On Saturday, September 27, the Bolton Museum will host its No-Octane Regatta in Rogers Park.
According to organizers Reuben and Cynde Smith, owners of Tumblehome Boatshop, the on-water event will feature wood boats of the type seen on Lake George 125 years ago – small sailing craft, canvas-covered canoes and rowboats such as Smith and Grangers, Whitehalls and St. Lawrence skiffs – as well as electric launches.
“In the latter part of the 19th century, people of means began to take time away from the dirty industrial cities to breathe the clean air around Lake George. While some went into the Adirondacks to hunt, fish, and spend time in the deep woods, others chose the more genteel life offered at the resort hotels, or even their own grand ‘camps’. For these folks, going out in a boat was an occasion, and judging from the photos we have, they dressed themselves very nicely. They went out a-courting, or went to an island to sketch, or to play music.” said Reuben Smith
The day-long festival will welcome dozens of small wood boats powered by oar, paddle, and sail, some made by famous boat builders, others by anonymous craftsmen.
“The typical small boat was the Lake George Rowboat, developed by creative boatbuilders responding to this new form of pleasure boating. 15’ long, and with a lovely wineglass transom and comfortable seatback for the passenger in the stern, these boats were light and easy-to-handle, yet perfectly capable of excursions out on the Lake. The resort hotels on the lake had whole fleets available to their guests,” said Smith.
“Boatbuilders also made fancy versions of these boats, adorning them with carvings or elegant hardware. They developed new methods for building the boats to make them even more special for the discerning buyer, and to separate them from the livery boats,” said Smith.
Smith noted that last year, three boats built in the early 1900s by the Electric Boat Company, or Elco, took part in the festival: the Bixby family’s 1903 St. Louis; the Millers’ 1906 McGuffy; and Ike Wolgin’s 1907 Whim. As it happens, all three are stored in neighboring boat houses in Bolton Bay. Organizers have invited the boats’ owners to attend this year’s event as well.
The Sept. 27 No-Octane Regatta will not only feature period boats but boating activities and events typical of the era, such as tows led by launches and, of course, races.
Owners of wood boats are invited to bring them to Rogers Park on September 27. “All are welcome,” the organizers state. “We’re looking for any non-motorized powered boat that harkens back to old time boating on Lake George It does not have to be an antique boat; it simply needs to be of the family of boats we would have seen back then.”
“This is a perfect time to dust off the old boats in the rafters of the boathouses around the lake, or just come down to see these boats in action. Who knows, there may even be boats for spectators to hop in and try out,” state the organizers. The Bolton Landing No-Octane Regatta starts at 9 am and will conclude at 4 pm.
