Classic boats draw attention

Boat/US Magazine, May, 2002 by Michael Sciulla

"It's time that we admit that fiberglass boats, some of which are now more than 40 years old, are classics," says Beard, a BoatU.S. member who owns a 1947 Chris Craft Red and White Express cruiser, a 1959 fiberglass Larson Falls Flyer and a 1962 wood and fiberglass Century Coronado. He believes that the antique and classic community should look beyond the double and triple cockpit runabout and embrace a whole variety of vessels under the antique and classic boat banner.

Beard's dream is to build a National Boating Museum to showcase all of the various types of antique and classic vessels and related memorabilia.

To this end, he has begun scouting out properties around the country looking for a home for the museum and recently visited BoatU.S. to talk about his plans for the museum as well as the next National Boating History Symposium scheduled for March 14-16, 2003, in Seattle, WA.

"There's dozens of museums with old boats around the country, including the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, NY, which houses a collection of 50 or so wooden runabouts, the Mariners Museum in Newport News, VA, and Mystic Seaport in CT, which has a fine collection of wooden sailboats. But there's no one place where all of the various types of recreational boats are preserved and can be viewed under one roof," says Beard.

"The Antique and Classic Boat Society (ACBS) has done a great job of taking care of the needs of those who own runabouts and utilities, but there's a lot more to antique and classic boats than just that slice of the pie," says Beard, who, like Wright, is a past ACBS chapter president.

The ACBS has over 6,000 members who pay $35 a year to belong and is organized around 46 regional clubs. It maintains a comprehensive Web site, www.acbs.org, which provides links to many of the marque clubs even though they are not officially "members" of ACBS, publishes a quarterly, the Rudder, as well as a cross-referenced directory of over 10,000 antique and classic boats. For the first time since its founding in 1975, it will put on a boat show of its own in Coeur d'Alene, ID, in mid-September.

While the ACBS is dipping its toes in the boat show business for the first time, Beard and Wright are talking up the idea of holding a national "town meeting" of the entire antique and classic boating community within the next year or so. They hope to bring all of the various parties -- wood, metal and fiberglass, power, sail and paddle -- together under one roof. (If you are interested contact Magazine@BoatUS.com.)

In the meantime, the antique and classic boat show season is in full swing, with more than a dozen shows and a variety of events scheduled each month now through October (check the aforementioned Web sites). There are as many as 25 per month alone slated for the months of July and August, including the Antique Race Boat Regatta, sponsored by BoatU.S., which will be held in Clayton, NY, during the weekend of August 16-18.