24th July 2009: The Maritime Heritage Festival got off to an excellent start yesterday with a large 45+ flotilla on the Willamette, departing from from Broadway Bridge & ending at the RiverPlace Marina, the location of the festival. I stopped by the event on Saturday morning. The scale of the event was impressive with more than 60 boats attending, a mix of in water & dry land displays. Club member were on hand to talk about there boats & some even took folks out for rides in the Willamette. As well as wooden boats, there were wooden bicycles on display & the worlds largest grille in the form of the Johnsonville "Big Taste Grille". Further along the waterfront park the Portland Beer festival was also in full swing. Some of the highlights are shown below in photos: A view along the marina , showing some of the 48+ classic, vintage & antique wooden boats attending the show:  Greyhound is a 33 foot, Yandt gentleman's racer. Engine is a V12 Rolls Royce with 750 Hp! She's for sale if you need a power rush!  Dave Jerome fired up the V8 in his vintage 50's hydroplane "Toy". With straight pipes it generated a lot of interest and was perhaps the "best sound" of the show!  To match the wooden boats, Renovo Hardwood Bicycles had a booth with half a dozen beautifully crafted wood framed bicycles! .  The vintage style water skiing team just leaving base, not the wooden skis.  May 2009: The club enjoyed an excellent, sunny afternoon at Oregon Custom Marine in Hillsboro. The OMC shop displayed about 8 sleek, high performance Nordic carbon fiber power boats, plus a 2006 Aston Martin Vantage! These modern wonders rubbed shoulders with Mike Mayer's 1929 triple who celebrated her 80th birthday, and Jim West's Century. OMC generously provided an open Tiki bar for attendees and some excellent food. The afternoon was capped with a raffle, the top prizes were rides in an OMC boat, Mike's 1929 & Jim West's Century.    April 2009: Approximately 40 chapter members attended the Garage Tour organized & by Dick Werner. The Tour included four garages, starting at Ken Bakke's shop in Vancouver. Attendees were welcomed with coffee & donuts whilst Dick & Ken talked about the in progress restoration of Ken's 19' racing runabout.
 Next stop was Chuck Kellog's boathouse:
 After the boathouse we moved on the Jim West's shop where we were treated to seven ongoing restorations, including a modifed Dodge that will have a V10 Dodge Viper engine installed! A deck seam caulking demonstration was also provided.
 The final stop on the garage tour was Dave Jerome's shop: Two handsome sedans greeted us in the shop ( A Chris Craft and very rare late 40's Garwood, one of only two built!). Dave had a fully restored 1920's Scripps 6 cylinder resting on a cart. He fired up the Scripps for good measure which got everyone's attention! What a glorious sound! We were then treated to a very tasty spaghetti lunch, followed by Dave explaning some of the restoration challenges he'd found lurking in the GarWood. A very enjoyable way to spend a saturday morning!
   December 2008: The chapter enjoyed a wonderful holiday dinner & dance on the 7th at the Oswego Lake Country Club. Once again, OLCC out did themselves with an excellent and festive facility, great food and great service. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend and for those of you who couldn’t make it, you were missed.
The evening included several awards. Founding president Scott Miller said a few words and give a brief history on how the club got started. Finally, Mike Mayer presented two awards provided by Roger & Joanne Rollins. These were the “NOT PEOPLES CHOICE” award. The Bakkes and Horns each got a beautiful award, which was selected by the Bakkes dog. We're not sure how that worked! Next, Bob Barnum was presented the 2008 Presidents Cup. Bob has always worked tirelessly for the chapter and outgoing president Roger, Chris Finks and Mike Mayer agreed that he deserved this award for all he does. Last, but certainly not least, Roger and Joanne Rollins were presented the Unsung Hero Award. As president there are many details that need tending to that most people don’t even realize exist. Roger has done a great service to club over the years and Joanne has always been right by his side.
After the awards were given Bob Barnum came up to draw numbers for the raffle. I think Tim Mather was the big winner with several nice prizes at the end. We then turned the night over to DJ Erik the Red and enjoyed each other’s company for the rest of the night.
May 2008: The 2008 boating season officially opened for our club with our recent cruise on the Willamette River from Newburg to Champoeg. A modest in size, but large in spirit, dedicated group of CWC boaters navigated a river virtually devoid of other boaters, other than the occasional fisherman. Mindful of the increased emphasis on wake control throughout that section of the river, our group proceeded at a brisk, but prudent speed, to the “elusive to spot” boat landing at Champoeg. After a quick tie up we made our way through the park to the much anticipated Plow Fest competition to cheer on our own Dr. Dick Werner and his team of horses. April 2008: The general meeting at Ernesto’s Italian restaurant was very successful with over 40 club members attending. We enjoyed a pasta & meatball dinner, followed by our guest speaker, Dick Montgomery from the Maritime Museum. Dick enlightened us about the past, particularly our steamboat heritage, explaining some fascinating historical details of transportation on the Columbia & Willamette Rivers. He also discussed future plans for the Portland waterfront. A raffle was held with gifts ranging from an embroidered ACBS burgee to a Runabout book. Dick Werner & other ACBS executives were also in attendance. March 2008: Our Club’s March agenda wrapped up successfully with a tour of Mike Green’s boat restoration facility in McMinnville. An enthusiastic group of members and special guests from the Pacific Northwest ACBS Chapter in Seattle saw a variety of boats under restoration, asked numerous questions of experts Mike Green and Mike Mayer, and learned the art and importance of keeping all woodworking tools freshly sharpened. February 2008: If you were unable to join us at our February General Meeting at Portland Yacht Club you missed a rare opportunity to get an intimate tour of several large cruisers including Phantom, Rebellion, and Navicula, courtesy of owners Chuck Kellogg, Mike Keane, and Dave Wisdom. The weather gods supplied clear skies and warm sunshine as a backdrop for the tours, and the après tour lunch at the PYC dining room. Our collective thanks to the boat owners, and especially Chuck Kellogg, for arranging the event. January 2008: The Columbia Willamette Chapter particpated in the 2008 Portland Boat Show held between Jan 5th & 13th. We had a static display of ten antique & vintage wooden & "fiberglassic" boats, ranging from a modern barrel-back replica with electric power to two 1920's era upswept deck Chris Craft triples and two Century fibersports. Some photos from the show follow:
 
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