Post by ghostcomanche©® on Sept 8, 2018 11:15:38 GMT -5
Classic and antique boats will star in upcoming boat show
by Sherese Gore at the Smith Mountain Eagle
Roger Smith sits inside 'Birmingham Baby, a 1952 Chris-Craft Racing Roundabout at Bridgewater Marina.
When Alan Frederick goes to a restaurant on the lake, his gleaming 1948 Chris-Craft Custom Runabout by the name of “Spiffy” often turns heads.
“You pull up with this and everybody comes over to it because it’s just different,” Frederick said.
Frederick and other boat enthusiasts are gearing up for the 28th annual Antique and Classic Boat Show and Festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sept. 15 at Mariners Landing. The event is free, but donations will be accepted. Proceeds from the event will go to lake-area charities.
The show is sponsored by the Smith Mountain Lake Chapter of The Antique & Classic Boat Society.
Among the vessels that will featured at the event is “It’s About Time,” a 1948 Chris-Craft Sportsman Utility owned by George Curnow. Curnow is a former president of the Smith Mountain Lake Chapter of the ACBS.
Curnow’s love of classic boats began when he was 10 years old, and he learned to water ski behind a Chris-Craft boat belonging to a friend’s grandfather. Now 74, Curnow said that memory has been burned into his consciousness, and “It’s About Time” is similar to the boat that he learned to ski behind as a boy.
“So it’s sort of a fulfilled a lifelong dream,” he said.
Roger Smith has been a member of The Antique & Classic Boat Society for about 25 years and once served as president of the Smith Mountain Lake chapter.
His 1952 Chris-Craft Racing Runabout, Birmingham Baby, originates from the Alabama city of that name. Like Curnow, Smith’s love of classic boats began when he was about 10 years old and he and his father paid 50 cents to ride in the back of a speedboat in Cape Cod, Mass.
“Never forgot that, and I’ve always wanted to have a speed boat,” Smith said.
Frederick didn’t grow up around the water nor did he know “the first thing about boating or fishing” but when he heard a passing boat at New York’s Chautauqua Lake, “I said, ‘I’ve got to have one of those.”
Speaking of the thrill of antique and classic boats, “once you get hooked it’s like anything else,” he said.
“We really started getting involved in it, and it’s a lot of fun,” he said.
For more information on the Smith Mountain Lake Chapter of The Antique & Classic Boat Society, visit www.woodenboats.net.