Harveys Lake is in Northeastern Pennsylvania and is the home of an active ACBS chapter, Pennsylvania NE, Harveys Lake. Bill Nash, Russ Taylor and others formed the Harvey’s Lake Chapter in 1982 to serve Harvey’s Lake boaters, and boaters from all over Northeastern Pennsylvania. We now have 60 members. The chapter has bimonthly dinner get-togethers all…
The Indiana Chapter was the 21st ACBS chapter created in 1986 in Indianapolis by Mike Boone, Russ Smith, and Bruce Clark at the Indianapolis Yacht Club. Our three founding members have grown around 120 and each of us enjoy annual dinners, lake tours and a sense of philanthropy. The chapter hosts various boat shows around…
How did we get the reputation of being a “welcoming and fun” interest group with few strings attached? It started in the early 1990s when a few boaters in Oklahoma were drawn together by the magnetism of wooden boats. Strange that wooden boats would have that force, but they were becoming the minority, yet easily…
The New England Chapter war born at the 1976 Boston Boat Show when a group of wooden boat enthusiasts gathered in admiration around a couple of show winning woodies: Ted Larter’s “Scotty Too” Goldcup Racer and Ray Hawe’s prized possession, 18-foot Garwood “Norma Jean”. Behind the scenes of this Boston gathering were Jim Irwin and…
The North Carolina Coastal & Piedmont Chapter of ACBS is fortunate to have a chapter member, John Olsen, who is an instructor in the boatbuilding program at Cape Fear Community College (CFCC) in Wilmington, one of six boatbuilding schools supported by ACBS scholarships*. In addition to ACBS International support, the North Carolina Coastal & Piedmont…
“Back to the Beginning” was the 1995 theme for the 20th Anniversary ACBS Show and meeting 30 years ago. Although the Adirondack Chapter (ADK) was the third to form a chapter under the newly incorporated ACBS, the Adirondacks are the actual ACBS birthplace. Lake George was summer home to a group of wooden boat owners…
In the early 1980s, a group of vintage boat owners living on one of Michigan’s many pristine bodies of water in the Grand Traverse region organized the Long Lake Wooden Boat Club. Gradually, they became aware of an international organization called The Antique and Classic Boat Society; from this awareness would come the Water Wonderland…
It all started back in 1978 when a group of folks wanted to have a boat show. The show was to feature both Vintage and recently wooden boats that had been in continuous use, a “user” boat. The show was a great success and the Village of Alexandria Bay has opened their docks for a…
Adventure lovers will remember Gene Porter’s story of a trip north along the veritable aquatic superhighway that is Lake Champlain and its appendages into the heart of old French Canada. Invited to judge the very first Montreal Classic Boat Festival. In 2008, inspired by to revisit the beauty of this country by waterway, Gene loaded…
During the month of August in 2010, Gilbert Vacheret, a founding member with a French delegation of the club Société Nautique de Bordeaux, went to the U.S. to meet with the ACBS. Lou Rauh introduced Gilbert to several chapters and one in particular, the Water Wonderland chapter, offered him the opportunity to visit the…
By Bjorn Bakken, Bay State Classic Boat Club While living overseas in my country of birth, Norway, from 2012 to 2014, a childhood friend told me: “I know of a rare wooden boat in a barn.” Many of us have heard of stories like this, but it’s like winning the Lotto when you see the…
It all started with Merl W. “Bill” Baldwin, Jr. (June 6, 1935-October 14, 2015). Known as “The Helmsman,” Bill wrote science fiction–specifically military space opera. The Helmsman Saga (8 books) was his best-known work, hence his nickname. He worked at NASA at Cape Canaveral supporting Project Mercury and later as a contractor for the NASA Manned Spacecraft…