Fiberglass and wood- what beauty displayed together at Okoboji

[bojified]

Hey guys....I have been lurking for a long time on this site and have not felt I had much to contribute. Till now.
Two weeks ago my wife and I went back to our "motherland" and enjoyed yet again the annual Iowa Great Lakes Antique Boat Society show at Arnolds Park on Lake Okoboji. I feel some pictures from this show would be a good contribution. Historically this show has been for wooden Chris Craft and Century boats. However this year there was a real push to get 'all' types of classic boats to the show. Plus Chris Smith the grandson of the founder of Chris Craft was the keynote speaker at the Friday night dinner promotoing his new book about his years at Chris Craft. As always the show was wonderful and the lake parade was even better. So there were only 4 Glastrons....I know not as great as at Muscatine (have gone there a couple of years) but a start. And since I don't think new Glastrons were ever sold on Okoboji (no dealer in my 50 year memory) any Glastons on the water at "The Lakes" is always a coup.
Two weeks prior to this show there was a severe storm on Lake Okoboji that ruined some 50 boats....most dumped out of their lifts. You will see a picture of a classic woodie that was totalled...very sad indeed.

More Glastrons towards the end...just to hold your interest through the 'lesser' boats 

So here is a beautiful 1958...












A dock with newer Chris Crafts and  the flagship of the Iowa Navy - Queen II



One of the many boats destroyed in the storm...with a good note of advice...


















It was a blast and as you can see most of the boats were for sale.

See you on the water...Scot

[OleRed]

Great Pictures,  I'd like to know more about that Scimitar for sale,  I was at Muscatine a couple years ago,  I'll try to include a picture on this post of my boat and Criss Smiths old wooden hard top that was taken at that meet,  I love this pic.  click the link


http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj231/OleReds/4937501.jpg

[dorelse]

Yeah, I was kind of wondering about the CV-23's for sale as well.

[catchnedge]

Doran, I was thinking the same thing!

Bojified, great pictures, thanks for sharing!  Did you happen to get the phone numbers on those CV-23's or anybody know how to reach the owners?  Those are 2 great looking CV-23s.

[bojified]

Yes I wondered how long it would take before someone would want the numbers. First off let me apologize for the fact that I stupidly left my good camera in the car and was using my Blackberry. SO OleRed I especially say sorry to you because while I did take some closer shots of the FOR SALE signs, the Schimitar's was washed out by the sun and all I remember was he wanted something like $22,000 for it. The CV's are shown below and maybe one of them know the Schimitar's owner.

The blue CV sign reads- 1979 904-334-5438  $10,900 OBO
The brown CV sign reads- 605-321-4274  $9500 RUNS GREAT

Thanks for the nice comments and it really was a fun time.

Happy buying!

Scot

[OleRed]

Thats just fine,  I like to keep up on what the Scimitars are bringing / asking price.  I was wondering if he needed the "T" Tops also.

That old 1958 SeaFlite is a Beauty, very scimilar to Kevfins, but who woulda thought about putting lawn tractor seats in one ?  looks pretty good, and weather proof

[catchnedge]

Thanks Scot!

[Jason]

Thanks for the pictures. Looks like fun! We should get a bunch of us to head down there next year.

[bojified]

I think the Minnesota (oh sorry I mean Minn- EE -SOOOOO- TA) group would have a great time at Okoboji. You can stay many places with your boats, boat to great food and drink joints, and even boat to two on lake convienence stores. You can stay there a week or more and never 'drive' anywhere as all your needs can be met by boat. I grew up 12 miles from Okoboji and spent most my summers on or near one of the area lakes. Now we go back regularly and plan to retire there eventually. My nephew who lives on Minnetonka (Black Lake area) vacations at Okoboji because there is so much to do.

Sorry- putting soap box away now.

The more Glastrons or Hammonds the better. We need to give the rest a run for their money.

Scot

[Laine73GT160]

Hi bojified  :
Grate pictures.  Nice to see the larger boating community.  My old Glastron is no trailer queen but she looks good in the water.  I would drive to Lake Okoboji with her to see the old wood classics and boat for a day.  I am also thinking of taking my boat to one of the old wood classic race events.  I found an old pro-racer in Florida and we have a deal.  I ask around up-north about his list of his dream boats, mostly wood race boats he wishes he never would have sold.  And he is asking around the south and asking all his old race friends to find any of Carlson?s old race boats.  Boat people are good people and it does all tie together.  I will word this next part carefully.  Glastron-Carlson-Woody.
       

[Eric_Michael]

Holy Smokes!!!  The world comes back around...

Twenty years ago, I managed the Godfather's Pizza Express which is located in the building next to where these pictures were taken.  Your back would have been to the store in most of the pictures.  Fond memories, but it was a 7-day/wk seasonal summer job in my college years.

Odd memory...  The park roller coaster does not have enough weight to go around the track first thing in the morning.  The wheel grease is too stiff, and the metal track has surface rusted overnight.  So every morning, we all gathered at the coaster to provide ballast for two laps.

Yes, I have a degree for the University of Okoboji.  I have to admit, my fourth year was really tough.  I had to take the bar exam to graduate....     You can see 'The Three Sons' store behind the red boat.  That (and their main store in Milford) is the provider of 'U of O' apparel.  One of their beach towels is laying in the back of the Schimitar.

I seem to remember the wood 'Golden Pond' boat as plying the 'Boji waters back then.  My memory may be fuzzy though.  Did they have an explanation as to what happened to it?

Here is a sunset picture taken from the same spot several years ago:



-Eric

[Jason]

Hi bojified  :
Grate pictures.  Nice to see the larger boating community.  My old Glastron is no trailer queen but she looks good in the water.  I would drive to Lake Okoboji with her to see the old wood classics and boat for a day.  I am also thinking of taking my boat to one of the old wood classic race events.  I found an old pro-racer in Florida and we have a deal.  I ask around up-north about his list of his dream boats, mostly wood race boats he wishes he never would have sold.  And he is asking around the south and asking all his old race friends to find any of Carlson?s old race boats.  Boat people are good people and it does all tie together.  I will word this next part carefully.  Glastron-Carlson-Woody.
       

As soon as I know a date for next year it is going on the calendar!

[bojified]

Well put in your careful way....

I will just assume that as needed somehow the Glastron and Hammond can merge into one.

GlastronHammond- Carlson- Woodie

 

Although I would think some of the Carlson folks might want to change out the order a bit.

You are however spot on when it comes to boat people...and I mean "boaters" not just people that own boats. We have a pontoon on Coralville Lake (sewer) and there are tons and tons of 'boat owners' there who get out three or four times a season and couldn't dock themselves if their lives depended on it- which sometimes it does and looks pretty scarey. Boaters are the ones like you meet on sites like this that have a passion to be on the water and to live the boating or lake life. That might be one of the reasons we love Okoboji so much...there are so many 'boaters' there.

E_M yes we have many of the same memories and we relive them as often as we can. If you have not been back for twenty years much more has changed.

I am a member of the Bar from the U of O as well...plus here in Iowa City I live across the street from someone who taught the classes .

T-shirts I regularly see up there:

"Its an Okoboji thing"

and

"Okoboji- a nice little drinking community with a boating problem"

I will see if I can get the dates for next years show but it is almost always the last weekend of July.

Darn- I promised to put my soap box away....done!

Scot

[bojified]

E_M... I just took time to re-read your post. Yes and do you remember "The Roof"? Have you been to the "Maritime Museum" lately? I hope to be one of the volunteers there some day. When up there we hang at the Bare-Foot Bar "the foot" and at The Gardens....which you may know is no longer Whisky Dick's. The Warf added more deck to the east and now you can sit up in the big oak tree by Mau marine and watch the show of the boats going through the bridge. "Tweeters" burned down and is better than ever and this year- hold on to your hat- The Taco House doubled in size. The 4th of July fireworks over Smith's Bay recieved national recognition and was voted the 5th best fireworks show in the nation by Fox News- beating out Epcot. If you have not seen the fireworks over the "Winter Games" you have not seen fireworks.

I remember the Godfathers and the coaster oh and today I am wear an Izod shirt from guess where?

Darn soap box just lifted me right up again. Sorry Minnesota, the upstart blowhard from "just south the border" is going off again.

See you on the water...or better yet at The Foot.

Scot

[Hyperacme]

Welcome Bojified !
BOY ... When you post ya really post !
Great picture and looks/sounds like a wonderful place to go boating.
I would also like hear what happened to that boat ... Must have gotten blowen off lift and smashed on the rocks ... OUCH !
I like the statment about boat owners and boaters ... How true  ...

[bojified]

About the destroyed boat...I did not get to talk to anybody who knew the whole story about that particular boat but several I spoke to said it was destroyed in that windstorm. I like Eric_Michael have seen that boat and the many other classics that grace the shoreline of Okoboji in lifts. To send home the point of the windstorm please access the link below. It is to a website of an Okoboji photographer who took pictures the day after. After you look at those pictures please look at his other pictures by clicking back further in his string.

I must warn you the content will be shocking for the boat obsessed like ourselves. Open with due warning....

http://www.pbase.com/luckybreak/windstorm_2010

Scot

[MarkS]

Well Scot, you warned us!  Man, that was terrible.  Really sad to see all that devastation.  That photog. (Brian) does some great work, (great trip down memory lane in there), thanks for sharing the link.

[Eric_Michael]

E_M... I just took time to re-read your post. Yes and do you remember "The Roof"? Have you been to the "Maritime Museum" lately?

No, I did miss the Roof Garden.  The 'old park' closed in 1986 and was not opened in 87 or 88.  My first summer was when the 'new park' opened in 1989.  The old Roof Garden had been razed by that time.

Last time I was back was 2007.  Yes, I visited the Maritime Museum.  They have done some very nice things with it.  I remember several Queen II cruises with Captain Steve Kennedy in the early '90s.  Sad what happened.  It was very touching when I took the Queen II cruise in 2007 and heard his recorded narration of the lake during the tour.

The big place to go in those days was "Mother Natures" across the street from the park entrance.  Thursday nights, three tacos for a buck.  Margaritas & Tequila Sunrise's were also a buck.  For a ten-spot, you could have a pretty good time, and that included the tip!  I had a summer cottage about 3 blocks from the park, and there were a number of nights where I stumbled home.  Ahh, college days!

Hmmm...  An Izod shirt from The Three Sons??     You do know that the University of Okoboji is UNDEFEATED against the University of Iowa, don't you??  The UofI can never find the UofO campus and ends up forfeiting every year. 

[Eric_Michael]

...
I must warn you the content will be shocking for the boat obsessed like ourselves. Open with due warning....

http://www.pbase.com/luckybreak/windstorm_2010

Dang!  I have been in Okoboji for storms like that.  Scary times.

IIRC, it was the summer of '89 and there was a major thunderstorm which hit the area.  I was stuck in the park during the storm.  The main street past the park entrance was about 3 feet deep in a flash flood.  Across from the park entrance (now shops) was the parking lot.  I had a tree fall on my car and dent the hood.

They did not take the flag down from the park in time.  I remember the pole bent like a bow, and the flag ripped in half.  As the storm subsided, it took six of us to pull the flag down.  They had to bring a crane in to re-rig the pole.  FYI, that pole goes eight feet into cement and is 20 feet taller than the Perkin's standard flag pole (that was their specific request when it went in).  It is rated to withstand 110mph winds with the flag.

During that same storm the Village Princess was out on the lake for a wedding cruise.  Captain Al ended up beaching the Princess in order to save everyone aboard.  He knew the lake well enough that he could spot his way through the storm and hit a sandy beach.

I worked my tail off for four summers in the park, but it was good times.  The happy memories always stay, but the bad ones (70+ hour work weeks) fade away.

-Eric