Lobstercon2020!
The Year of the Corona Virus CV-19

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!
The official Lobstercon Saturday morning arrived (The 1 stSaturday AFTER the 4th of July weekend) and it was a gloriousmorning indeed! The temperature was perfect and the sun wasshining through a fairly clear sky! Although it had rained theprevious night, there was no rain in sight or in the forecast for
Lobstercon Saturday. On the Maine seacoast, this would beconsidered a perfect summer day!

I arrived early in the morning in the Hambulance, set up theflagpole and raised the official Lobstercon flag. “The game wasafoot!” There had not been very many confirmed reservations but
I was expecting unconfirmed arrivals like what happens just about
every year. I had 7 confirmed reservations and 3 additional 'We
will be there” day-trippers. I was geared up and ready for a
maximum of about 25 Lobsterconners this year but realisticallyexpecting FAR fewer....
Rain was predicted for Friday evening so I had made the trip up on
Friday to go out to dinner and set up the tarp over the cooking &dining area so the ground would be dry during the day on

Saturday. When I go there Friday evening, there was nobody
about so I got about the task of putting up the tarp.....actually twosmaller tarps instead of the one jumbo (& heavy) tarp I usuallyhang. I thought it looked good so after I was done, I hung arounda bit and then left. Its about an 90 minutes back to my house andI still had lots of chores to do.

Mike & his very reduced crew at Thomas Point Beach &Campground had left us a nice batch of picnic tables and lots ofcampfire rings...though there would not be too many campfires
this year. So we didn't have to go scrounging campsites and'stealing' picnic tables this year....not that we would have to'steal' very many as we really only need about 6 tables for thecooking and eating to happen.

There was a lot of rain and WIND the night before and Saturday
morning I unexpectedly found the tarps laying on the groundacting as pool liners with about 3” of water in the center. I
rounded up a helper or two and managed to pick up the tarps while
directing the water away from the eating area and managed torehang them....just in case.

My new big top had a peak extender to create more tension in thetarp and a steeper angle for shedding water....just in case.

I quickly ran a 150' heavy duty extension cord over to the last
power pole in the camping area, set up the smaller of my twocommercial coffee makers, laid out some breakfast supplies andquickly attracted some Lobsterconners for breakfast... maybe Ishould say ALL the Lobsterconners.....These 5 (and me!) were theonly ones to OFFICIALLY sign up for Lobstercon2020!

The Hardy Boys.... and Girl!
Me, W1REX...taking the picture
Carl, WA1ZCQ, Uncle Cy, K1TES & Bruce, K1BG
(left to right) at the left corner of the tarp
Sally, N1TES & Joe, AC1JO center tarp
That was it for the morning rush.....

The Big Store...selling LEDS!
Of course, Uncle Cy had arrived on Friday and could either befound (or not found) hanging around his all too familiar 2 tables
overflowing with plastic bags of LEDs! Here he is NOT foundthere when Carl, WA1ZCQ just sneaking into the picture on theleft, and I came to call.Twins!
Sally, N1TES & Uncle Cy, K1TES Currier are sporting the official
Lobstercon2020 face masks. I special ordered some nice lobster
themed material and hired a local seamstress to make me 25
custom masks with filter pockets. Even though it was an outdoor
event, I was taking no quarter and provided masks to the gangue.

Carl Achin, WA1ZCQ, giving his
two thumbs up to BOTH themask and his Lobstercon2020!
Experience.....
I think!
But he just might have been
giving his two thumbs up to thelast meal he ate...or the onethat was coming up!

Bruce Blaine, K1BG, with his
typical laid back persona
sporting both an official
Lobstercon2020! mask and3rd party official unofficial
Lobstercon tee shirt.

First time Lobsterconner, Joe
Clark, AC1JO, sporting an official
Lobstercon2020! mask, official
Maine (University of Maine BlackBears) tee shirt and wearing on his
hip.... the only ham radio seen inattendance at Lobstercon thisyear.... A triple whammy for Joe!

Rex, W1REX, sporting a custom
made official Lobstercon2020!
Bandanna mask. I was saving all
the face masks for the gangue
who never showed....

The Wrecking Crew...

Here is the entire Lobstercon2020! Crew less Bill Legge, NT1R,
who is sitting on a dock by the bay waiting for the lobsters tocome in..

In the 20 past years of hosting
Lobstercons, I gradually went from thetypical 2 burner propane fired home BBQ
grill to about 9' of charcoal fired flat
grills and 2 Weber style kettle grills and4 or 5 BIG turkey style propane cookers.
This year, with only 10 anticipatedattendees, it was a...2 kettle grill and 2propane cooker event. The 2 kettle grillswere fired slightly different with one
cooking hamburgers and the other hot

dogs and brawts. One of the BIG propane burners was cooking
corn on the cob while the second one was cooking lobsters. For agangue of 10, there was 27 lobsters to be eaten!
For the I don't know how many times in a row, the gangue could
not out eat the host for all 3 meals and there was food... andlobsters that had gone uneaten!

SPACE! The final frontier.......

Bill, NT1R, arrives and dons a mask.
So after a pleasant afternoon enjoying the fine day, Bill arrives
with the star attractions for the evening:

A Cooler full of Bugs!

Carl just can't stop playing with his food...

Bill tends the pots while I take a pictureFrom Sea to Table in about 2 hours...

Lobsters on the table but there
are still many more in the cooler
and in the pot.

A small but QUALITY crowd!

The TESs enjoying
their lobsters.

Like a deer caught in theheadlights, Bruce is startled
by a sudden sound..... MEyelling at him so I could
take a picture.

Carl: “Don't bother me while I'm eating!”

Bill, NG1P, & Melissa Richardson are at the other end of the picnictable. They take the prize for the shortest commute as they livein Topsham only a few miles away.

Willie & Joe, (no notthe WW2 GIs) on
the other side of thepicnic table enjoying
the fruits of thecook's labors.

After the eating is all done, the campsite is all cleaned up and theequipment is all packed up in the trailer, it's time for a few
goodbyes... Carl & Bruce were heading home. They didn't have any
radios to play with and had slept the previous night in the car.
They were ready to sleep in a comfortable bed....

One last picture of the campsite, and then I drove off for home.
Lobstercon2020! is over...maybe Lobstercon2021! will be back tonormal.
W1REX