Award Winning Fatal Attraction Featured in Hollywood Productions By Bob Newcomber, SoCal Chapter In November 2009, I attended a workshop at Robinson Restorations in Fallbrook, California, when Tim Robinson called me aside and showed me a loose-leaf notebook that had details of a boat for sale. Tim knew I was looking for this exact model…
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What a weekend it was in Yorktown, VA, when Sail 250 tacked and jibed into port on the York River as part of the America 250 celebration. Yorktown, the site of Cornwallis’s surrender and the beginning of the end of the Revolutionary War, was just one of many backdrops across Virginia that celebrated both naval…
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Frizzy Atwell was in charge of all new yacht construction at Trumpy’s. Jim Emmeric headed the plumbing shop, Frank Thomas, the joiner shop, Rob Childs, the electrical shop, Ed Norton, the mill shop, Frank Wagner, the carpenter shop and Bunky Durham, the boat building shop. The division of labor was well defined at the Trumpy…
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by Forrest Bryant, edited by David Vickers, Heartland Classics Chapter Photos by Forrest Bryant As a young-ish advertising executive, I spent most summer weekends in the 1970s and ‘80s at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. Back then, Tan-Tar-A Resort was the place to see and be seen, and I attended Lake of the Ozarks…
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Capt. Mark Manes, Northern California/Lake Tahoe Chapter I wrote the bulk of this article before I made a fool out of myself at the Concours in 2025. That’s right, your education and safe boating rep almost had a collision in front of the entire world, right at the bridge at Obexers. I was using another…
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By Brian Thalhammer Sponsored Content Few endeavors feel more tied to the eternal dialog between man and the sea than restoring a wooden boat. Maybe it’s the aroma of varnished mahogany in a warm workshop, the glimmer of chrome beneath marina lights, or the moment an old inboard awakens from decades of silence with…
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By Gene Dangel, Northern California/Lake Tahoe Brothers Bob and Billy Campbell became commercial fisherman after WWII and settled on Catalina Island in 1948 living aboard their boat. Applying knowledge and experience gained in all types of boats navigating the blue waters off of the California coast, taught them valuable lessons about performance, seaworthiness, and functional…
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By Brian Thalhammer Sponsored Content Ask any seasoned restorer what truly brings a wooden boat back to life, and the answer goes beyond varnish lines and polished chrome. It lies beneath the floorboards, where cast iron, brass and impressive engineering await a second chance. As beautiful as a wooden hull may be, it’s the engine…
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By Mark Manes, Northern California/Lake Tahoe Chapter As a child, I knew that I wanted a job that I would truly enjoy, and I think I found it. Many of you may have no idea what a San Francisco Bar Pilot even is…basically we drive ships for a living! A Marine Pilot is essentially a…
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By Brian Thalhammer Sponsored Content by Mecum Auctions Wooden boat restoration is one of those niche pursuits that, once discovered, tends to become a lasting fixation. Those familiar with it know that with two hands, abundant ambition and some extra project space, a unique opportunity exists to navigate sculpted lumber back into the shimmering expanse…
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Will you be attending the Chesapeake Bay Chapter’s boat shows this season? If so, you may be interested in a two-part story on the history of the John Trumpy & Sons Boat Company that for decades graced the shores of the Eastport peninsula, not far from Annapolis. For more than a century beginning in…
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By Brian Thalhammer Content Sponsored by Mecum Auctions For many dedicated collectors, there are certain auctions that rise above the swells—special occasions that feel less like bidding transactions and more like the christening of a new ship. It’s a sentiment that’s proven prolific within the wooden boat community, where the reward isn’t just in ownership,…
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