HOPATCONG, CHAPTER ONE

Article and Photos by Denis Hartnett, ACBS Rudder Staff

Now in its thirtieth year, Lake Hopatcong Chapter celebrated this anniversary with their annual boat show held, as it has been for all but one of those years, at the Lake Hopatcong Yacht Club. Its intimate setting was once again the perfect gathering place for this successful chapter which also hosted the ACBS quarterly meeting for their first time.
“Just another wacky idea from our Looney-Tune president,” was how Betty Gantert described herself and the event. Two years in the planning, she can now proudly say with relief, “The show went fabulously! It was an enormous success. Having the folks from ACBS here was such a great infusion of energy with their wide variety of personalities and their great boats. It was rejuvenating and really brought out the best in us. Of all the years – I enjoyed this show the best.”
 

The activities began Friday morning with the quarterly meeting, which consisted of two parts. The first was the Chapter Roundtable, an informal forum for discussing ideas and solutions. Though mainly attended by official representatives from the various chapters, it’s open to all and anyone who has the opportunity to go would find this event interesting. The flow of ideas is fascinating, the tone is constructive and the mood is friendly and encouraging.
 

After the coffee break came the real meat and potatoes, the Executive Meeting, where Robert’s Rules of Order reigns supreme and your volunteer officers earn their salaries. As morning turned slowly into afternoon and the essential business of running this organization droned on, the dedication of the board members was truly remarkable. Here they were looking out on the lake in a stuffy room situated at water level tauntingly close to the boats cruising by mere inches away – and why no one ran screaming out into the sunlight like kids in summer school is a complete mystery.
 

With official business now concluded, it was time for the show to begin. And where it began was at the lakeside home of Betty and Dick Gantert. Set on a peninsula of land, this four-acre piece of paradise provides a rare glimpse of what life must have been like in the days before the advent of the hundred-foot lot. Though their place is called Chestnut Point it wasn’t chestnuts but pigs that were roasting on an open fire tonight. The Ganterts had created a mini-concours this evening with runabouts at the docks and on land with Jags and roadsters sprinkled about. Out on the lawn a large tent sheltered tables set for the two-hundred party goers and as the night came on the tent was put to good use. While a band of one crooned “Only Fools Rush In” – which should be the official ACBS theme song – the rain began to monsoon. Trapped in the tent or in the poolside bar, the boisterous crowd seemed completely undeterred from having a great time; venturing out in twos and threes under the shelter of umbrellas, some brought great mounds of desserts back to those more reluctant to leave their drinks.
 

Later that night, Betty opened several binders full of historical postcards from her extensive collection and provided an illustrated tour of Hopatcong in earlier years. It’s easy to see how the past is constantly present in a place with such a wealth of images to draw upon; ones that can make vivid memories even for those who haven’t been here before.
Rain was still coloring the skies the next morning as the set-up crew arrived at the Yacht Club. The gray clouds looked less than promising as the boats began to assemble, the low thrumming of their engines coming across the water and through the misting drizzle. Everyone was supremely confident, though, that the weather would turn and sure enough by ten o’clock uncertain skies gave way to glorious sunshine.
 

There’s no finer place than the Yacht Club’s deep, sheltering verandah to contemplate its history and to watch the whole day unfold. As the mist lifted, a remarkable picture of place and time came into view. The Club is located on the tip of Bertrand’s Island which sticks out into the water like a thumb and seems designed by Man or Nature to give the best possible perspective of the lake. Looking up Hopatcong’s long irregular length towards its many coves and inlets, New Jersey’s largest lake appears even larger. “It’s like a mini-Winnepesaukee,” said one chapter member.
 

Formed by the merging of two earlier boating clubs – just as this lake was formed by the joining of two separate bodies of water – the Yacht Club will celebrate its centennial anniversary in 2005. The handsome Colonial style building remains one of the few unchanged landmarks on a lake that has seen so many transformations. It dates back to the time when internal combustion engines were replacing the earlier naptha launches and has been at the center of local boating ever since. Inside, arranged around its high, dark wainscoted walls, are fifty portraits of past commodores who watch over the large meeting hall. The rustic Adirondack cabin style interior with its rough hewn timbers is a perfect contrast to the Club’s genteel exterior.
 

Powerboats have had a presence here since the early 1900’s and though Hopatcong was never one of the major racing centers in the country, have contributed much to the fame of the lake. Media coverage of APBA racing during the 30’s and 40’s which drew noted personalities such as Guy Lombardo helped spread the word. After WWII, the Club was again the focus of racing, sponsoring many events including the Governor’s Cup given to the fastest boat on the lake. Locals tell hair-raising stories of the ridiculous lengths some would go to, trying to shave a few seconds off their time and capture that award.
 

The Yacht Club is the best – and really the only – place on the lake to hold the boat show. What makes it so wonderful is also what will forever limit it as well. With its seven docks and scant available parking the show will remain an intimate gathering of friends in an extraordinary setting. Hosting the Quarterly Meeting changed the local nature of the show this time. Some regular attendees graciously gave up their spots so that visitors who pulled their boats could have one of the fifty-seven spots at the event. This broadened the selection and as Ed Seugling noted “The number of boats is limited by the slips…but the quality is fantastic.” Local author Martin Kane, head of the Historical Museum and chronicler of all things Hopatcong, has seen many of these boat shows. He paused a moment from his duties during the day to second Ed’s opinion. Kane, whose soon to be released latest book explores the Yacht Club’s long history, thought it was “the best boat show in fifteen years.”
 

Entries at the show were equally divided between utilities and runabouts with a dozen Special Class and four historic boats. Among these latter four, ACBS past president Dick and Cynthia Sherwood’s Elizabeth Ellen, a 1910 26 ft Fay & Bowen won Best in Class and also the Peoples Choice Award. Multiple first, second and third place awards within each category were often given, reflecting a collegial style of judging.
 

Down from Michigan was Chief Waramaug, Ted Grulikowski’s newly restored and much decorated veteran of many years, which took Best Chris-Craft. This fine 1927, 22 footer with its rare, original Scripps F-6 Junior Gold Cup engine – the only operational one in existence – was the twenty-eighth Cadet ever produced. Ted had modestly turned over the Chief’s display board full of awards so as not to dazzle its many new admirers.
Water Wonderland members Chip and Ann De Boer brought Lady Phyllis II, their 1938 Morin Craft which won the Furthest Traveled Award; ironic since it began life at the Greenwood Lake Launch Works on nearby Lake Greenwood. Once the fastest boat on that lake and displaying the trophies to prove it, Lady Phyllis made her homecoming shortly after the show.
 

Splash, a 1946 17 ft Higgins Deluxe Utility and Splish, a 1947 Higgins 19 ft. runabout both belonging to Wayne Mocksfield graced the show. Wayne is known to everyone in our organization as one of the original founders of the chapter and the man most responsible for maintaining Lake Hopatcong’s reputation as a wooden boat haven through his renowned Northwood Boat Works.
 

Further along the same dock were two Model 300 15 1/2 ft. Chris-Craft runabouts owned by Wayne’s young grand nephews: Billy, a 1933 model owned by Billy Kropp and Ryan, a 1932 model belonging to Ryan Tuttle. Billy won Best in Class for Antique Runabouts under 20 ft. but both of these little mariners won the crowd’s heart as they scampered around their boats in color coordinated shirts matching the upholstery and identifying which boat was who’s.
 

Tony Pichecca, Jr’s 1966 17 ft. Century, Jennifer, was awarded Most Original Boat. And Triple Time, Bruce Bone’s 1937 25 ft. Garwood won the overall Best in Show. This museum quality boat with its massive 2000 lb., 900 ci, V-12 engine was one of only 25 custom triple model 740s built in 1937. Its accompanying sign was almost as much a work of art as the pristine craft.
 

Later that night in the Yacht Club’s large hall decked out with enough bunting to look like a political rally, people gathered for the awards dinner. Mounted on display boards, photographs of all the day’s activities featuring everyone and their boats formed a backdrop to the event and were available for sale. Betty Gantert, following her precept to “keep it simple,” moved the event onward at a brisk pace. Under the enormous ship anchor chandeliers, awards and congratulations glided along on a sea of applause; speeches were brief and the overflow crowd ended the long day with enough energy to think about tomorrow’s picnic and boat parade.
 

Lake Hopatcong has lived through many incarnations. Home to the Lenape Indians for thousands of years, it was first exploited in the 1820’s as a source of water for the Morris Canal. That was during the early days of the American Industrial Revolution when iron was dug from the surrounding hills. In the late 1800’s it gained fame as a tourist destination, drawing people from the nearby large eastern cities to its hotels and amusement parks. As its reputation as a resort grew, the rich and famous began to build their palatial homes along the shores. All are gone now, though many of their boat houses still remain, providing a link to the past. Completion of the nearby Interstate highway was the deathblow to the lake as a vacation destination as it evolved into what it is today: a year round residential community.
 

Away from the lake the countryside manages to preserve a trace of semi-rural feeling. Here among the groves of maples splashed with orange lilies you’re likely to find a rusting Whaler or Airstream or maybe a bold and confused fawn out for a stroll. The well traveled main road twists past fieldstone and clapboard houses winding down to small coves each seemingly with its own marina. Sometimes a tennis court sized island with a cabin atop can surprise the new visitor.
 

Memories of earlier days remain strong among club members. Some can vividly recall a time that seems as remote as a Currier and Ives print. A wintertime scene when ice was cut by hand and drawn by horses to one of the five icehouses along the lake that supplied New York City’s needs. Or times as brash kids giving two-dollar “thrill rides” in souped-up runabouts to summertime tourists.
 

The past lives on among the present as it, too, becomes the past. The thirtieth anniversary is still only half-way to sixty for the Lake Hopatcong Chapter. And like proud grandparents everywhere, who knows how many more chapters will be part of the family then. Chapters who will look back to that October day in 1974 at the lake where it all began.