We had been to the Mount Dora Antique Boat Festival several times with our Donzi owner’s group. It seemed like the wooden boat people were having a great time enjoying their boats and each other. Last fall, we decided to get involved and bought a 1952 Chris Craft 22 Sportsman and had a little work done on her. Then, it was off to Mount Dora in March to join in the fun. I don’t know exactly how many boats were there, but I would guess something approaching 200. This was somewhat intimidating for first timers with their first straight inboard boat. The folks from the Sunnyland Chapter were both friendly and helpful and made things as smooth and easy as possible. They take your trailer, store it for you and bring it back upon demand.
June handles the Suburban and the trailer while I handle the boat the best I can. We were on “A” dock, along with about 50 other woodies. If you haven’t been there, the boats are gunnel to gunnel with no finger piers between them. You have to back into position, under a suspended cable and hook a line to the cable on the way by. This is to hold your bow in position and keep the stern off the dock. Then secure the stern to the dock. It’s considered bad form to crash into the other boats and there are plenty of witnesses on the dock to critique your skill in this maneuver. Fun stuff for my first trick!
On Friday, about 30 boats made the beautiful trip through the Dora Canal and Dead River to a picnic lunch in a park on Lake Harris. To say it was cold doesn’t do it justice. I mean, the people from Toronto were complaining! Still, it was a fun deal and good chance to meet people. Facing the challenge of re-docking our boat back at Mount Dora, we were among the first to leave the picnic and we let the MBL eat in hopes of some room to maneuver when we reached the dock. That part worked but, as I was trying to back in, there was a strong wind blowing from our starboard side. You old hands know what that means with a right hand propeller. People on the dock watched, some with horror and some with amusement. Some tried to help by shouting warnings and instructions but there was not a lot they can do standing on the dock. Do to our early arrival, and the resultant extra space, we avoided any damage to other boats. Our own boat was something else. This is where I learned that it’s a good idea to remove the stern pole before backing in. There is the cable to get under and a bunch of lines hanging everywhere from skippers who left them hanging when they departed for the picnic. One of the excited hails from the dock had to do with the line, which had become wrapped around our Ivalight, in my deft docking demo – which saved the light. Adding to the havoc was the fact that the throttle was not right in that, if I took my hand off the throttle, it would advance from idle to 3000 rpm in about 3 seconds. That left me one hand short of the number needed to hold the throttle while working the steering wheel and the shifter. It was the noisiest docking I have ever done.
When I finally stepped up onto the dock, one gentleman said to me with a big grin, “The people from Classic Boating Magazine want to talk to you.” I didn’t know what to think about that! I made my way up to the vendors that sold stern poles and the guy greeted me with “Oh, you’re the guy. We’ve been expecting you.” Later that day, the magazine people did come by and wanted to take some pictures of “Slow Dancing” the first thing Saturday morning, out on the water. Well, that’s cool but we both spent a restless night worrying about another of my docking demonstrations. That actually went well. Coming back in, the wind was light and I just got the boat close, shut off the engine and we man-handled the boat back in place. Much quieter.
The awards dinner was held off-site in a large ballroom, and it was full of people. Like maybe 500 or so. Now, this was not an officially judged show but, after a nice dinner, they did hand out some beautiful awards. They had each of the major event sponsors pick the boat they liked best from the show. When the president of the Lakeside Inn said they had picked a 1952 Chris Craft called “Slow Dancing,” I almost wheelied over backwards in my chair. My gosh, that’s our boat. They also put our name on a large trophy plaque, along with previous winners; they have hanging on a wall in the lobby of the Lakeside Inn. Very nice indeed – and surprising.
If you haven’t been to this show, it really is a very nice affair. There is also an antique/arts and crafts show in the streets right there as well as the nautical flea market at the event site. Lots of things going on and we will be going back next year. Come join us.
