When New Year’s rolls around, it is a marker in time that causes us to pause and reflect on the past year and ways to make the coming year more rewarding. There are so many aspects to consider. Possibilities include: attending more boat shows, with or without a craft, sprucing up your boat in some way, cruising to new and interesting places, learning the history or background to an aspect of wooden boating…
Next summer I would like to go to the International Boat Show in Clayton. It’s been several years since I was there last and it a show that brings interesting boats from all over North America, in addition to the cruises and show events.
The Canadian Canoe Museum has been closed for quite a while and I’m hopeful it will be open this coming summer at its new location. Canoes are a passion of mine and this museum holds a special significance. Founder, Kirk Whipper, posed for my camera many decades ago, when I was researching about Canadian Native Ontario birch bark canoes.
In that respect, one of my goals is to further the promotion of human powered craft, especially historic boats. Canoes, rowboats, sailboats and the like were essential transportation in the development of Muskoka. No local event has ever really celebrated them. I suppose local regattas might be a place to start. The MLA regatta has been running for over 100 years so there must be some historic boats showing up. I wonder what class of sailboat was sailed prior to the Albacore and Laser?
By Tim Du Vernet
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