Gentleman Racers

The Jeffrey - 1939 custom-built Greavette "gentleman's racer"

There are usually a few “gentleman’s racers” among the many sleek craft on display at the annual Vintage Boat Show in Gravenhurst (July 11 this year) – like The Jeffrey, pictured above.  They are the thoroughbreds of their era, a time when motorboats were constantly evolving to satisfy the quest for speed, and racing was immensely popular as a spectator sport as well.

Harry Greening's Rainbow IV

One of the most renowned and respected gentlemen in the international racing fraternity was the genteel Harry Greening, who summered in Muskoka and is seen here in his Ditchburn-built Rainbow IV being paced by a seaplane at 60 mph. Harry twice set the world speed and endurance record on Lake Rosseau, the second one, in 1925, at an average of 50 mph over two 12-hour-long runs, which he and his team did in Rainbow IV.

One of my characters is a friendly rival of Harry’s, but his racing experiences are also loosely based on Greening’s.

Muskoka would see more world-class racers when Harold and Lorna Wilson took to the lakes in the 1930s. The husband-wife team won three world championships and two speed records. For more info about their incredible story, see this website.

Muskoka’s connection to boat racing would not be complete without mention of eccentric British heiress Marion “Joe” Carstairs, “the fastest woman on the water” in the 1920s. In 1928, Herb Ditchburn, the boat builder, helped to modify her newest boat in Gravenhurst. In preparation for the Harmsworth Trophy race in Detroit, Carstairs zoomed noisily around Lake Muskoka at up to 94 mph.  Flamboyant as well as fast, I expect she made quite an impression.

Vintage Boat Show

Kittyhawk - copyright Gabriele Wills

There’s something seductive about vintage wooden boats. Perhaps it’s the rich lustre of lacquered mahogany, the gleaming brass fittings, the sumptuous leather upholstery, and the way the long, elegant displacement hulls glide effortlessly through the water. Admirers of these Rolls Royces of watercraft are in for a treat on July 11 in Gravenhurst, Ontario, for the 35^th annual Antique and Classic Boat Society Show. Well over 120 of these lovingly maintained or restored boats will be lining the docks of Muskoka Wharf.

The photo above, taken at the Boat Show in 2011, is of the Kittyhawk, once owned by aviation pioneer, Orville Wright, who spent over 25 years summering on his beloved Georgian Bay island.

 This year celebrates the 100^th anniversary of the Disappearing Propeller Boat – more affectionately known as a Dispro or Dippy – which was first designed and manufactured in nearby Port Carling. The clever craft was basically a skiff with a small engine. The propeller could be raised into a housing and would do so automatically if it hit an obstacle or the boat was beached. Touted as “the greatest little motor boat afloat”, some still putter around the lakes. And yes, that’s a Dippy on the cover of The Summer Before the Storm. For more info, see this previous post.

My characters own all manner of watercraft, from Dippies to steam yachts and “gentleman’s racers”. In Under the Moon, a couple of them become boat builders, inspired by the legendary Muskoka craftsmen like Ditchburn, Minett-Shields, Greavette, and Duke.

Showcasing these magnificent craft year-round is the Muskoka Boat and Heritage Centre in Gravenhurst, which features North America’s only in-water display of working antique boats. Admission to the museum is free for those attending the Boat Show or taking a cruise aboard one of the steamships.

Many would agree with Ratty, who says to Mole in The Wind in the Willows, “there is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”