From ACBS Headquarters
Got to head out to Northern Michigan this week to meet with Jeff Rogers and Bob Shampton, our co-chairs from the Water Wonderland Chapter, for next year’s big International Boat Show in Bay Harbor. Planning is well underway for a fun-filled week of activities next September 10th-16th, but it was nice to do a few sites visits before the snow really starts flying.
Bay Harbor Marina – almost fully put to bed for winter…but next year will be filled with beautiful vintage boats!
This area, like all of Michigan, is steeped in boating history and there is literally a lake around every corner. The tough part for our planning crew is going to be picking the locations to visit next September as there are just so many to choose from.
We were fortunate on this trip to get to visit some of the local boat shops. William Dreyer II’s crew at Frontier Classics Wooden Boat Restorations had a wide range of boats in their shop, already getting the winter restoration work underway. One special little treat was to see the flat-bottomed skiff built by Foster Boat Works of Charlevoix, MI. The skiff was one of many built to ferry US troops to shore during World War II, and this one made it back to it’s home state and is now being cared for by William. (Check out the story about Foster Boat Works from Petoskey News. Click this Link.)
We also had the pleasure of touring Van Dam Custom Boats in Boyne City with Erica Van Dam. It is an amazing shop that turns out amazing boats. We can’t wait to see the progress on this beauty next year.
From the little lakes including Walloon and Charlevoix, to the Great Lake Michigan there are going to be a lot of places for boating and having fun next September…stay tuned for more details to come out over the winter.
