WRITTEN BY MIKE GRIDLEY
Photography By Patrice Anderson
Summer is here, and for many Canadians it means hockey is over and boating begins! Then there are the vintage boat aficionados. For them, winter may not have been hockey; it may have been sanding and varnishing, working with resins and gelcoat, or discussing a restoration’s progress with your boat shop.
For owners, summer is the time to take to the lake, enjoy your vintage craft, and take pride in the history that it represents and your part in protecting our recreational boating heritage. It doesn’t matter if it’s a 1950s Peterborough, a 1960s Larson, or a 1920s Minett-Shields.
For all of us, a highlight of every summer is the Annual Vintage Boat Show hosted by ACBS-Toronto in early July. This show is a special one for our organization as our theme “Aged to Perfection” salutes the boats at the show that are now 100 years old. Not only will we be recognizing these wonderful craft at the show, we will also officially launch the ACBS-Toronto Centenarian Boat Registry as we celebrate the boats built in 1919 and earlier. You can count on a good number of 100-year-old boats representing builders like Duke, Minett, Gidley, Gilbert, Brown, Peterborough, Ditchburn, Disappearing Propeller Boats, and others being at the show docks July 6. Going forward we will honour and add boats to the registry as they celebrate their 100th birthday.
This year’s show activities kick off on Wednesday, July 4 with a side trip to Gloucester Pool. This is the final and one of the most scenic parts of the Trent Severn Waterway before it empties into Georgian Bay. The Upper Muskoka Lakes will be our destination on Thursday. The Friday Poker Run on Lake Muskoka has been growing in popularity every year and it is expected to be a sell-out once again, so register early for the show and all the events.
While attending the show and enjoying over 100 vintage boats at the docks, we will also have quite a few of the registered boats set up on land. You will be able to view everything from a 100-year-old Gidley launch to finned Classic Glass boats of the ‘50s.
To keep the family entertained, Kids and Classics will introduce kids to racing Sea Fleas, engage them in carving wood paddles, and explain how the Sea Fleas are built. In addition, there will be remote control boats to try out and model boats to make as part of the youth activities, which are made possible through local support from Classic Rope Fenders, Hutching Marine Products, and Chamberlain Timber Mart.
To keep things moving, and to show off their restored boats, owners will be taking them for a spin around the bay, to the delight of the crowds. If you have your heart set on a ride in a vintage boat, you are in luck. Several members will be offering rides through our Ride-Along Program taking place on C-Dock.
If you’ve had a great time at this year’s 39th Annual Vintage Boat Show, look around you for the red ACBS shirts and hats and members sporting WAVE name badges. These are the hundreds of volunteers who make the show possible. They dedicate their time sitting on committees, setting up the show, helping dock the boats, and assisting the public. These people are the heart and soul of ACBS-Toronto.
The final ingredient that makes the show and all its activities possible are our sponsors and partners. Without their generous contributions there would not be a show, especially one that is free for the public to enjoy. We ask that you support their businesses as your way of saying thank-you for keeping classic and vintage boats a part of every Muskoka summer.
