2012 Annual Woody Boater Bored Of Director(s) Meeting To Be Held At Lake Arrowhead

The last time Matt & I met together in person was when we covered the 2011 Lake Tahoe Concourse d’Elegance last August. We held a short Woody Boater Board of Director(s) meeting that weekend, while we were waiting in line one morning at a coffee shop in Tahoe City. It all happened quickly, there was only one guy ahead of us in line.

So as we are planning to get together this weekend to cover the 2012 Lake Arrowhead Boat Show in California, Matt decided that this might be a good opportunity to hold the 2012 Woody Boater Board of Director(s) meeting. As I was planning to arrive on Thursday, and Matt wasn’t arriving until Friday from the east coast, Matt asked me to make the formal arrangements for a proper meeting room… I agreed. He suggested that I get a room big enough for the entire Board, and thanks to the nice folks at the Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa – I found one that was a perfect size, with just the right number of seats. And it gets better… We were able to rent the room by the minute, so if it lasts approximately the same amount of time as last year, we should only need it for about 4 or 5 minutes… Easy on the budget too…

Then I proceeded to prepare the agenda, as shown below. So we should be ready. If anyone out there would like to make a motion or suggestion, I will try try squeeze it in to the agenda. We do listen to our viewers… (We don’t take ourselves very seriously as you can see, we just like having fun talking about old boats and hanging out at boat shows).

I love Southern California and was fortunate to spend a few years in SoCal back in the late 70’s. After flying in to LAX on Thursday afternoon, picking up the rental car and hitting the freeway for the short trip to Lake Arrowhead, I noticed a few things that sparked a few memories for me, of those good-old days in SoCal. Like a cool dude rolling down the freeway in a vintage VW surfing bus…

And the dreaded Thursday afternoon SoCal traffic on the freeway interchanges… But for some reason, when your en route to an antique boat show, the traffic is no big deal.   And before our friend and fellow Woody Boater John Kadimik chimes in to say “Where’s Lake Arrowhead” as he is known to do, here’s how you get there Johnny…

What the &3@*% – Who is this dude?? Poser… Stolen identity? While I otta….

As we continue to head eastward towards Pomona, the traffic begins to thin out, and is now moving along nicely at 85 MPH…

And before you know it, you arrive in Lake Arrowhead Village. The cool thing is that, according to the Lake Arrowhead Magazine (in the BOD Agenda shot) Lake Arrowhead is just 90 miles from downtown Los Angeles… 90 miles east and almost 1 mile higher in terms of elevation, at 5,100 ft. Many describe Lake Arrowhead as “The Jewel of Southern California” and I must say it is a beautiful spot.

And thanks to the fellow Woody Boater Dave Anderson and the nice folks at the Southern California Chapter ACBS for inviting Woody Boater, have the pleasure of joining in the fun this weekend at their annual boat show.

The last 45 minutes of the drive takes you high up into the San Bernardino Mountains, towards the 782-acre alpine lake. It amazing how things change as you climb, from the hustle bustle of the Los Angeles area to the fresh mountain air and the serenity of the mountains. A perfect place for a Board Meeting…  That’s San Bernardino County way down on the valley floor.

After some mandatory visits at few hot rod shops in Pomona, I arrived to Lake Arrowhead just before sunset, with just enough time to snap a few photos of this weekends venue. And a few classic boats had already arrived… Those lapstrake guys are always on the ball, and so well organized… They get it.

And finally – after reporting about this boat over the last year, we get to see Dave Anderson’s very cool, very rare, very perfect 1956 18’6″ South Coast “Wicked Wahine” in the flesh… (now if we can just mooch a ride somehow…)

And this beautiful Thompson outboard – We will learn more about this boat and report back once we corner the owner over the weekend.

I love the striking color of this cool Thompson…

And how about this wooden Mercury with an attitude… This is going to be a great boat show, just wait.

I guarantee that Matt will know the people that own this place by the end of the weekend…

Stay tuned for more live-ish updates from the 2012 Lake Arrowhead Antique & Classic Boat Show, hopfully from the lake if we can apply our well rehearsed mooching skills…

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