First time visitor - advice/tips/best route?

[Cal Coon]

Originally Posted by Top-Water

Do not quote me on dates that the beach was closed, but the water ski races at Bartlett were from about 1969 -1970 to August 20th 1978 as best as I can recall. The reason for an exact date is from a trophy / framed photo that my dad won in the "Old Timers Race" It was one of if not the very last races that they had there. It was a race mostly for the folks and parents of competitors that organized the races 5 miles race duration, it went from Bartlett beach to just in front of Pot Island over to Ferry Point and where the ski jump was where the very old races held back to the start at Bartlett Beach. Essentially 1/2 of a lap of the ten normal mile course. Because it was a fun race of sorts you could ski with either one or two skis. The rules for the race were *bent* to let everyone compete that wanted to participate, top speeds were about 30 to 40 mph. The photo / prize was given out a week or two later at the Banquet. Because it was not one of the regularly scheduled races they kept the prizes to a minimum and only had prizes for the skiers.

Note on the Girls races. My sister one year won the "Governors Trophy" they had . The Girls races were very competitive back then in some ways better than the boys races where generally the faster boats won all the time.

In the olden days ..... there were two classes of boats for a given horsepower ones with power trim and ones without.

I don't know exact dates either, but my guess is a 4 or 5 year period between 1972 - 1978 that she competed on Winnisquam. She used to ski behind a 17' Penn Yan with a 120hp 4cyl mercruiser for the first year or two, until a friend of hers that had a camp on the same lake got a red and white, 16' or 17' Glastron (cvx I think with all the sparkles!!), and a 125hp Johnson outboard that was much faster. She then started competing behind the Glastron. At the time, it was the fastest boat on the lake where their camp was!! It was during these times in my youth that my passion for boats, water, mtn's, the lakes region, the smell of pine trees, etc, etc, hit me hard and has stayed within me till this day...!!! Very fond memories.