Member Spotlight -

Ron Goette

I grew up in Bald Eagle, three blocks from Bald Eagle Lake and about a mile north of White Bear Lake, MN. so I got my orientation to water at a very young age. However, boats didn’t enter the picture until my early teen years, which also happened to be the early 50’s. That’s when my older brother purchased a brand new 12’ Chetek cedar strip runabout (sure would love to find one someday) and equipped it with a 10 hp Merc Hurricane, windshield, front cockpit steering and controls, and the usual trim hardware. 

Thus started my love affair with wood boats at a very special time -- the ‘50’s: emerging styles, colors, speeds, performance, and modernization. The age: teens/high school; the era: Rock-N-Roll; and place: Bald Eagle/White Bear -- birthplace and home of the Bald Eagle Water Ski Club, White Bear Water Skis, and Johnson Boat Works, makers of fine, wood sailboats. 

I graduated from high school in 1956, right in the heart of all this excitement and part of me still resides there. The 50’s were good times and happy memories for me. When Peggy asked me about doing this article, I was reluctant, as I’m not totally comfortable writing about myself and I felt there were probably many other members more interesting to read about than me. However, I’m nostalgic by nature, as I’m sure many of you fellow wood boat enthusiasts are, so when I started thinking about all those good times in the past, I realized what a great experience this would be -- drumming up the past. I hope when Peggy taps you on the shoulder with a similar request, you’ll think about it in this light, ‘cause it’s a fun exercise and I also love to read about other folks special times and involvement with boats. 

The Merc Hurricane did an admirable job on that 12 footer, but wasn’t great for water skiing, so brother Bub upgraded to a 25 hp. Evinrude the second year, which also made us a little faster than the 14 footers. There were several friends that also got boats at this time, so a nice group emerged on Bald Eagle. There was a Dunphy, another Chetek, Thompson, Larson, Bowman, Correct Craft inboard, blue CC inboard utility, and a few others. Boating really caught fire with all of us and every weekend, everybody just showed up at Al Lindholms dock for a weekend of boating fun. The owner of the blue CC skier was a gentleman named Tommy Weinhagen who lived on the west shore of the lake. Tommy started making water skis in his basement and soon his neighbor asked Tom to make a pair for him. Word got around and soon everyone was asking Tommy to make skis for them -- and the White Bear Water Ski company was born. 

It didn’t take long for Tom’s business to grow, and soon he moved to a shop in White Bear Beach. He would make new products and bring them to our group to use and try out before production, so water skiing also exploded in our group. I remember his first saucer; it was flat. It didn’t take long to figure out how difficult this was to ride, so they soon became dished. He had a problem with some of the first generation skis flattening out at the tips after a while. Since this could also be hazardous to your health, he started putting a cut in the forward tip for gluing as he bent them -- solved the problem. 

Tommy brought us a wide variety of skis, including the first short three footers for doing 360s, surf boards, trick skis, saucers, etc. Al’s garage became the community storage area for all the equipment, including everybody’s private skis. Everything was everybodys to use and this is where my (limited) water skiing skills were born. Our third year into boating, brother Bub stepped up to a 1948 20’ CC Custom that became available due to a tragic accident the previous owner had. This was a lesson none of us ever forgot: NEVER back a boat up to a skier in the water. That Custom had the big six in it and could pull eight skiers with several people in the boat. This was the fastest boat on the lake until Tommy traded his old blue CC for a Century Resorter. Now this opened up my world to a whole different joy in skiing as well as to mahogany inboards. 

My senior year in high school was about to arrive. Every weekend was a party at the dock. We skied morning till dark, then we’d play boat hide-and-seek after dark. Amazing we never had an accident. That Custom was thirsty. Every Saturday morning, we’d carry six five-gallon cans of gas down to the boat, and do it again on Sunday. Out of all this skiing, the Bald Eagle Water Ski Club was formed by our group to help keep peace with the fisherman and homeowners on the lake, and to pool all the ski equipment. Soon, a ski jump was built. Thoughts of putting on a show were started and ski routines were developed. Brother Bub’s Custom was a highlight, as he pulled eight ladies (including my older sister and future sister-in-law) in matching swim suits with flags and the trick skiers over the jump. The first paid show was at Howard Lake when Howard Lake paid the club $400 to put the show on; the rest is history. As the club became more commercially oriented, many of us charter members dropped out. The purpose of the club had changed but many excellent skiers emerged from that group.

Problems with the Custom (rotted leaking transom, cracked engine) led to it’s sale, but Bub went on to own two other inboards: a GarWood and a home-built stepped hull with a four banger. Neither captured the glamour or fun of the earlier years, and the old group was losing interest, so we left boating behind. Now, I also developed a deep love of cars during this same time, so the seeds of old cars as well as old boats were deeply planted in me, and emerged in 1978 when I got back into old cars. 

Although I never stopped thinking about owning a woodie someday, raising family and career kept me from it until 1994 when we acquired our first; remember - the early boats were all my brother’s. It was a nice, mostly original, 1958 Century Coronado with a 238 Graymarine and hardtop. Why Century with CC in my past? I love ‘em all. 

We put some objective thinking into what we wanted in a boat and 
decided we can’t take the sun all day, so we needed a top. It had to be large enough to be comfortable on the river and accommodate six to ten people, yet small enough to trailer wherever we wanted to go. It needed to allow us to move around and stretch when out for long periods. I’m a mid-50’s to mid-60’s era fan, so it had to be V-8 powered, (fast,) and great looking. I’ve always loved the first two generations of Coronados and thought they were the best looking boats ever made with a top, so it was an easy choice. Besides, after being king of the lake for so long with that old Custom, I never forgot the humiliation we experienced at the hands of Tommy’s Century. It wasn’t just faster, it was no contest. 

I had a custom trailer made in Holy Cross, Iowa and went to pick up the boat in Grand Rapids, MI Thanksgiving weekend of ‘94. Love that boat and love that trailer. We enjoyed some nice trips the first two years with it, but due to health problems in ‘96/’97, it hasn’t been in the water since. I’m currently considering rolling it over and putting on a new bottom. It still has the original, but there are some other Centurys to consider also. 

Other Centurys??? Yep, they seem to follow me home like stray dogs. “Look, honey, there’s another one in the yard; wonder who dropped that one there?” I’ve been fortunate to have a beautiful, loving, patient, tolerant, understanding wife, Dianne, who has blessed me with two wonderful daughters, Kim and Lynda, and a great son, Steve, but I think I’ve discovered the absolute limits of all their wonderful qualities. 
The interesting thing is that with all the deliberate, objective planning that went into acquiring the first one, absolutely none of that applied to any of the others, but I’m sure none of you other woodie owners can relate to that. Could I be impulsive?? Although we love the ‘58, my first love is the ‘55/’56 style Coronado, and we’ve managed to bring home a few of those including Chrysler Hemi and Cadillac powered. Mix in a couple 16’ Resorters and a real derelict ‘56 Arabian (originally blue and gray) that I went all the way to South Carolina to drag home, along with a variety of marine engines, and you get the picture. 

If you are interested, you can read Part I about my South Carolina trip in the last issue (summer) of the Century newsletter The Thoroughbred. What am I doing with all these boats or remnants of? 

Well, the plan was to have a few to refurbish in my retirement (1997), but major renovations on the house and other sidetracks have kept me from it so far. You sure can’t pass up the real bargains when they come along as they won’t be there later when you go to find them. Right, dear? I agree with Sherwood Heggen that any woody in any condition is worth saving. Sometimes it’s about more that just dollars and cents. 
Seems I’m better at the hunt and find than at getting them done. I absolutely love the adventure of finding a treasure someplace, hooking up the trailer to the truck, and taking off on the trip. I also love to network on these trips. I have met some fabulous people and seen some great collections. I find a lot of satisfaction in watching others with their projects and it has been most enjoyable watching Jerry Klopp’s Sea Maid evolve. Jerry is a fellow BSLOL member, neighbor, and old high school classmate, and his boat is stunning. If you are not motivated or feel intimidated by your project, talk to Jerry and go look at his boat. We’re in good shape as far as having acquired tools -- African Mahogany and some White Oak along the way -- so hopefully this winter we’ll get the woodshop set up. Our immediate goal is to be back in the water next summer. Hey, at the end of the day, all that matters in this or any other hobby is that you are having fun and not feeling like you have to fit someone else’s mold.