Vintage Race Boat Shop News - summer has begun - come join all the fun ???!!!! Good morning Gang, After surviving a very long and snowy winter, in fact the second highest snowfall amount ever recorded in New Hampshire, we are looking forward to a nice warm summer here in beautiful Wolfeboro. In fact, the forecast for this Memorial Day Weekend couldn’t be better, with sunny skies, temps in the 70’s and lots of smooth water to enjoy our vintage wooden boats ???!!! ______________________________________________________________________________ Spring Launching Ceremonies !!! This is our favorite time of the year, as we pull our vintage wooden boats from winter storage and begin our spring launching ceremonies. Yesterday the sun was shining as we commissioned and launched two vintage boats – Karen Sander’s “Foxwood” and Gerri Prusko’s “My Precious”. What fun, as the motors in both boats fired right up and we got out on the water again for a very special “On Golden Pond” moment. Here are the links: “Foxwood” - a 1934 Chris Craft 27 foot custom runabout http://www.vintageraceboatshop.com/Foxwood.htm “My Precious” - a Jersey Speed Skiff http://www.vintageraceboatshop.com/MyPrecious.htm ______________________________________________________________________________ Some Local Updates – come join the fun: New Hampshire Boat Museum – opening this weekend !!! Shaun Berry, Linda DaBica, Hank Why and the entire crew have been busy cleaning and setting up new displays at our beloved NH Boat Museum, and the opening celebration is this weekend. Also, Carol Cloutier has been busy updating the museum Website with our 2008 activities. Please mark your calendar for July 12th for the annual vintage boat auction, a major fund raising event. Here is the link for all the 2008 museum activities: http://www.nhbm.org/events.html ACBS Spring Romp – June 8th Be sure to mark your calendars and register for our first local ACBS event of the season, our Spring Romp on June 8th aboard the MT Washington. This is gonna be a fun gathering of our ACBS membership. We have the upper deck and lounge booked for brunch and cocktails and there will be much banter about this summer’s ACBS events. We have also updated our chapter Website with our 2008 activities, here is the link for all the details: http://www.necacbs.org/Calendar.htm ______________________________________________________________________________ APBA Vintage Race Boat Circuit 2008 – get ready to Rock & Roll !!! APBA Vintage Race Boat Circuit – 2008 Our APBA vintage event organizers are busy working on our 2008 Vintage Race Boat Circuit. The amount of volunteer time these APBA vintage events chew up is unbelievable, and we want the organizers to know that their volunteer time is very much appreciated. Here is the link for all the APBA vintage events that we are planning to attend in 2008: http://www.vintageraceboatshop.com/APBAVintageCircuit.htm Detroit APBA Gold Cup Unlimited Hydroplane Regatta - July 11-13, 2008 Tom Bertolini is hard at work, planning for this summer's Detroit APBA Gold Cup. This is perhaps the most exciting event on our vintage circuit - as we get to run with the big dogs - the unlimited hydroplanes. In addition to the spectacular Unlimited Hydroplanes, this is also a very large gathering of beautiful vintage race boats - including 3-point hydroplanes, Jersey Speed Skiffs, Gold Cup fast steppers, and fire breathing grand prix hydros. The vintage boats will on display all weekend, and will also run demonstration heats on the historic Detroit Gold Cup race course. This year, we will again be located in the "Piston Park" area, close to the start/finish line, and the logistics will again be just superb - thanks to the event organizers. We will have lots of space, 3 cranes for just our vintage boats, and over 100 feet of good docking on the water. The boats will be crane launched, and the docks will be so long that we will be able to pre-stage our vintage heats at the dock. The boats will all be released all at once - great fun and very dramatic - especially on heats with over 8 vintage race boats. Here is the link for all the fun: http://www.vintageraceboatshop.com/Detroit-2008.htm Clayton, New York – August 14-17, 2008 The past comes alive as some of the best known race boats of bygone eras return to Clayton, New York, for our ninth Antique Race Boat Regatta. Clayton is the birthplace of our APBA Vintage & Historic Division, holding our first antique boat regatta in 1992, and Clayton continues to be the biggest event on the APBA Vintage Race Boat Circuit. This summer's regatta expands to 4 full days and with addition docking, well over 150 vintage race boats are expected, and will be running demonstration laps on a course, setup in front of the Museum. So if you wanna see lots of vintage race boats running at speed, you just gotta come to Clayton 2008. In addition to seeing and hearing these unique and beautiful boats run, spectators are invited to view them close-up in the pit area, at the Museum Docks. If you're in the sport, want to be in the sport, or just appreciate vintage race boats then Clayton is "THE PLACE" to be. This is a huge event with lots of action and varied activities, here is the link: http://www.vintageraceboatshop.com/Clayton2008.htm Wheeling, West Virginia – August 29-31, 2008 Dan and Deb Joseph invite you to their third annual, Wheeling Vintage Raceboat Regatta, on August 29-31, 2008. This year's event expands to three full days, with registrations, safety inspections and a social gathering all day Friday, August 29th and exhibition heats of vintage race boats on the beautiful Ohio River all day Saturday and Sunday, August 30-31. Be sure to bring plenty of fuel – here is the link: http://www.vintageraceboatshop.com/Wheeling2008.htm And here are some more vintage links: The complete schedule of all our APBA vintage events: http://www.vintagehydroplanes.com/2008events.html The official Website of our APBA V&H Division: http://www.vintagehydroplanes.com/index.html Our APBA Vintage & Historic Division: http://www.vintagehydroplanes.com/vintage_historic_division.html _________________________________________________________ Boat Shop Updates: “Compulsion” – a new/replica Gentleman’s Racer Work is progressing nicely on a new/replica 21 foot Gentleman’s Racer “Compulsion”. The hull is an aft cockpit speedster design, is constructed of white oak frames with Honduras mahogany planking, and powered by a 383 Chevy “stroker” motor. The stain and many coats of varnish work on the deck and hull sides is just about done, and we are about to begin the interior finish work, steering, plumbing, wiring, upholstery and hardware. Gala launching ceremonies are being planned for July 4th, as “Compulsion” will be part of our Wolfeboro parade, and then you are all invited to join our launching ceremonies and grand celebration at the Wolfetrap !!! http://www.vintageraceboatshop.com/Compulsion.htm “Wanderer II” – off to Stockholm, Sweden In the Fall of 2007, Wanderer II was sold and was back in the shop this spring for a complete refinish and prep for shipment to the new owner in Stockholm, Sweden. This very special Hacker Craft was custom built in 1986 for the "then" President of Donzi Marine, with special hardware including an aft cockpit windshield, tan doeskin upholstery, yellow deck seams and a high crown deck. This stunning boat was maintained for the past 5 years by the Vintage Race Boat Shop, has lots of fresh paint and varnish, a new Sunbrella cover, the 454 cubic inch Crusader motor just purrs, and the custom 4 blade prop provides very smooth and snappy performance. We finished our work this month, and shipped the boat to Stockholm, Sweden. http://www.vintageraceboatshop.com/WandererII.htm Trading Dock – lots of vintage stuff for sale We also have quite a few new ads posted on our Trading Dock, including a Jersey Speed Skiff, several vintage hydroplanes, a couple of very nice Chris Crafts, and several Gentleman’s Racers. Here is the link for lots of vintage stuff: http://www.vintageraceboatshop.com/TradingDock.htm _________________________________________________________ Godspeed - Judy D'Eath: We lost Judy D’Eath this week, and our condolences go out to Tom D’Eath and his family. This is very sad news, for Judy was instrumental in the early days of our beloved APBA Vintage family, and gave Tom D'Eath the foundation and strength that enabled his many successes. I miss those early days of our vintage family, we were much closer then. _________________________________________________________ In closing: If you get a chance, please stop by and join our "Saturday Morning Gatherings". We provide fresh pots of coffee, interesting projects to discuss, a Sony big screen TV with a Bose sound system, and usually have some vintage boat racing videos blasting in the background. If you want to join our therapy group, put on your grubbies and come join the fun. We usually have around 10/15 vintage addicts attending, have a couple of rocking chairs, way too many donuts, hot coffee and lots of good vintage boat banter. Please come join us, the coffee is usually ready by 9:00, please bring donuts. http://www.vintageraceboatshop.com/SaturdayGatherings.htm That’s all for now Gang – now get out and come join all the fun ???!!! Bill (Gotta launch those boats!!!) John Vintage Race Boat Shop 603-569-5824 (Shop phone) http://www.vintageraceboatshop.com