50 years later, Alton Bay Boat Show is growing next generation of watercraft lovers

Gypsy sticks out, as 50 feet is large for a lake. And technically too large to enter the Alton Bay Boat Show.

“Her first year on Winni, I called the organizer lady, who said, ‘Oh no, your boat’s too big.’ So we sort of showed up late, not expecting to get to be part of the show. But the docking guys waved me in! So, I’m like, man — OK!” Gypsy’s owner, Russell Lunt, recalled. 

Gypsy’s bow stuck out well past the dock.

Back when Lunt owned a smaller, less glamorous vintage vessel, a wood boat restoration specialist advised him the boat show in Wolfeboro could be a bit snobbish, and suggested the one in Alton, organized by the New Hampshire Boat Museum, might suit him better.

Lake Winnipesaukee’s boating culture has changed since then. Today, Lunt enters both shows, as do many other vintage-boating enthusiasts.

Lunt’s Shain Airflow Trimmership was heavily produced throughout the 1940s, its teardrop-shaped portholes and sloping lines borrowed from car design trends of the era. Gypsy’s previous owner restored the interior, bringing it very close to its 1947 roots. The vessel has since become a crowd favorite, earning first place at the Alton Bay Boat Show four years running, making Gypsy something of a fixture. She is known. She is anticipated. Reports of sightings sending kids running for binoculars circulate on winnipesaukee.com.

Pre-1975 boats — some still in the midst of restoration — congregating at Alton Bay’s town docks for the last 50 years run the gamut. These days, at least one Grady-White always shows up.

“My father had one of those, so it reminds me of my childhood,” said Anne Lennon, programs manager at the boat museum. “To the spectators, many of the boats in this long-running show mean something. They evoke a memory or a feeling.” Lennon, who’s been working at the museum for five years and attended the boat show in her youth, said it seems the number of spectators is on the rise. “We’re up to about 300 nowadays.”

Given old wooden boats’ upkeep requirements, it's been said one of two forces are sometimes at play: ego or pride. Lunt identifies with the latter.

“I’d worked hard my whole life. And so, five years ago, I had a little something to play with,” Lunt said. His 50-footer moors at Meredith’s Stonedam Island throughout the summer, then retreats to a specially-made barn at Lunt’s Gilford home. “Ideally, you don’t want to mess with covers, and then pay to put a vintage woodie in storage somewhere. I mean, you need to work on her.”

And work on her he does. Lunt reckons he clocks hundreds of hours per year scraping and sanding and polishing and generally keeping her pretty; mechanical upgrades are on the list for later this year. “This isn’t ego, it’s pride.”

Large, vintage wooden cruisers often fall out of service with their owners. Lunt’s may be the only one on the Big Lake. Which is part of the reason Lunt, 63, encourages spectators aboard.

“And people are astounded by that at these shows, because everybody polishes up their boats and, you know, some of them are like, ‘no touchy,’” he said. Lunt especially relishes having kids aboard, hoping to kindle the same enthusiasm he discovered as a boy.

“Who knows? Maybe one of those kids will wind up owning Gypsy one day, when I can’t handle her upkeep anymore.”

Rides on Gypsy will be raffled off this year as a fundraiser for the Alton Centennial Rotary Club.

Other crowd favorites include a 1934 Chris-Craft called Mutual Fun, which won second place in ’24; and a 1927-style Hacker Craft, All Aboard, which won third the same year. Does Lennon have any theories as to why Gypsy is the long-reigning champ?

“You know, I hate to say it, but I think Russ’ secret weapon is his beagle. Kacey just kills me every time I see her. So cute.”

Lunt dreamed of owning a substantial wood cruiser since his teenage years, when his family lived in Wolfeboro. After Saturday’s chores, he and a friend would bike to Melvin Village, and hop on the friend’s aluminum boat.

“We were captains of our own ship. We’d camp on Store Island, having Huck Finn-esque adventures, and chatting with the loons,” Lunt said. “Didn’t go home ’til Sunday.”

Lennon has noticed many families begin the morning at Bayside Diner, before strolling Alton Bay’s docks, then casting ballots for their favorite pre-1975 vessels. Many return year after year.

“People are in a good mood,” she said. “I think it’s definitely a tradition for many people. Just a really nice morning.” By the time Lennon begins handing out pencils, ice cream lines have already formed at Shibley’s and Stillwells.

At the ballot box, near the gazebo, does somebody stand guard to dissuade, say, double voting?

“I don’t think we worry that much,” said Devon Kurtz, the boat museum’s executive director. “Though if we see Russell lumbering up with a handful of ballots, we may say something.”

Due to dock space constraints, organizers typically have to turn would-be entrants away after roughly 30 have tied up. Two vessels are generally docked on each slip.

“But last year, a bunch of the skippers banded together, and figured out a way to situate three boats per slip,” Kurtz said. “The middle boat moored off of the other two. The community didn’t wanna turn anyone away.”

The Alton Bay Boat Show is 9 a.m. to noon, on Saturday, Aug 8. To learn more, visit nhbm.org/alton-bay-boat-show.