Last Gasp From Canoes To Cruisers!
OK, that looks cold, wet and miserable. Perfect cruiser weather! Love the space needle in the shot!And for the purist, headed south into Lake Union here with the Space Needle in the foreground. Took on 66 gallons, typically cruising at 17-20 knots, burning 1 mpg with twin 350’s, yea!
Thanks to fellow Woody Boaters Ron Stevenson from the left coast and Victor Fabricius from Florida finishing off last gasp week in stlye. Take it away Ron.
Special gas price for our Queen City YC club this weekend only $3.89!
Typical Seattle day — warm at low 50s, liquid sunshine, many shades of gray (oh dear!). Different kind of bondage though; aren’t we really tied to, fascinated by, and in love with our boats? I am proud to say I am in love with ITCHIN’ my 35′ 1953 Chris Craft Commander! She feels good underneath me, warm, inviting, making wonderful noises.
Hmm, is this boat porn? Oh dear!
Cabin heater working well along with the wipers. Next outing the Christmas Lighted Parade in 3 weeks! We never quit!
And these great shots in from Victor in FLA! Love the addition of some cool vintage canoes!
Dang! this looks like it was a fun run for sure.
These are pix from our Wooden Canoe Heritage Association meet at Stephen C Foster State Park in the Okefenokee Swamp last weekend in October 2012, I had my 1914 Old Town paddling with a mix of other members’ canoes. The blue one was a 1936 restored Old Town, in my mind “best of show” with 2 well known “stripper” models, another later model light weight Old Town and a green “synthetic” Old Town “Camper” model, E M White, and a Chestnut. The paddling Saturday started off warm by kind of bleak as hurricane Sandy was winging its way up the coast just off Florida/Georgia. Overcast sky and drove the gators below water where they stayed warmer than on top in the windy conditions.
What happens if your flip in this water? Yikes. there are things that like humans in there!
Hosted by Tom and Lynne Wasson from Fernandino Beach, Florida who made a huge pot of chili for Friday night cooked burgers and hot dogs Saturday evening as well. Other participants brought deserts and side dishes to add to the gorging Americans are known for. There were canoeists from the Philadelphia area, Mobile Alabama, 4 from north Georgia, 1 from Aiken SC, as well as others. Saturday we paddled to a landing that was once a Cypress logging mill complete with population in the hundreds that included housing of course, a theater, church, general store, segregated housing section along with the sawmill and all its equipment. We encountered this abandoned area on a hike through the woods to the location of the village that was started in the late 1800’s and was abandoned in the 1920’s and the area was designated an official wildlife refuge in the 1940’s.
Thanks to everyone who sent in great last gasp shots, we will be dabulating our results, looking for loose chads and announce the big winner soon. If you are into bribing the judges, Carla takes donations in the form of insurance policies! Just click here and send money.
That is one beautiful header!!! My hat is off to the self propelled, the quietest of the woody boats.
My boats are often just as quiet as a canoe, but they are a lot less fun to paddle back to shore.
🙂 Hey so is mine.
Love the canoes! Looks like a great time.
Chili and hot dogs? I think I know what drove the gators below the water.
..LOVE the wood canoes. Went with the WCHA for a year.
Did the New Hamp ASSEMBLY college gathering, Good , dedicated bunch of folks.
While I appreciate the header photo as being beautiful, on the flip side, “quiet” is over-rated.
We love our V8 powered baby. When folks see our boat, they’ll say how beautiful it is and then they ask about the power. After hearing the rumbling V8, they usually smile and giggle like kids hearing their mom fart.
And we can both see wildlife and chase it to boot. The kids and I have seen a few Bald Eagles in the tree tops and we were able to get up close and then when they took to flight, with that fast V8 we were able to chase them down to watch them soaring in the wind.
Love both canoe and cruiser, especially as I have neither. Thanks guys.
“Loose Chads?” Typo right? It’s loose Chad.
Just a slight correction, more than 4/5th’s of Okefenokee swamp is located in Ga north of Florida line. 2 rivers, the St Mary’s runs to Brunswick, Ga and the Suwanee (as in “Way down upon the …”) which runs to the gulf drain the 700 sq. miles of wetlands. Unfortunately, a 2007 fire burned 500,000 acres of swamp and cypress shutting down I-75 for 40 miles and another in 2011 burned 96,000 acres. Cypress and vegetation remain along the deeper watershed areas and vegetation is re establishing itself.
We did encounter a black bear that was traversing the waterway and it was quite annoyed that we were approaching based on its growl. Thanks for the positive comments, I’ve always felt canoes were not only a great way to enjoy the water but an art form unto themselves.
and what a coincidence, I spent a weekend with Ron Stevenson his wife, Curt and Marsha Ericsson, and others in Astor, Fl after the Mt Dora show/St John’s River Cruise. I remember him telling me about his CC Commander kept in a boathouse I believe as he reprogrammed and trained several nubbies in the house on their cell phones on how to program voice activated calls, lol. This was as we reorganized/surgically scrubbed the whole kitchen in the rental for the benefit on one OCD member.
btw, that looks like those problematic “Chris-O-Matics” on the helm of “Itchin'” that so many people are “bitchin'” about but knowing Ron from that 2 day vacation, he’s got them working perfectly, a detail man if there ever was one. Hello, from Ga.
V8s have their place, but it’s always, a treat to see or paddle a vintage canoe…..more please Matt , btw perhaps a smattering of mo-coe pics might soften Brian t views on the poor man.’s yacht.
“Everyone must believe in something. I believe I’ll go canoeing” Henry David Thoreau
I should clarify – canoes are great and do have a place – they are just not for me.
Although, I may have found one that might work:
Now that’s a mo-coe!
The “Crash-o-Matics” on “Itchin” work just fine – When Ron and I were restoring the boat, we made the decision to re-engine and changed to Velvet Drive gears among other things… I reworked the shifters, with new shafts extending through the top of the station. With a small arm they work the cables down to the boxes just fine. The original spring blocks were retained to provide location and feel.
People that knew those original systems always come aboard, shake their heads then go to the front of the boat to look for short plank repairs… 🙂
The canoes are great, but I gotta see more of that 53 commander! Looks great even in the rain.