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From: JWW
Date: 9/29/00
Time: 2:13:06 PM
Remote Name: 198.103.167.20
My family moved the St. Catharines area almost 40 years ago when my Dad left the Airforce. His first 'real' job in the area was working with George Hinterhoeller biulding Shark24s. For years I have had a distant love affair with sailing and especially these nifty 'run-abouts' that George designed.
He mostly laid the hulls and set up the decking and rigging. It was a tough slog in those days, and I still recall him coming home from work stinking of fibreglass and resin. Just before moving to the boatyard in Niagara-on-the-Lake Dad left for the foundry life of General Motors, and even though he is now long into retirement, he still reminisces about the days of building and test sailing on Lakeshore Road and in Lake Ontario.
Finding this site brings back so many wonderful childhood memories for me. As a young boy I remember Dad taking me around the boatyard - even though he left George's employ (I somehow think he may secretly regret this even to this day) they remained good friends over the years.
While I have never sailed as an adult, I would love to try to find one of the earlier boats that my father may have worked on - a pipe dream at best, but a dream nevertheless.