Why Southwest Harbor Lost One of the World’s Largest Sailing Yachts.

Carrie Jones

Jul 07, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Viridian Law.

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SOUTHWEST HARBOR— Last week’s arrival—and departure—of the mega yacht M5 has led to some discord in Southwest Harbor, lost revenue for a local marina, and a full audience at the town’s Harbor Committee meeting, Monday.

“I assume most people are here for the incident that happened Friday,” Board Chair Nick Madeira said to the members of the public attending. “Yes, there was an incident Friday. I guess I would just like to mention that this board is not in charge of personnel in the harbor.”

The “incident” stems from the M5’s arrival at Dysart’s Marina. The harbormaster, Rob Leavitt, said that he did not know about the arrival of the 255-foot vessel though the marina’s staff said they’d tried to contact him and had left a message, but that it wasn’t specific.

“We realized that there may be some policy that isn’t appreciated that the Harbor Committee has set forth. We have an ordinance in place and the harbor master’s asked to defend that ordinance,” Madeira said.

The town’s ordinance details that if a vessel is longer than 150 feet, then the harbormaster must be notified before that vessel comes into the town’s harbor.

When the M5 ship came in, Micah Peabody, Dysart’s Marina dock manager, went out to get the vessel, gave him the lay of the harbor and explain how to enter through the area’s starboard side where the least amount of gear is.

“I tried to call Rob, 16 and 9 (VHS radio channels), didn’t hear anything from him,” Peabody said. “We were there, they were following me in. And the harbormaster comes to part of the boat, tells them they’re denied access, he yells at them…. I lost my cool. I was very embarrassed, you know, like, he should be the face of this harbor. Like, I feel like I’m the face of this harbor, you know; the first impression that you get when you get here could be him, me, my crew. And I was so embarrassed, the way this went out. And there was no need for it. He did want to have this discussion. Like we were halfway to the harbor, we could have tied the boat up, then if you want to scream at me, yell at me.”

Leavitt said that he’d briefly spoken to Dysart’s over the radio and asked to switch channels.

According to the town’s Coastal and Harbor Ordinance, the harbormaster needs to be notified when a large vessel like M5 comes in. It does not, however, specify how advance that notification needs to be: 24 hours? Eight weeks? Two days? 30 minutes?

Committee member John Stanley said it might be time to amend the town’s ordinance for specific notification deadlines. This would make the expectations clearer.

Itineraries for many boats—for many reasons—can quickly change with little warming.

“Yachting and anything with a boat is unpredictable,” Peabody said. “I don’t always have 24 hours or 12 hours. Sometimes I have two hours.”

Sometimes, he’ll get calls at midnight for people wanting to come in.

James Dysart, also of Dysart’s, agreed, sharing his experience working on yachts.

“If an owner changes his mind, I mean at the drop of a pin, everything changes,” Dysart said.

Weather, medical emergencies, and other factors can also cause quick itinerary changes.

In this case, the M5, made the reservation in the “beginning of July” according to Amanda Dysart. There wasn’t much notice and Dysart’s moved other boats to make it happen.

The harbormaster approves or denies the proposed arrival. That approval is meant to come from whether it’s safe for the vessel to arrive and if there’s available space.

Madeira said the point of the ordinance is to “apply it to situations in the harbor to keep everybody safe and keep the harbor working and open to all users.”

That’s the harbormaster’s role, he stressed.

During the meeting, Leavitt said he did answer radio traffic to someone at Dysart’s and returned two cell phone calls.

“The ordinance is clear. It establishes a review process for vessels that are greater than 150 feet. You need to have advance notice, and you need to have a full plan. And I received neither,” Leavitt said.

“We’ve had more harbormasters than you can count. The ordinance has been in place,” Madeira said. “Rob’s here to enforce it. We’re asking to respectfully report larger vessels coming into the harbor.”

The committee is not meant to review the harbormaster’s actions, Madeira said. The ordinance isn’t new.

“For a long time, there hasn’t been anybody to really follow up this ordinance, and I did try and make contact with Rob. I just want that to be known. I wasn’t trying to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes. You know, I’ve been doing this—” Peabody said. “At 51 years old, I’ve (been) there since I was 25. I’ve done this 100,000 times. I have a plan in place.”

He said he’d be happy to work with the harbormaster to help guide things along.

“I want the best for this harbor,” Peabody said.

A woman in the audience asked what people should do if they can’t reach the harbormaster. The town office is closed on Friday, which was when the boat came in.

Amanda Dysart said the reservation was made in July and there had been boats moved around to make it happen. They were coming in specifically to dock at the marina.

After the interaction, the yacht left and went to Bar Harbor instead. That meant that Dysart’s lost out on three weeks of income for the yacht’s visit, but also, they said, the town lost out on income as the twenty or so crew members and passengers would no longer come aboard and shop in Southwest Harbor.

They’ll be doing it in Bar Harbor instead.

“It’s not only cost us money, it costs the whole town of Southwest Harbor money. These people have a huge boat,” Mary Dysart said. “They were going to be coming to the town of Southwest Harbor, spending their money, and it was turned away in a very unusual way.”

It’s estimated that the diversion to Bar Harbor took well over $30,000 out of Dysart’s Marina’s coffers. Peabody told the Islander’s Kip Young that yachts like the M5 are “vital for supporting the marina and local businesses, especially during the off-season.”

At the meeting, Leavitt stressed that the denial was necessary to enforce the ordinance, especially after receiving criticism for not stopping the vessel in 2024 when it came to town, five days after he started as harbormaster.

“I take full responsibility for my actions. Nobody else, just me,” Leavitt said of the incident last week, before apologizing for Dysart’s financial loss. He said he’d be happy to speak with Dysart’s further.

One Harbor Committee member said he’d never had problems with Leavitt and that Dysart’s Marina needed to pay attention to the ordinance.

The vessel itself is a showstopper.

According to SuperYachtFan, “The superyacht is the brainchild of Irish-based, New Zealand-born yacht designer, Ron Holland, a respected name in the industry. The intricate composite construction of the hull and rig was closely monitored and supervised by High Modulus Europe Ltd, a renowned Hamble-based firm.”

It’s currently owned by Rodney Ray Lewis who founded Lewis Energy Group, which is based in Texas. Lewis is a renowned pilot. He was a gauger in the late 1970s, purchased an oil well in 1982 for $13,000, and founded the company, which has operations in Texas, Mexico, and Colombia. He purchased his first plane a year before the well—a hand cranked Aeronca Chief. He’s also known as having what Forbes calls “one of the top vintage warbird collections in the country.”

“They will not ever be coming back to Southwest Harbor,” Peabody said.

As for Southwest Harbor, the hope is that communication between all parties involved will improve.

“We are here to facilitate the harbor,” Peabody said. “I want everybody from 10 feet to 250 feet to be able to experience the coast of Down East Maine…. I want this harbor to do well.”

For that to happen, there needs to be big yachts using the marina, too.

Leavitt stressed that facilitating the harbor meant protecting all users including the community sailing school, lobster boats, and recreational vessels.

Madeira said that they hoped they could work together and work it out.

“I think we’re just asking for communication,” he said.

Leavitt agreed. “Let’s work together. Let’s get on the same page and move forward. Please.”

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