37th Annual

Lake Winnipesaukee

Antique & Classic Boat Show

2010 Recap & Photos !!!

July 23-24, 2010 - Meredith Public Docks

Click here for Award Winners !!!

This year's 37th Annual Lake Winnipesaukee Antique & Classic Boat Show at the Meredith public docks was a huge gathering of beautiful antique and classic boats, with large crowds and over 60 vintage boats on display all day in a judged competition. This was quite a sight to behold, and for a special treat the crowds arrived early at the Meredith town docks on Saturday morning to watch and listen as the vintage boats arrived under their own power. There was also a large static display of vintage race boats in the Hesky Park area. The sights and sounds were magnificent, and to get an idea of the magnitude of this annual gathering of wooden boats, please take a moment to view our photo album from this year's Lake Winnipesaukee Antique & Classic Boat Show.

 

This year's boat show featured a very large showing of Chris Craft antique and classic boats and Tony Mollica, author of Building Chris Craft was our special guest at the Awards Dinner on Saturday evening. Tony was also at the boat show all day long to autograph copies of his several books. The sales were brisk, as spectators bought books and had Tony personally sign each copy. He was very busy and his time was much appreciated.

 

All photos were taken by the boat show chairman, Bill John.

 

Setup for the show began on Friday morning, with the first two boats arriving early afternoon.

         

         

         

         

         

On Friday afternoon, our two required two barges arrived, donated  by Watermark Marine and Ambrose Marine Construction.

         

         

     

For participants, the activities started with a Judging Clinic on Friday afternoon at 3 pm.  Chris Johnson and Bo Muller reviewed the new 2010 changes to the ACBS Judging Guidelines. We had a good turnout of over 50 very interested judges and participants. There were many questions, and Chris took the time to explain the rules and the reasoning behind the rule changes. Bo was also very helpful, and relayed many of his judging experiences and humorous stories. The two create a synergy, and have agreed to alternate as the Chief Judge of our annual ACBS boat show.

       

       

After the Judging Clinic Boat, the participants started arriving at 5 pm to pickup registrations packets and for the opening social reception, complete with live music.

         

         

         

         

     

The boat show was held on Saturday at the Meredith public docks with a gathering of antique and classic boats on display all day in a judged competition. The show was open to the public and as usual, the weather was sunny and hot as we fill the Meredith public docks and the Hesky Park area with beautiful antique & classic boats. This 37th annual boat show was presented by the New England Chapter of the Antique & Classic Boat Society, a very active local group of over 300 active members. Gerri Prusko is the president of our local chapter, Bill John was the boat show chairman, and Chris Johnson was the chief judge this year. Donnie McLean was the dock master and we had an army of volunteers wearing yellow t-shirts.

 

Lin Galucia was the first and lone volunteer to actually arrive on time, at the stroke of 5:30am. The docking crew arrived later in a stunning 1929 Gar Wood Triple Cockpit Runabout, and after we setup the judges tent the rest of the volunteers arrived just in time for breakfast. Lots of hot coffee and breakfast sandwiches. All the volunteers were wearing yellow show t-shirts and as these photos show below, it was sunny, hot and humid, but we all had a good time!

         

         

         

Rick Fileau was the second volunteer to arrive at 5:30am and spent the whole day managing the launch ramp and traffic flow. The boats started to arrive at 6am, some at the ramp for trailer launching but most arrived under their own power, enjoying a magnificent boat ride on the way to the 37th Annual Lake Winnipesaukee Boat Show. It was a beautiful sunny morning and the lake was absolutely flat.

         

         

         

     

Donnie McLean and his dock crew did a great job again this year, receiving and staging all the beautiful antique and classic boats. Each boat was handled with great care, everyone came ashore safely and not a boat was scratched. Two jet skis were used to stage the boats with bow lines tied to a centerline and the stern lines tied to the dock. We packed the Meredith public docks again with with another huge gathering of magnificent antique and classic boats for our 37th annual boat show.

         

         

         

         

         

       

The crowds grew larger and larger.

       

Next to the Meredith town docks in Hesky Park area, there was also a large display of non-judged boats on trailers in our Field of Dreams. Mark Evens displayed his two 1952 Chris Craft outboard motors, 10 hp and 5 hp, both twin cylinders.

        

         

         

         

         

         

        

   

Ed Shield displayed some of his extensive collection, including a vintage BMW motorcycle with a sidecar and an Evinrude outboard powered canoe !!!

         

       

   

Bob Breidert and Jamie Sheehan hauled many miles to display their latest masterpiece, a reproduction of a Chris Craft 26 foot single step hydroplane with an Italian BPM V-12 motor. This boat is absolutely stunning and a tribute to the craftsmanship and magic of Jamie Sheehan.

     

     

     

We had an army of volunteers - setup crew, dock crew, judges, judges-escorts, greeters, takedown crew and the list goes on. And as usual, the boats brought us together again for another ACBS gathering of antique and classic boats.

         

       

   

By 9am, the boats were staged and ready for the judging to begin. This year each judging team was assigned an escort to help find the team's assigned boats and to record the scores and comments. The judging process is very serious and very tedious, and the volunteer time and expertise is very much appreciated. The photos below show the judged boats.

         

         

         

        

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

     

Our 37th annual boat show was over at 3pm, the boats were carefully released one at a time.

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

     

After the boats were carefully untied and released one at a time, the two centerlines from the barges to the docks were retrieved. Then the two barges pulled their long 40 spuds and headed home. Many thanks to Watermark Marine and Ambrose Marine Construction for donating their services.

     

The shade and cool drinks were must appreciated later on Saturday evening at the cocktail party. The Awards Dinner and the presentation of the boat show awards followed at the Chase House, inside with air conditioning. Tony Mollica, author of Building Chris Craft was our special guest speaker with a presentation on the Chris Smith family and their Chris Craft Boats. Tony was also at the boat show all day long autographing copies of his several books. The sales were brisk, as spectators bought books and Tony personally signed each copy. He was very busy.

         

       

Wow - what a great boat show and what fun we had !!!

 

Click here for the Award Winners

 

All photos were taken by the boat show chairman, Bill John.

A special thank you to our registrar, Janice Hayes for the many, many hours, the emails, the phone calls, and all the last minute scrambling for registration. Jan maintains all the spreadsheets for the registered boats, judging sheets and socials. She is incredible!!

 

Donnie McLean and his dock crew did a great job again this year, receiving and staging all the beautiful antique and classic boats. Each boat was handled with great care, everyone came ashore safely and not a boat was scratched.

 

Rick Fileau was the second volunteer to arrive at 5:30am and spent the whole day managing the launch ramp and traffic flow. Rick has been the unsung hero at many of our ACBS events over the years and as usual, Rick was the last to leave the docks.

 

Many thanks to Chris Johnson and Bo Muller for the well attended Judging Clinic on Friday afternoon. Then on Saturday they spent the day managing the judging teams, reviewing each score sheet and determining the award winners. A very tedious job.

And many thanks to ALL the volunteers who made our 37th Annual Lake Winnipesaukee Antique & Classic Boat Show a huge success. We have already started planning for next year's 38th annual boat show, when the featured marque with be Hacker Craft. And if local permits allow, we would like to expand and fill the Hesky Park area with more trailer display boats.

 

On a personal note, this was my second year as the Chairman and my 31st boat show, having participated in every boat show since 1979, when I bought my Gar Wood Speedster Obsession

 

I welcome your thoughts on this year's boat show and your suggestions. And this Saturday morning while everything is still fresh in our noggins, there will be a boat show Recap Meeting at at the Vintage Race Boat Shop in Wolfeboro. Please join us this Saturday morning, July 31st with your thoughts and suggestions. The coffee will be ready by 9 AM, please bring donuts.

Bill John - Boat Show Chairman

John1948@metrocast.net

603-569-5824

Please mark your calendars and plan on joining us for our next ACBS event on September 25, 2010 - Wolfeboro Car & Boat Rendezvous

    

 

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