Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia
August 8th through 10th, 2003
Another weekend of Skiffing in another part of the country,Smith Mountain
Lake, Virginia. It was said Smith Mountain was a beautiful lake and they were
right. The local chapter of the ACBS ran an all outdoors show that had 60 boats
registered, and 5 were skiffs. We brought Claire's Skiff to the show since I
still cannot DRIVE my boat. It was her time to show-off. I will attempt avoid
the politics of boat judging and will agree with a past friend of mine, that
it's who you know not how your boat shows. If you go out of your way to have a
BOAT show on the WATER, put your JUDGED boat IN THE WATER or have future shows
in a Wal-Mart parking lot so all boats can be JUDGED EQUALLY…
I did have a moment to discuss this and other issues with the President of
the National ACBS since he is a member of the chapter and was there. Jim noted
to me his awareness with the skiffs and the positive impact they are making at
the ACBS events.
The boats that made the show were Hop, Hot Tub, Hot H2O, Lena Dolores, a boat JS-65 (Formally Connie Cottrells Egg Beater). Another skiff on the lake called "Boo" formally Red Alert is on the lake but was not at the show.
We had a hotel on the lake for ourselves. All the noise we wanted, all the fun one could have, just the best of everything. Of course there's a catch we were just 5 minutes from the show, (BY WATER) but 1hour and 15 minutes by land. They forgot to tell us that when we booked. We didn't care; it was so nice and peaceful.
Friday Night Chuck came over to our hotel with Super Cal to pick us up and
deliver all 11 of us to the Friday night gig. Super Cal is a 26' launch owned by
Jim and Diana Shotwell. Jim charters the boat out for rides and takes it to
events for rides at the shows. Jim does so much for the Northeas
t region shows,
I wish there were some award he could get for his hard work. I don’t usually
promote non-skiff businesses, but he is special
www.jimshotwellboats.com use him
if you can.
We heard a rumor Sked was vacationing in the area and couldn't stay away from
skiffs too long. Friday afternoon, he, his daughter Audrey and wife Bucky came
to meet the skiffs. They spent most of the day with us, went back to our little
hideaway and left real late.
Even went for a skiff ride with Eddie II to show
him some stuff. (I don't believe Eddie taught Sked anything.) Sked came back
Saturday and cruised the show.
The Skiffs stayed tied most of the day then around 2 the wait was over, it
was time to make the water boil. Earlier, we made some adjustments on Hops cav
plate and you could hear Donna
(John's wife) screaming across the lake. Never
really realized how your voice travels during the day. Hop was now leaping
across the lake with the throaty exhaust vrooming and Donna’s high-pitched voice
yelling slow down. What a harmony those two were making.
Chuck had Hot Tub dialed in and was setting a pace that was hard to match.
You come a long way baby since last year. Ed Stanley went for a ride with Chuck
and I could swear, I heard something squeaking out there. Ed admitted he never
been that fast and would be SOME time before he would even think about it. Eddie
the plumber was pouring the coals to Hot H2O and really had a head of steam
going for her. Margaret (his wife) and co driver couldn’t get enough she was
smiling from ear to ear. I was peddling Lena Dolores for all she had to give
(about 40-45 mph) but realized the water was too rough for her fragile
65-year-old ribs. We decided to sit there and let the boys strut their stuff for
her.
There must be a magnet drawing people to the water when the skiffs run,
there was no room on the waterfront again. Ed Stanley's JS-65,
formally Connie Cottrells Egg Beater stayed at the dock and watched, he was
having engine problems. Ed hasn’t taken her very fast yet.
After the show, we headed back to the hotel to relax and refresh before the
dinner. We then headed back to the show grounds all in a line on the skiffs.
Many of the boats that participated in the show participated in the judging and
I am happy to say that Claire's Lena Dolores won an award for "Best Lap Strake
Skiff".
Sunday morning back at the hotel, everyone started packing up their boats, cars and families and headed home. It was another pleasurable weekend hanging with the skiff gang. Next year, we need to spend more time there.
