The Buoy Guy is owned and managed by Buoy Bill and his wife Susan. Bill is The Buoy Guy! Their three children Katherine, Sydney and Harrison all play roles in this home-based family business.
Since a young age, Bill's been a creative thinker with a desire to fix, invent, and make cool fun things from ordinary stuff. The Buoy Guy was founded soon after Bill made a ball bat from an old lobster buoy just for the fun of it. Six months later the first Buoy Bat was sold!
Bill grew up in Hanover, NH and spent extensive time in Ogunquit, Maine with his grandparents Stanley and Betty Orcutt who were summer residents of the seaside village.
Stan was a beachcomber and frequently came home with lobster buoys he'd found on Ogunquit beach. As a child, Bill thought the buoys were cool and he still does!
It is a strong connection and love for Ogunquit by Bill and his family that led to the opening of The Buoy Guy store in June of 2024. Stop by at 13 Beach Street and say hello!
The Pages live in in South Berwick Maine 10 miles inland from Ogunquit with their dogs Daisy, Agnes and three cats named Una, Kitt, and Remi.
Read the story of how the buoy bat was invented here.
The Great International Crate Race
Each year at the Maine Lobster Festival, our three children participate in the Great International Crate Race. The race involves running back and forth across 50 floating lobster crates in Rockland Harbor. It's super cool to watch the kids run the crates! In 2014, our youngest child Harrison who was 9 years old at the time, tied for first place with a girl named Scarlet Flint. They set a new all time record by running 6,500 crates each. The race was called at 8pm due to darkness and besides, the festival had ended at 6pm! That's Harrison at the beginning of the video below shot in 2014. Scarlet's in the green dress!Here are some excerpts from the story as told by Ken Waltz in his article on the 2017 crate race.
"Four years ago, Flint and Page, who both weighed 75 pounds or less, proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, they were heavyweights at running the crates. And, as it turned out, only darkness could stop the athletic, fleet-of-foot youngsters from continuing their record runs and from potentially setting more impressive standards for future racers to chase.
When officials "called" off the event, Flint and Page were the new dual-record holders with an amazing 6,500 crates. The two broke the previous record of 6,000 crates by McGonagle of Owls Head.
Several years ago, McGonagle set what was believed, at the time, an unbeatable standard with 6,000 crates, which surpassed the previous record of 4,501 by Andrew Bachiochi of Stafford Springs, Conn. in 2008."
McGonagle also brought the record for the Midcoast-created activity back to the area. Prior to Bachiochi holding the mark, the late Susan Lundquist, who grew up locally, held the mark of 3,007 for decades and Shane LeBlanc, another Midcoast native, held the record before her.
The event has been held since the mid-1970s when it got its start in Spruce Head. It was its own event before becoming part of the Maine Lobster Festival years ago.
Bachiochi set the new standard in 2008 with 4,501 crates. And he really did not fall in the water but simply stepped on the 4,501st crate and tossed himself into the ocean. At the time, Bachiochi surpassed the record of 3,007 set in the 1980s by Lundquist.
Now Flint and Page share the mark with an impressive, eye-popping 6,500 crates."