MANOTICK CELEBRATES SILVER ANNIVERSARY

by Don Loken

Manotick is a charming village on the historic Rideau Waterway, with quaint shops, and Watsons Mill, the oldest operating water-powered mill in eastern Canada.  Manotick has long been a major centre for wooden boats, and these vintage watercraft continue to grace the local waters of the Rideau River thanks to the members of the Manotick Classic Boat Club.

Both the Antique & Classic Boat Society (ACBS) and the Manotick Classic Boat Club (MCBC) came into being in 1976.  The Manotick chapter was formed when a group of local residents who owned old wooden boats decided to form a club to "foster fellowship, knowledge, skills and the mutual appreciation for antique and classic boats.  Manotick was the first Canadian Chapter of ACBS.

Since its inception, MCBS has been very active internationally.  Jimmy Potter was the first Canadian Director of the ACBS, and other MCBS members who have served or are serving on the ACBS Board of Directors include the late Mary Herwig, Frank Phelan, Heather Phelan, David Burns, Ian Wyllie, and Ron Dulmadge. MCBS was instrumental in developing the ACBS judging criteria.  Manotick has hosted two annual meetings of ACBS.  The first, in 1981, was the first annual meeting held away from the original ACBS base in Lake George.

MCBS hosts the oldest annual antique and classic boat show in  Canada, and one of the oldest in North America.  Beginning in 1976, the Club has hosted 24 shows in many locations along the Rideau Waterway -- Ottawa, Rideau Ferry, Perth, Portland, Merrickville, and Westport.  The Show was originally called the "The Bytown International Classic Boat Show".  The name was changed in 1977 to "The Ottawa Classic Boat Show", and thereafter to "The Ottawa International Antique and Classic Boat Show" -- the name that continues proudly into the year 2000.

Since 1976, MCBS has hosted two unique shows of particular note. The first, held at Rideau Ferry in 1982, was the first antique Gold Cup Regatta in modern times.  The second special show, held in 1989 at Dow's Lake in Ottawa, featured, for the first time, a gathering of Commuters, the high speed express yachts used primarily on the eastern seaboard of the U.S.

MCBS's year 2000 show-- its 25th -- has been designated as an official ACBS Silver Anniversary Show.  The show "Millennium Mahagony - 100 years of Boating on the Rideau", will be unique in North American antique and classic boat shows, featuring vintage and modern watercraft in a comparative display that will cap a century of boating excitement on the Rideau Waterway.  The Manotick show, on August 11-13, is being held for the first time ever in MCBS's "home port" of Manotick.

Manotick is fortunate to have as its "boating playground" the historic Rideau Waterway.  The Rideau Waterway is a chain of beautiful lakes, rivers and canal cuts winding 165 miles, linking two major watersheds, Lake Ontario and Ottawa River.

From-Kingston, the waterway passes through the Cataraqui Marsh, then rises past towering granite cliffs onto part of the rugged Canadian Shield.  At Newboro -- the summit -- the canal gently descends through the Rideau Lakes and the Rideau River, passing through farmlands and shallow marshes alive with birds and wildlife.  The waterway descends into Ottawa, Canada's Capital, where if forms the heart of Ottawa's wonderful parkland.  The waterway culminates in a majestic staircase of eight locks at the foot of Parliament Hill, where it enters the Ottawa River.

A century ago, new attitudes were transforming patterns of recreation.  The Rideau Waterway offered island-studded lakes, narrow man-made channels, flowing rivers and pastoral sites along its length.  It offered excellent water for canoeing, sailing and boat racing, as well as fishing. Pleasure boating took root and spread the length of the waterway.  Soon, a celebration of wooden boats breathed new life into the waterway.

Canada's rich heritage of wooden boat design and construction is reflected in many famous names such as Minette, Minette-Shields, Greavette, Duke, Ditchburn, Gilbert, Jeffrey, Shepherd, the Port Carling Seabird, Dowsett, Nichol, Andress and Malette.  The wooden boats that grace the Rideau came from boat builders in the Thousand Islands, the Niagara area, the Muskotas, and the Golden Triangle of Eastern Ontario, which includes the Rideau Waterway.

Dowsett, Andress, Malette, Jeffrey and Gilbert boats were all built in the Golden Triangle.  At one time, it is estimated that there were probably 100 boat builders between Ottawa and Kingston.  Now there is only a handful of boat works keeping alive and preserving this important part of our heritage.  The Manotick Classic Boat Club continues to be a proud part of this preservation into the 21st century.