser here.

It's slow and slow, but hey, we're cruising.

Any day now we'll be right there.

♪ Let's go do The Hop ♪ Oh baby, let's go do The Hop.

Oh baby.

♪ - [Dave] Ainslie's is your typical down east gas station, mini-mart combo.

♪ Let's go do The Hop.

(harmonization) - [Dave] And on any other day, the only hint that this place turns into hot rod heaven on Thursday nights, is an inconspicuous poster on the door.

But to car buffs from all over Maine, this weekly gathering at Ainslie's is a major event.

- So last year I says we haven't got anybody any place right here in around... around our area here that where we can show these things off.

So last spring I called up about 20 people one night and that was on a Wednesday night, and the next, I said it's going down tomorrow night.

So we had 20 cars down there on a Thursday night.

Next Thursday, then we got flyers out and around next Thursday night we have about 40, then 80, then out there we've had over a hundred, and we've had like 220 people here.

Around 220 cars on a good night.

And tonight we'll have 150 cars.

This one just come in from Boothbay harbor.

- There's a cruise down in Saco once a month.

On Saturday night.

They have a big cruise night.

Small cruises, there's one in West Gardiner at Fuller's market.

It's the third Saturday of every month.

Val's Root Beer in Lewiston has one, the first Saturday of the month.

Every Wednesday night they have a cruise down in Rockland.

They have a cruise at Nicky's up in Bangor.

And I believe that's every other Wednesday night.

That's quite a big cruise, but we've got...

I think we've got the biggest one in the state.

The biggest, biggest weeknight cruise in the state.

This year we're going up to Greenville, October 3rd.

Walt's talking about it now.

- And then we're gonna go up Skowhegan, over across Madison on Anson, up to north through Portland up by that swinging bridge.

- [Rockie] The more cars, the more people out.

And they enjoy themselves.

Even the, you know, the what I call civilians, line the avenue and they just walk right in, and just look around at the cars and just in awe.

They just love it.

- [Dave] And it's not just the guys.

- I was working and she started coming up before I did.

- So you're the cruiser in this relationship?

- I am.

- She's the one that instigated it.

- [Dave] So is that why you got the truck, so that you could come and cruise?

- That's right.

I have something to drive if he can't come.

- Hey, let's have a look at this fine machine.

This is clean.

- So 350?

- [Dave] Oh, it's a 350, right?

So... - My baby.

- It's your baby.

- If you love your husband, you love his cars.

Get right into it with him.

You don't understand, then ask him questions.

You're not gonna look stupid.

It's just gonna make you more into it.

And he's gonna love you more for it.

- For some of us lookers, Ainslie's is an art gallery.

A gallery dedicated to a true American art form.

♪ I'm making up good vibrations.

♪ ♪ She's giving me the excitations.

♪ ♪ I'm making up good vibrations.

♪ ♪ Good vibrations.

♪ She's giving me the excitations.

♪ ♪ Excitations.

♪ Good, good, good, good vibrations.

♪ ♪ She's giving me the excitations.

♪ ♪ Excitations.

♪ Good, good, good, good vibrations.

♪ ♪ She's giving me the excitations.

♪ ♪ Excitations.

(song changes) ♪ She somehow closer now.

♪ Softly smile, I know she must be cursed.

♪ (harmonization) - [Dave] And what would cruise night be without the essential cruise night food of choice?

The most important part is not eating the napkin.

Peel the napkin back.

It is a weeknight.

And even though it's back to work in the morning for many here there seems to be a reluctance to leave just yet.

As darkness falls, bumpers, hoods, and chrome seem to take on an almost nostalgic glow, reflecting the lovingly restored memories of days gone by.

For True North, I'm Dave Clapp.

- [Peggy] Getting around as we've seen can involve passion, romance, history, freedom, and just plain old fun.

And whether it's by air, by land, or by sea, Mainers love to explore our beautiful and vast state.

Each method has its own charms.

The air speaks of the openness and freedom the noble Eagle enjoys.

The land is ever varied.

And each roadway is a delight to all the senses.

And the sea, well, the sea is so embedded in Maine's existence that simply going to sea in a wooden boat has become an integral part of who we are as a people, especially if we built that boat with our own hands.

We hope you've enjoyed this addition of True North.

Next week, we'll have more interesting stories about Maine and the people that give this state its unique character for all of us at True North, I'm Peggy Keyser.

Thanks for watching.

(outro piano music plays)