S
SplitPersonality
Guest
Regarding your comments John (Bevins) -
I have to agree - for the 11th year in a row, the weather was absolutely
spectacular. I know it was hard for a number of you to give up the fluffy white
stuff up north or out west, but the temperatures in the low 80's here were
sure wonderful with nothing but sun and great camaraderie. Warm and sunny
Florida lived up to its reputation again. In advance, I was guardedly pessimistic
concerning the change in location, as Mount Dora has an undeniable charm that
is difficult to replicate. However, I think universally, all participants as
well as the public are in agreement that the show was a definite success. We
Amphicar owners had lots of room right next to the new commodious concrete
ramp which worked out great. This year, we were given carte blanche
permission to "splash in" to our hearts content and any boats in the vicinity of the
ramp were warned in advance that such splashing and waves, which are of course
actually quite minimal, would be occurring. Thus, we had nobody yelling that
we were "rocking their boats" and any of us who wished could go in and out
as often as we wished. As always, the mid-day Amphicar parade and mass
Baptism was a much heralded and applauded part of the whole show. The only fly in
the ointment which will be addressed for next year is that we were told in
advance that we couldn't use the ramp on Sunday, as boats would be using it to
be taken out of the water. Since our only desire on Sunday was to ease in or
out of the lake in order to do a little group swimming, we drove the 5 miles
by land to the Mount Dora ramp instead. It was obvious that the Wooten Park
ramp was not overcrowded or in use by the boats and trailers full time, so that
prohibition was definitely unnecessary.
I need to make it clear that the $200 donated by the IAOC was what made it
possible to have an even more extravagant banquet with fancier door prizes and
drawing prizes than otherwise. I had been told in advance that the new IAOC
board had planned to provide a $200 contribution to the event and thus that
figured into the purse for prizes. Since you mentioned that the IAOC donated
the $200 to me, it needs to be said that it was not to or for me, but this
money only passed through my hands to compensate for prizes expended
for our event. As usual, Dave Monier did a great job of emceeing the
Saturday night party. I along with 3 or 4 helpers had fun trying to distribute the
door prize tickets and the 50-50 tickets prior to the drawings which led to
a few minor mix ups which only added to the general feeling of fun and
hilarity. The confusion was helped out to a minimal extent by little Arthur
Fredsall appropriating 3 or 4 tickets from their resting places at nearby tables
while the ticket owners were refilling their dinner plates or were otherwise
occupied until his activity was discovered. As always, everyone found the fare
at the Golden Corral to be superb and having our own "Banquet Facility" was
as usual perfect.
As you know, we fielded 12 Amphicars of all 4 factory colors with Amphis
from as far away as Canada, South Carolina, New Hampshire and Louisiana and
owners from Colorado and Illinois and Wisconsin and maybe others I have
overlooked.
So from now on, the Lake Dora Swim-In ( no longer Mount Dora, but 5 miles
away on the same lake ) is definitely the place to enjoy the Rites of Spring
with our wonderful unique amphibians. This is still the largest Amphicar
Swim-In in the south eastern United States and any of you who were not there -
make sure you make it next year. As you know, Carol, and I also have a 1948
Ford "Woodie" wagon and the Woodie contingent at the Boat show this year
numbered a respectable 16 beautiful vehicles all of which as usual added to the
overall show including a Model T Depot Hack towing a superb Wurlitzer Calliope
which belted out great music. The Maroon 1947 Ford Sportsman received the
"favorite Woodie" trophy and was my favorite too. This year for the first time,
we actually had two Ford Sportsmans, both of which were beauties. As Trivia,
since we generally agree there were about 3850 Amphicars produced, in the 3
years from 1946-1948, there were about 3750 Sportsmans produced. Like the
Amphicars which often rusted away, many Woodies went to the junkyard fairly early
due to Termites or deterioration of their high maintenance wood giving both
Amphicars and Sportsmans something in common - their low production number
and their rarity and desireability.
For any of you who might be wondering how the accommodations worked out for
the new venue, the Souters and Moniers and Nelsons enjoyed the excellent
Harris RV Resort which is only 4 miles from the RV park to the Wooten Park boat
ramp along an uncongested route and the Inn on the Green is even closer at a
mile and a half.
Cheerio John and keep on enjoying yourself and thanks for giving us the
pleasure of your company all the way from Colorado. We were all delighted to have
you here.
Vic ( Captain Splash ) Nelson
**************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL
Home.
(http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15&ncid=aolhom00030000000001)
I have to agree - for the 11th year in a row, the weather was absolutely
spectacular. I know it was hard for a number of you to give up the fluffy white
stuff up north or out west, but the temperatures in the low 80's here were
sure wonderful with nothing but sun and great camaraderie. Warm and sunny
Florida lived up to its reputation again. In advance, I was guardedly pessimistic
concerning the change in location, as Mount Dora has an undeniable charm that
is difficult to replicate. However, I think universally, all participants as
well as the public are in agreement that the show was a definite success. We
Amphicar owners had lots of room right next to the new commodious concrete
ramp which worked out great. This year, we were given carte blanche
permission to "splash in" to our hearts content and any boats in the vicinity of the
ramp were warned in advance that such splashing and waves, which are of course
actually quite minimal, would be occurring. Thus, we had nobody yelling that
we were "rocking their boats" and any of us who wished could go in and out
as often as we wished. As always, the mid-day Amphicar parade and mass
Baptism was a much heralded and applauded part of the whole show. The only fly in
the ointment which will be addressed for next year is that we were told in
advance that we couldn't use the ramp on Sunday, as boats would be using it to
be taken out of the water. Since our only desire on Sunday was to ease in or
out of the lake in order to do a little group swimming, we drove the 5 miles
by land to the Mount Dora ramp instead. It was obvious that the Wooten Park
ramp was not overcrowded or in use by the boats and trailers full time, so that
prohibition was definitely unnecessary.
I need to make it clear that the $200 donated by the IAOC was what made it
possible to have an even more extravagant banquet with fancier door prizes and
drawing prizes than otherwise. I had been told in advance that the new IAOC
board had planned to provide a $200 contribution to the event and thus that
figured into the purse for prizes. Since you mentioned that the IAOC donated
the $200 to me, it needs to be said that it was not to or for me, but this
money only passed through my hands to compensate for prizes expended
for our event. As usual, Dave Monier did a great job of emceeing the
Saturday night party. I along with 3 or 4 helpers had fun trying to distribute the
door prize tickets and the 50-50 tickets prior to the drawings which led to
a few minor mix ups which only added to the general feeling of fun and
hilarity. The confusion was helped out to a minimal extent by little Arthur
Fredsall appropriating 3 or 4 tickets from their resting places at nearby tables
while the ticket owners were refilling their dinner plates or were otherwise
occupied until his activity was discovered. As always, everyone found the fare
at the Golden Corral to be superb and having our own "Banquet Facility" was
as usual perfect.
As you know, we fielded 12 Amphicars of all 4 factory colors with Amphis
from as far away as Canada, South Carolina, New Hampshire and Louisiana and
owners from Colorado and Illinois and Wisconsin and maybe others I have
overlooked.
So from now on, the Lake Dora Swim-In ( no longer Mount Dora, but 5 miles
away on the same lake ) is definitely the place to enjoy the Rites of Spring
with our wonderful unique amphibians. This is still the largest Amphicar
Swim-In in the south eastern United States and any of you who were not there -
make sure you make it next year. As you know, Carol, and I also have a 1948
Ford "Woodie" wagon and the Woodie contingent at the Boat show this year
numbered a respectable 16 beautiful vehicles all of which as usual added to the
overall show including a Model T Depot Hack towing a superb Wurlitzer Calliope
which belted out great music. The Maroon 1947 Ford Sportsman received the
"favorite Woodie" trophy and was my favorite too. This year for the first time,
we actually had two Ford Sportsmans, both of which were beauties. As Trivia,
since we generally agree there were about 3850 Amphicars produced, in the 3
years from 1946-1948, there were about 3750 Sportsmans produced. Like the
Amphicars which often rusted away, many Woodies went to the junkyard fairly early
due to Termites or deterioration of their high maintenance wood giving both
Amphicars and Sportsmans something in common - their low production number
and their rarity and desireability.
For any of you who might be wondering how the accommodations worked out for
the new venue, the Souters and Moniers and Nelsons enjoyed the excellent
Harris RV Resort which is only 4 miles from the RV park to the Wooten Park boat
ramp along an uncongested route and the Inn on the Green is even closer at a
mile and a half.
Cheerio John and keep on enjoying yourself and thanks for giving us the
pleasure of your company all the way from Colorado. We were all delighted to have
you here.
Vic ( Captain Splash ) Nelson
**************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL
Home.
(http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15&ncid=aolhom00030000000001)
