Boat Show, Part I

Yesterday the 19th Annual Wooden Boat Show was held at Presque Isle Harbor.  This is the first time I've been in the area on the third weekend of June, the Show's customary date.  Although I had to prepare for my monthly Bible study at Grace Church, I decided to take a break and spend the morning at the harbor.  It was a delightfully warm, sunny, breezy day — the best weather the Show has had in four years — and given the economy, turnout was better than expected.

Visitors stroll the dock at Presque Isle Harbor, the state-owned
marina and harbor of refuge on Lake Huron.

Visitors voted on which of the 30-odd boats they liked the best.

Wooden boats evoke an era in lake living which seems to have ended soon after I was born.  Back then — before the 1950s — if you owned a boat, it was almost certainly made of wood.  Many of these vessels were works of art by Chris-Craft and other builders who turned mahogany and teak into speedboats, ski boats, runabouts, and launches of various types.  Of course, wood and water are mortal enemies.  If you owned one of these vintage wooden boats, you almost certainly spent hours on maintenance during the off-season in order to keep your vessel seaworthy.

Fiberglass changed all that.  Boats became less expensive and more durable.  But that revolution in boat building has its price.  Now, if you live on a lake, you often find yourself buzzed by personal watercraft (which some Canadians refer to as "lake lice") and deafened by ski boats powered by automobile engines.  A quiet summer day on the lake may be hard to come by!

Yesterday, walking onto the dock at Presque Isle Harbor was like stepping into a scene from On Golden Pond.  It's not hard to imagine why people fall in love with these wooden boats, buy them, lavish care on them, and are happy to exhibit them at events like the P.I. Harbor Boat Show.  Some which caught my eye are below.

This was the first boat I saw, and it was my personal favorite
— but information on builder, etc. was taped to the engine
cover and could not be read at a distance!

Teujo is a 1937, 16-foot Racing Runabout by Chris-Craft.
The patriotic color scheme made it a stand-out.

I was really taken by this boat, especially the bow shape.
But I forgot to record the details.

Old School may be familiar to Tri-Cities readers.  It is a
vintage 1923, 22-foot Hacker Craft, owned by a couple
from Spring Lake, Michigan. 

There's more to say about the Boat Show, but it will have to wait.  Google's Blogger software has gotten cranky again and doesn't want to upload photos.  I'll try again tomorrow. •••