ACBS President Gene Porter

       The severity of the receding winter has brought back certain nostalgic memories of the “the old days” when such winters seemed to be normal. One of the down sides of such winters for the ACBS community has been the roof collapses that threatened our carefully preserved fleet. And this is on the heels of one of the West’s worst fire seasons. To date I’ve heard of little serious actual damage to vintage boats from these events, so hopefully all members have been successful in protecting their boats against such natural hazards.
       Looking ahead, 2008 is shaping up as a banner year for ACBS. Despite the economic slowdown, membership numbers are holding up well. As reported in more detail elsewhere in this issue by Treasurer Jim Mersman, the migration of our clunky membership management system to a modern web-based system is poised for success. ACBS continues to gain increased recognition for its dedication to the preservation of this unique era in North American recreational boating. The latest manifestation of this trend was our invitation to the annual meeting of the Restoration Society, which I have summarized in a separate column. We had also been invited to participate in an early April symposium [Since cancelled] sponsored by the Antique Boat Museum being held just after the Sunnyland Chapter’s annual show at Mt. Dora. Also poised for success is our revitalized Ships Store, with a selection of innovative new products as well as Tony Mollica’s new Guide to the priceless Bob Speltz Real Runabouts volumes.
        The heart and soul of ACBS is found at the chapter level, and among the twenty-some International Committees that help organize and oversee ACBS’s myriad activities. The International Board and staff is dedicated to helping each chapter reach its potential, though our chapters may range in size from a score of members with only a few annual events to chapters with hundreds of members and a dozen or more events. This works as well as it does because the chapters are the Board.
        One of the real pleasures in serving as your President is the opportunity to get to know and work with many talented and dedicated members of the Board. Although some members reportedly see the International Board as a fixed group of “old boys” who enjoy hobnobbing on a quarterly basis, this is far from an accurate impression. I continue to be impressed and gratified by the dedication the changing slate of Board members evidence by footing the growing travel costs of participation in these meetings.
        My recent experience has been with an evolving—and reinvigorating—set of dedicated members from chapters all over North American. Each one brings enthusiasm and experience from their personal history in their local chapter to help out with the broader task of running this growing organization. Each one is active in managing one or more of the key committees that keep the organization humming. We do as much business as possible by phone and email, but quarterly meetings have proved to be essential to actually reach decisions on important topics such as increased benefits for the chapters. These quarterly meetings are held at the invitation of a local chapter, whose members always seem to enjoy showing off their locale to visiting Board members from around North America.
       ACBS is in constant need of new and fresh ideas. To this end I encourage all members to be as active as possible in their local chapter’s management and activities and to give serious consideration to volunteering to help on one or more of International’s several committees. The committees and their current chairpersons are listed in the front of the Directory. Please don’t hesitate to get involved.

I’ll see you on the water,

Best regards

Gene Porter
President