Classic Boats In Florida!

Friends Scott and Annemarie took us to Tavares in central Florida for the Sunnyland Antique Boat Festival this weekend. Tavares is near picturesque (and touristy) Mt. Dora on Lake Dora, which is one of several freshwater lakes in the area that are connected by canals and locks. You could actually get to the St. John's River from this lake.  Tavares is also known as 'America's Seaplane City', which made the trip even more interesting, with planes lining the shore and taking flight. The show itself was spread out on both land and water, and this is the first time in two years that they have held this event, due to the Covid pandemic. What a pretty setting and we enjoyed seeing different boats and engines. There were even a few beautiful Gar Wood wooden boats there from Brant Lake in the Adirondacks. Below are a few of the more novel boats, engines, and oddities that we saw.

The first boat we came upon was this race boat from 1930, but it had modern power of 908 cubic inches in the form of tandem 454s.

It was being towed by this really cool restomod crew cab woody wagon.

Below is a stunning Aristo Craft 14 with a 1959 period diner interior. Note where the steering console is. It was powered by a 6 cylinder, direct reversing Mercury Mark 75. There was no neutral on this boat.

Then there was the 'Field of Dreams' which had project boats for sale. Many were difficult to identify from butchering through the years, but fun none the less.

What a cute little half scale electric launch...

Look at this outstanding line up of Mercury Super 10 Hurricane outboard motors from the early 1950s.

They call these early in-line 6 Mercurys the 'tower of power'. They were the first outboards to break 100 HP in 1966.

This Aristo Craft with a matching Mercury Mark 40 outboard made us wonder if we should put one on our bucket list. 

This is yet another Aristo Craft with a double cockpit from around 1956, the year Dave was born. 

This novelty is a power ski unit. There is a 24 hp Wankel engine in the forward pod, which is steered by the handlebars that the skier controls. It looks like something Dave would have made. 😉

I don't think we ever found out what this strange boat was, but it certainly had big fins on the bow and stern! It was styled very similar to a 1959 Chevy.

We watched as this Packard came and docked. It was made by the same company as the Packard cars.

This Feather Craft and matching Mercury Mark 400 outboard were pristine! The mirror finish immediately drew us to the boat, as we have been eying a similar one up in the Northeast. It is a 16ft. Ranger 2 and definitely had the bling factor we like. Another bucket list boat perhaps?

This is a custom made, one of a kind Aristo Craft Sedan Cruiser...

They took a late model Yamaha  F150 outboard and dressed it up as a period 1960 Johnson 75.

These boats are amazing! The 21 ft. Chris Craft Cobra had a spectacular dorsal fin. There were two of them at the show, with one powered by a Chrysler Marine Hemi and the other had a Cadillac V-8. 

What a fun day with good friends. It certainly was a great event to get our imaginations in high gear. 

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Track Time

What a treat for Dave to be able to go with our friend and neighbor Bill, to the Palm Beach International Raceway to do hot lap races with Bill's Mini Cooper. 

The course they were on is the smaller squiggly one on the left (photo taken from a Palm Beach Post article).

It was mainly younger people doing the races, and one Mini was even nitrous boosted.

The guys had a blast. Bill did four laps around the course, and he let Dave do one also. Bill was an amazing driver and didn't even hit any of the orange cones.

Motorcycles were racing on the bigger course that day. You could even rent them to ride and race.

This was a free event for Mini Coopers with no entry fee or trophies given. Bill came in 8th out of 13 competitors that were time trialed (each lap he beat his previous time). However, when the people who put this event on, found out that Bill was 89 years old, they found a trophy for him. What a prized possession! The funny thing was that Dave was the second oldest person there.

What a fantastic morning and Bill was thrilled to share this bucket list event with Dave, and vice-versa. It was also a bittersweet moment since this is the last event being held at the track. It has been sold and will be demolished to have huge warehouses built. The sale has been quite controversial since people that want to keep it as is, have tried to buy it, but money talks and even $55 Million couldn't keep it the same. Another end of an era, but Dave and Bill got to experience it!

Nesting Season

This morning we took a kayak trip from Sewell Point Park down to Bird Island to see if any birds were nesting on this protected island. What a difference a month makes! Last time we paddled by, there were very few waterbirds in the trees. This time it was loaded with brown pelicans, wood storks, cormorants, ibis, egrets, and even a few roseate spoonbills. Last year there were more spoonbills than any other nesting bird, but this year the storks have taken precedence. 

It was fun floating just outside the warning signs (no landing allowed so as not to disturb the birds) and watching the many different species flying in with nesting material. We could tell that there aren't any babies hatched yet, because it wasn't as noisy as it was last April when all juveniles were yelling out for their parents to feed them.

As an added bonus, the water was really clear with the incoming tide, so we could see the bottom. What makes this tiny island perfect for the birds is that it is so shallow around it, that it is difficult for boats to get near it without running aground.

If we are lucky with the weather, we will head down again in a few weeks to see how the flocks are doing. It is great to see all this birding activity!

😎🐤

Hot & Windy Update

I apologize that I have not posted anything on the blog lately, but we have just been two old goats doing daily activities. Except for one day, it has been quite hot and windy. Sometimes it is even too windy for Dave to race his RC Sailboat "Flyin' Fish". There have been days we have gone kayaking even when it is blowing up to 20 mph. Yesterday was one of those days and we went down to Jupiter to see the dynamic inlet with the east wind against an outgoing tide. We decided to try and kayak in the ICW in one of the oxbows by Burt Reynolds Park and although challenging, we found some new areas to explore. We also took the kayaks to the Savannas Recreation Area in Fort Pierce and kayaked in fresh water. It was a short paddle because the water is so low, but it reminded us of northern lakes with the blooming lily pads. Up north though, we certainly don't have gators (the photo is of a tiny one) and our favorite sandhill cranes.

One day we 'hopped' across the ICW down in Hobe Sound to paddle in the lee of Jupiter Island. We can never resist a stop at Peck Lake and a walk across to the deserted beach (the path is really getting grown in).

On alternate Saturdays, Dave and I are in charge of our park's cornhole tournaments. Dave and a neighbor set up the games (provided by management) and I help break down everything afterward. We have about 12-16 people show up to play each other. It is a lot of fun and I think we may have to get a set for up north to keep practiced up. I had never played before and the first time I threw the corn bag it went right in the hole...beginner's luck! My neighbor yelled, "that's it, you're done, you can't play." 😉

There are two pieces of news to pass along that few people know about. The first is that "Bitsy" the Mini Cooper has been out of commission due to engine issues. We will tow it back home on a tow dolly, where Dave can work on it at his leisure this summer. Instead, we have been using the Silverwing motorcycle (aka the bad-ass scooter) a lot more to take on local jaunts. We are thinking of possibly bringing my PT Cruiser convertible down here next season and leaving the Mini up north for around the town driving.

The other news is that we sold our power boat. We have been kayaking so much and can paddle to almost all the places that we were powerboating to. We also have access to a Boston Whaler that Dave did quite a bit of work on for one of the residents in our park. Plus, we have found that it is more enjoyable down here when boating with friends. Hopefully Barb and Barry will still have us onboard as 'boat boys' once in a while! 💑 Having that extra set of hands to help launch, haul out, and anchor, really helps, not to mention having conversations with other people than our spouses that we are with almost 24 hours a day 😉. Farewell "Coqui" and we hope you and your new owner enjoy time on the water (it is his first boat ever and Dave gladly spent time with him to get used to it).

So that is my update for the moment. We will hopefully have more adventures to post about soon. Now though, it is time to beat the heat (and crowds) and hit the pool!

😎