Surf Exhibit is a Rip Roaring Success

Transcription

1 The Road to the Future Begins in the Past Volume 11, Issue 6 Surf Exhibit is a Rip Roaring Success Port Aransas Museum Open: Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Farley Boat Works Open: Tuesday - Saturday, 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Inside this Issue: Surf Exhibit...Page 1, 2, 5 Director's Report...Page 2 FBW... Page 3 Youth Boat Buildng... Page 3, 4 FBW T-shirt... Page 4 PAPHA is excited to announce the Grand Opening of 'Surfing through the 60s and 70s In Port Aransas' surf exhibit! CONTACT US: Port Aransas Museum Community Center Complex E. Brundrett at Alister St. [Mailing] P.O. Box 677 Port Aransas, Texas (361) portamuseum@paphafarley.org Follow museum on Facebook Port Aransas Museum Director Rick Pratt On June 10th we had a Grand Opening Reception that was attended by longsee 'SURF' on Page 2 (361) (361) rickpratt45@gmail.com Farley Boat Works Frank Coletta, Manager 716 W Ave C [Mailing] P.O. Box 677 Port Aransas, Texas (409) (210) fbwpam@gmail.com Follow boat works on Facebook

2 Museum Director s Report May was a busy and fun month for the Port Aransas Museum and the Farley Boat Works & Maritime Branch. Downtown Branch Visitation and gift shop sales were good this month. We are seeing a steady increase in the number of visitors. The new exhibit, Surfing Through the 60s & 70s in Port Aransas, is up and visitors are really enjoying it. It is hard for one of my age to admit that this is a historical subject, but it is. Texas surfing started right here in our little island town and lots of local folks were the pioneers of this now very popular sport. Katherine Mathews chose the topic, and led the team. She adapted the exhibit from the original by Dan and Michelle Parker and housed at the Surf Museum in Corpus Christi, Pam Greene worked on re-formatting the panels for easier reading, Susan Sheehan helped design the layout to facilitate easy viewing and increase the visitor appeal of the new installation, and Mark Creighton installed the audio/video components. A great job by all and this is going to be a very popular exhibit Chamber partners with PAPHA We have asked the Chamber to help us with promoting and financing the Old Town Festival and plywooden Boat Show. The Chamber, under the leadership of new President Jeffrey Hentz, is moving toward more involvement with local non-profits and that is welcome news. The Chamber also has volunteered to repackage and help distribute our very popular 8 Wonders of Port A tour, remarking that it is a perfect example of the kind of activity they Above, Hospitality Ladies Barbara Behrens (L) and Arlene Hughes (R) get a little help from PAPHA Board Member Frank Morgan. Below, Surfers of all ages attended the grand opening of the exhibit. want to see promoted in Port Aransas. We had some special visits in May. Members of The Texas Tropical Trail brought 43 people to visit the Museum and the Farley Boat Works. I later gave them a presentation on the Tarpon Era and our future as a rapidly growing island community. On May 16 the Wounded Warriors in Action brought 28 people to spend a morning at the Farley Boat Works. The organization asked if they could return to video our presentation at the new Maritime Branch as a project of their organization. We had 65 Flour Bluff Middle School students visit on three days, May 11, 15 & 17. As usual, this was a fine group of kids. On the 17 th we visited the Farley Boat Works instead of the Museum due to a conflict with the installation of the new exhibit Rick Pratt 'SURF' Cont. from Page 1 time surfers and museum members. It was a great night of reminiscing on the days of surfing and hanging out in the surf scene of the 60s and 70s. Most of the exhibit information came from the book Surfing in Corpus Christi and Port Aransas" by Dan Parker and Michelle Christiansen Parker. The two authors attended the opening and held a book signing and discussion. John Olvey donated a rare painting of the Dunes Danceland that we will auction off at the 2018 Dinner/ Auction. The museum has the painting on display and posters for sale in the gift shop. La Playa Mexican Grille donated appetizers, and the hostess ladies served up delicious beverages. It was a wonderful night! Some of the long-time surfers of the 60s and 70s had not seen each other in many years and felt it was a great way of reuniting the old crew. Make sure to come by and check out the history of surfing in Port Aransas! SEE 'SURF' on Page 5 Page 2

3 From the FBW... The Texas Daytripper Show aired this month on PBS. They did a great segment on the Farley Boat Works. The film crew visited us last summer to collect footage. Since then visitors have mentioned that the show prompted them to come see the Farley Boat Works. Three prototype boats are on the shop floor and two have been launched for a preliminary sea trial. Our brand new concept boat, the 13 foot one-person Elfin Flats Skiff, was tested this month. It easily fits in a small pickup truck bed and can be unloaded and loaded by one person. It planed with one person on board with a two horsepower motor. It is more stable than a stand up paddle board yet still paddles fairly well. We are very pleased with the way it turned out. We will be offering it as another build option at the Farley Boat Works. We also did sea trials with our new 13 Compact Port Aransas Skiff, designed to be built at Family boat building classes. The skiff was conceived to carry two adults, run with up to a ten horsepower motor, and be carried in a pick-up truck. Testing revealed that a six horsepower motor would plane the boat. As with many short skiffs, we found it to run bow-high with only one person aboard. We will make some design adjustments before making the kits for the October Family Boat Building. The other prototype is a very special flats technical poling skiff designed and being built by one of our best boat builders, Ken Curlee. This is the third generation of this long-term boat development project and we hope it will be ready to be offered to builders soon. It is designed to run smoothly through our local windy and choppy conditions, be easily poled, easy to cast from and self -bailing. We have two Youth Boat Building Camps coming up in June. We have two builds booked for the June 6-10 camp and sold out all four for the June camp. The kids will build the eight foot Mouseboat paddling pram. In June Michael Pfeffer and his 10 and 15 year old sons will be in to build three Chesapeake Light Craft kayak kits. Planning continues for our fourth annual Port Aransas plywooden Boat Festival, October at the Dennis Dreyer Municipal Harbor. We have already sold one of the four spaces for the threeday Family Boat Building, the centerpiece of the festival. We are working to secure local sponsors for the event. We had 249 visitors tour the Farley Boat Works in May with three group tours given by Rick Pratt. Frank Coletta Boat Works Manager 2017 Youth Boat Building June Class SEE 'YOUTH' on Page 4 Page 3

4 2017 Youth Boat Building June Class 'YOUTH' Cont. from Page 3 Boat Works Makes it to Colorado Shown here is Bob Jones, who is the former Episcopal Bishop of Wyoming, Dean of St George's College in Jerusalem, and Co-Bishop of the Mediterranean & Persian Gulf. He likes Farley Boat Works. Page 4

5 Below left, Murray Judson signs Cameron Pratt s book on local surfing at the grand opening. Below right, Tom Kollaja and Frank Goldston enjoy the show. Above, Mary Judson, Dan Parker, Miles Compton, Cliff Schlabach, Michelle Parker and Tony Mierzwa. Center, John Olveys s painted Dunes Danceland for the exhibit. Page 5