Enough Of The AC…BS

Hamster reminds us all!

Well, today’s story was supposed to be a wonderful one on how fantastic the “Boat The Blue” event was. Records shattered, close to 800 free boat rides given. And it was. A HUGE shout out to the Michigan Gang who did an amazing job. Of course there is really no need to show any more dock shots. Just look on Facebook for literally hundreds and hundreds of confusing wonky dock shots.

Ya! Wow, Black Beauty on Facebook!Not a mistake. This is how its published.

Last night, we requested by email, and in person the list of winners for everyone to see to add to the excitement. Some winners were announced by the owners on Facebook of course so the news is out there in parts and pieces. But we were flatly denied the winners names and boats. The ACBS wants to publish them for themselves. Okay, So no story on the event today, just a bitter reminder of the pettiness of the ACBS. Do we need the winners names? No, not really. The folks that care, were all there. You the rest of the community will have to wait. So much for the new tag line. ACBS, Your Connection to the Classic Boat Community.

The best of the best crew!

So here the local group kills its self to get the news out, to bring us all together, and it has, and the ACBS, goes back to it’s exclusionary roots. Just when it counts, just at the very second it could have changed its image, just at the very second….Smart.. real smart. Maybe the tagline should just be AC…BS.

So, now what? Radio silence. A black out from the Black River. For all of you winners, a HUGE congrats, only you will know. And to all of us that watched painfully while the event went on. Stuck in our homes dealing with the crap outside…Sorry, today, you get this.

 

39 replies
  1. Martin Field
    Martin Field says:

    What utter bollocks! Sounds like your ACBS is as backward and nit-picky an organisation as our CMBA. Anyway, who cares who won. It wasn’t me!

    • Matt
      Matt says:

      We all won! The passion won, the culture won. Just sadly not the ACBS. What a huge missed opportunity to turn the page. I am so disappointed. I thought, I hoped it would be different. UGH. I tried. I really did. I am disappointed for the winners especially. Who killed it, spent money and time going to the show. To show their own boats, and the ACBS use’s them.. UGH When you win, you want the world to know. If the ACBS wanted to manage that, they could have. It could have been published last night and we could have linked it.

      • Allen
        Allen says:

        I agree Matt …..always found them a little stodgy and becoming very overpriced. Disappointing they don’t support information dissemination. You wonder why its growth is slow. Shows should encourage more User Boats as a class…..oh well….keep up your work in the hobby.

  2. Rick
    Rick says:

    Matt when you have pictures with no caption you make them up. Why are you stopping there? Why are winners with no names a problem? I’ll start.
    Panther, 1950 Sportsman Special – 1st Place Slowest Boat. So slow didn’t even get there.

  3. Matt
    Matt says:

    HA! Sadly because we were not there, we couldnt pull it off. Frustrating. The Slow Poke award is all yours. We will bring it up via Sweet Pea.. Should make it by next year!

    • Matt
      Matt says:

      HA, honestly we never really report on the winners. So that isn’t the point. And sad you guys are missing the point.

      • Allen
        Allen says:

        I asked for a program ….the response…you have to have entered a boat to get the program ? We don’t have any extra? Go to Hessel…..everyone gets a program a list of every entry and info on feature boat.
        Crazy….

  4. m-fine
    m-fine says:

    I asked for a winner list and I can understand why the people I asked would be under pressure not to share, but the competitiveness isn’t really a benefit to anyone. But, who cares? Even the crowd in the room didn’t care enough about the winners to be able to remember them 15 minutes after the awards were handed out. As of this morning the only people who care are the couple who got their six figure crystal bowl and the couple guys who were really close to getting one but came up short for some petty little BS and are still bitter.

    I know the ACBS has put a lot of effort into improving the judging process, but I continue to believe it is deeply flawed. It also gets a hugely disproportionate amount of attention given the tiny fraction of the ACBS membership and microscopic portion of classic boaters that chase the awards. Out of 200+ boats that came to this show, maybe 5% had a legitimate shot at a best in show dish. That is not helping draw in the future generations to an ever aging organization.

  5. m-fine
    m-fine says:

    Oh wait, the big winners are coming back to me.

    The volume and quality of glass runabout/utilities was pretty thin. I have seen much better, but the big fish from the small pond yesterday were a younger family with this little blue Larson.

  6. m-fine
    m-fine says:

    The big dish for best restored went to the 1961 Continental. Hmmm, the interior looked blue and bland to me, not the sparkly metallic green that I think was original. Seems like a glaring external flaw that is at the heart of the boats unique styling should be a bigger point deduction than the wrong hose clamp, but what do I know?

  7. m-fine
    m-fine says:

    Best preserved went to the cliche big triple runabout. I forget which one, but if someone else remembers I’ll post a shot even though you all know what it looked like.

  8. m-fine
    m-fine says:

    OK, one more post…

    The m-fine awards that no one cares about for best boats owned and used by actual boaters:

    Best in show non-wood – Silver Spoon the polished feathercraft.

    Best in show cruiser – The guy who spent two days driving up and down the river with the oversized FOR SALE signs. There were nicer boats, but he gets extra points for unashamed desperation.

    Best in show preserved and actually used – Loose Shoes a twin engine 25 Sportsman.

    Best in show well stocked coolers – Rich Lepping’s soon to be named 22 Sportsman

    And for the final BIG award:

    Worst in show motley crew award- there was only one boat that checked all the boxes; a bunch of disheveled drunks, check. Filled with trash, spilled beverages and who knows what else, check. Illegally parked throughout the show with special bonus for not even being registered, check. Most hours spent actually boating (with the possible exception of desparate cruiser for sale guy), check. Yep, Alex, NR, Mayer and Chad on Marion E. Congrats!

  9. Matt
    Matt says:

    I am leaving this story up for those of you to see how the ACBS is alive and playing at this in a fun way. I agree with M-fine regarding the winners though. The Motley crew is a true favorite.

  10. Texx
    Texx says:

    Over the years we were always able to get some basic information on who won the premier classes – Best Preserved and Best Restored, along with a few other awards. We always treated that like “breaking news” with a late night story for those who didn’t make it to the show (or the Saturday awards banquet).

    So far, no news on either the ACBS website or the HQ Facebook page (which can be posted in two minutes from a smart phone).

    Maybe the ACBS is holding off so they can publish the “breaking news” in the Rusty Rudder, once they figure out who is publishing the Rudder later this month…

    • Wilson
      Wilson says:

      Why is there a question about who publishes the Rusty Rudder ? ACBS is the publisher and Chris Eden is the Editor…Is their more to it than that ?

      • Kent
        Kent says:

        Wilson, they are looking to reduce the cost of the Rudder by finding someone other than Chris to do it for less.

        • Wilson
          Wilson says:

          Kent:- Well if cost is the problem, just cut out a few pages or reduce rhe size of some photos. Chris has been doing it for as long as I can remember,( maybe 20 years) and doing it well, including recently redesigning the entire format…Which, judging from the printed unsolicited testimonials , in the Spring issue met with general membership approval. Admittedly, Chris is not my closest personal friend but judging from what I’ve seen ACBS would be hard pressed to find a more talented or dedicated Editor. As Billy Joel once sang ” Don’t Go Changin'”

  11. Tparsons56
    Tparsons56 says:

    First – kudos to all the volunteers who put in many long hours to make this a great show. As I was sitting back last night enjoying a cold one I reflected that it was the most fun I have had being in a show.

    When we entered our pre war runabout I knew it would be a very competitive category and that we had little chance of winning. We use our boat often so it is not perfect and changes have been made to make it more reliable and safer. That being said I still admired the perfect boats for what they are – a piece of history lovingly preserved.

    While I don’t understand why the ACBS would not release the winners list I have learned through the years that there are two sides to every story. Personally I don’t really care because just being in the show was good enough and every spectator who told me “what a beautiful boat” was worth more than any trophy.

    • Mike Green
      Mike Green says:

      Tom you did win Gold in your class. It’s sad to read the negative comments on the show because if you were there and really involved you would really understand where our hobby is going. I find it petty, we say we are all in the hobby together but really its turned out to be the Woody B against the ACBS at the drop of a hat. The judging was the best its ever been, its like saying that the Lake Tahoe concourse doesn’t work either because that’s what it was modeled after and more then half of the judges were judges from that show. The negativity is coming from a select few and then gets posted here for the world to see. I guarantee they are not really involved in the ACBS in a chapter and help build the hobby. The ACBS has 4 walls and legs and the chapters put on most of the shows in this country and will continue to do so for many many years. They have been doing it before the internet, before little blog sites that turned into web pages and they will continue to do it when they fad away. Sorry I’m a little late to post this because I was busy being involved in the growth of the hobby.

      • Matt
        Matt says:

        Mike, as you know we do not edit stories or posts. Even ones like yours that shoot at us. I hope you respect that.

        • Mike Green
          Mike Green says:

          Matt I totally do, I like Woody Boater and go to it almost everyday. This was for the select few who seem to go to the show and find the things wrong with it. Although they take pictures, go for boat rides and party with the members. Then bad mouth the organization.

      • tparsons56
        tparsons56 says:

        Mike: I did see that we won gold in our class after I posted this yesterday morning [and before my morning coffee kicked in!]. I can say that I was quite surprised and grateful for the acknowledgement.

        My comments about not thinking we would place is more about the overall quality of not only the boats in our class but the overall show – all the boats were magnificent!

        Once again thanks to all the ACBS and Michigan Chapter for putting on a great show. My wife and I both agree it was the best we have ever attended.

        Is it to early to start promoting Bay Harbor in 2020?

  12. ACPS
    ACPS says:

    In defense of the stuffy old mono-hullers, the Antique and Classic Pontoon Society wouldn’t give you the scoop on our winner list either. That said, our winners are posted immediately on Instichat and Snapgram throughout the day.

    P.S. Chad’s monkey was the only cool boater at your silly show!

  13. Wudzgud
    Wudzgud says:

    Awards Awards. The cake is being able to see these beautiful boats at a show, the icing I guess is to win an award, but the cherry on top is being able to just own one of these beautiful mahogany boat of a bygone era. There are people who have put tons of money into their boat and will be the ones getting the awards. I feel it is about the personal friendships made and just being around these, as you said once Matt “A Steinway on the water”. I have had my U22 for a little over a year. She is named for my daughter who passed away 1 1/2 years ago at the age of 2 1/2. Being able to have that as a memory is my award.

  14. Diane
    Diane says:

    To share the passion we have with our old boats with people who appreciate our labor of love or the lunacy of it… and to share that passion with someone who has never been on an old boat. That is what this past week was about! In my book we are all winners for the smiles we brought to thousands of spectators whether we were judged by our peers or chose not to be. We wish Florence would have stayed far away so Matt could have joined us in Port Huron for all the fun! hmmm looks like a certain boat is going down the count…. gotta love those facebook posts

  15. Mary Ruchter
    Mary Ruchter says:

    The Port Huron Show was fantastic!
    Great mix of beautiful boats, many of which were being regularly used!
    Best if Show Preserved
    1929 30’ Hacker Craft triple.
    Absolutely stunning!
    Crowds where big and enthusiastic! I saw several Woody Boater Tees.
    Please stop bashing the ACBS. It’s really unbecoming.

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