Red, White and Brut looks forward to Woody Weekend

The 12th edition of the annual classic boat show, Whitefish Woody Weekend, will be June 28-30 at The Lodge at Whitefish Lake.  

The event is organized by the Big Sky Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society. All boat activities are free and open to the public. 

The event kicks off Friday with live music at the Tiki Bar from 6-9 p.m. and the Wooden Boat Parade on Whitefish Lake from 8-10 p.m. 

On Saturday, public boat-viewing starts at 9 a.m. at The Lodge and goes until 6 p.m. There is a poker run starting at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday. For more information on the event, contact Tim Salt at 406-871-4195 or whitefishwoodyweekend@gmail.com. 

Derek Bronken, who has attended for the past 11 years, said that he “cannot wait for this year’s Woody Weekend. 

“If I can help it, I'll never miss one,” he said. 

His boat, Red, White and Brut, will be just one of more than 40 classic boats.  

While Bronken enjoys the “majestic mahogany,” he said he most looks forward to “catching up with old friends. 

“It's a safe space where we needn't explain nor justify our common affliction … a place to raise a glass or two and toast our cureless condition. It's Christmas in June,” he said. 

Bronken wrote a narrative titled “A Pre-disposed Love For Chris-Craft" in 2022. 

The following is an extract.  

AS LONG as I can remember, I’ve been captivated by boats, more-specifically wooden boats, and most-specifically Chris-Crafts. In my younger years, I promised myself I would one day own one.  

I had the great fortune of spending the summers of my youth on Whitefish Lake. Beyond its captivating beauty, Whitefish has a certain spirit; a spirit that is as magnetic as it is impossible to succinctly define. A spirit much the same evoked by the timeless wooden boats of days of yore. 

Growing up, every so often, a mahogany relic would rumble by our lakefront dock. I knew that throaty groan from miles away and would drop whatever I was doing and race outside to watch and wave. 

When I was fourteen, I met a fellow who would become my best friend, Scott Suiter; a fellow caddie at our local golf club. His family also had a house on the lake. Upon my first visit to his house, I saw his father Tom’s Hackercraft. It was absolutely stunning in all its triple-cockpit glory. Little did I know, years later, this very boat would usher myself and groomsmen to my wedding. 

Later, Scott purchased his own beauty, a 1946 19-foot Gar Wood Deluxe Runabout. Over the ensuing years, I faithfully served as Scott’s first mate aboard Red Dog. This was during the annual Whitefish Woody Weekend, under Tim Salt’s masterful orchestration.  

....while Tom’s Hackercraft and Scott’s Gar Wood were both objects of lust, it was always going to be a Chris-Craft for me. 

... While working my first post-college job in Seattle, I purchased a 1962 28-foot Chris-Craft Cavalier. It was moored across the street from our apartment, on Lake Union. The days and nights spent aboard A Good Year are, and will forever be, of my life’s best. Moving back to Montana forced her sale, but she’s oft thought of most fondly. 

Now what? Armed with a pretty good idea of what I wanted; it was time for the hard part. Finding her... 

In 2018, it appeared in the most unlikely of places –– the Bring a Trailer website, a car auction website. The listing was for a 1941 17-foot Deluxe Runabout. As the auction progressed over the next week, bidding remained benign... when the virtual hammer came down; I won the bid; I had my dream boat! 

Little did I know the “fun” had only just begun. I struck up communication with the seller, Mr. Guequierre. While a true gentleman, it was clear vintage boats were not at the core of his interest. God bless him, he was beyond accommodating over the following weeks, as we worked to extract the boat’s legal ownership from deceased brother Beau Guequierre. Imagine purchasing a boat registered in Delaware from a deceased owner in Pennsylvania, while the physical vessel sits in a restorer’s yard in Maryland... 

.. over a year after purchase, she finally arrived in Whitefish. Just in time for Whitefish Woody Weekend! 

I enlisted Scott to help me launch her. Shortly after we dropped her in, she started taking on water (the culprit; a loose plug) and the distributor cap began smoking. We pulled her back out and the reality sank in; after years of uncontainable anticipation, she would not be able to take part in that year’s show. 

Enter the great Steve Nickol of The Classic Company Boat Works, on the shore of Flathead Lake in Somers, Montana. He took the boat into his care and breathed life back into her; she would finally be ready for Whitefish Woody Weekend, in another 12 long months.  

Or so I thought. When Whitefish Woody Weekend X arrived, the event was sadly dismantled by COVID-19. It would be yet another year before she would make her debut. That was well-worth the wait.   

But first-things-first, she deserved a proper christening. On a beautiful June evening at our dock, my family raised a glass of 1999 Argyle Extended Tirage Brut. We toasted the newest member of our family’s Chris-Craft lineage. We joyously christened her Red, White, & Brut. The name calls from our generational family business; a beer and wine distributorship, while also invoking the uniquely patriotic, all-Americanism, only a prewar Chris-Craft can. 

Whether it’s my original family, mother, father, and brother, or the growing family of my own –– my wife and three children, you’ll find me no happier than cruising sunset-painted waters of Whitefish Lake with those closest to me. I sometimes wonder if the next generation will value these timeless relics as much as I do?  

This story was originally published in May 2022 in The Brass Bell Magazine of the Chris-Craft Antique Boat Club and has been reprinted with permission of editor Steven Lapkin. 

    Derek Bronken with son Owen on Whitefish Lake. (Photo by Bronken)
  

    Shop time for Red, White & Brut. (Photo by Bronken)