Seeking solace from a busy week, Ed Murdock stood fishing at the Gulf Island Head Pond boat ramp on the Androscoggin River last Tuesday.

The calm water reflected the blue sky and sinking sun as kayakers and families came to visit the popular spot off Center Bridge Road in Turner.

Murdock, who now lives in Turner, watched it all with his wise eyes.

The Gulf Island Head Pond project was the first boat ramp Murdock designed while working for Central Maine Power Co.

He had walked the land when it was nothing more than trees beside a road and decided the ramp should be where it is today.

“Basically, when you design a boat ramp, you look for a place you can get in fairly quickly with 3 feet of water at the end to get your boat in,” explained Murdock while casting his lure into the river. “And you want it to be a short distance while maintaining the average 15 percent grade.”

Around that, he then designed the parking lot with turn-arounds, and got the contractors on the job to make his vision a reality.

When the contractors set the concrete slabs of the boat ramp into the Androscoggin River, they disappeared from sight.

“It was like quicksand,” chuckled Murdock. “It was a hell of a way to start your boat ramp designing career.”

Undeterred, they made the ramp in Turner work and Murdock went on to design other ramps around the state, including the Durham boat launch. He also designed picnic areas, like the one in Buxton, which was his work.

“I had a lot of fun,” said the designer, now a painter. “It was nice to see something you designed built.”

Ed Murdock fishes from the boat ramp at the Gulf Island Head Pond on the Androscoggin River in Turner recently. The boat ramp was Murdock’s first recreational space he designed for Central Maine Power.