By Bjorn Bakken, ACBS Treasurer, Bay State and Northern Europe Chapters
The ACBS Board of Directors voted to approve the Chapter application of the Classic Boat Club of Northern Europe at the last board meeting, welcoming the second European Chapter to ACBS. 
In the Northern European countries of Germany, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland with its long coastlines and countless inland lakes, boating has not only been the way of life but also the playground for pleasure crafts. Each of the countries has their own flare to their boats, with famous boat designers like CG Petterson, Forslund and Furuholmen among many. Unlike a branded boat builder in North America, these designers sold their plans to many smaller boat builders, and regardless who built the boat, it would always carry the designers name.
Germany is known for their own unique design of runabouts for use in their lakes. And of course, the introduction of the mahogany speedboats in the US spread to the European countries in the 1920’s and 30’s. Both Chris-Craft and GarWood had a distributor network in Sweden in 1930, and many of the boats sold back then are still on the waters today.
Europe had their own builders of pleasure crafts, the well know Riva, but also lesser know brands like Pedrazinni, Boerch, Archangeli, Bellini and Rio. ACBS Nordic is excited to share our boats and passion with the rest of the ACBS community. Any ACBS member is of course welcome to join our chapter and we always welcome you to our viking heritage waters.
You will find our chapter on Instagram under #acbsnordic, and invite you to visit our website www.acbsnordic.com.
Welcome to all of our new Northern European members!