2011 Ocean Reef Vintage Yacht Weekend

YachtForums · 12-04-2011, 07:44 PM

2011 Ocean Reef Vintage Yacht Weekend
Celebrating Yesteryear & Preserving the Future

Located in North Key Largo, Florida, only minutes way from Miami, but worlds away in state of mind;
the community of Ocean Reef hosts their annual "Vintage Weekend", a four-day celebration of classic
yachts, airplanes and automobiles. It’s a world class venue that brings together people with a
passion for all things that float, fly or cruise the boulevard.

The 17th Annual Vintage Weekend was held December 1st-4th, 2011. YF's admin Carl Camper and everyone's favorite 50 year-old "Kid with a Camera" Tom Serio became guests of YF member "Maldwin" for a day that transported us back in time to a place where wood is good and fiberglass was funky. As guests of Maldwin, we found ourselves in the company of a gent with a certain celebrity status among those that appreciate the splendor of splinters, the aroma of fresh varnish and a zest for mortal yachts, minus the mega prefix.

Among many notable Burgers, Trumpy's, Huckins and Rybo's was a classy young lady known as Chanticleer. For those that don't know the story on this historic, Hargrave designed Burger, it has a very unique connection to the marine industry because it may very well be the first outboard powered motoryacht. Chanticleer was owned by Francis Langford, who was married to Ralph Evinrude; Carl Kiekhaefer's chief competitor. Believe it or not, there's a connection to YachtForums too. As some of our 'senior' members can attest, Francis Langford sang with Bob Hope on the OSO tour. Guess who else was on the OSO tour with Hope and Langford? YF's very own senior writer Capt. Chuck Gnaegy, who played in the band! It's a small YF world!

There is so much to tell about the history and recent refit of Chanticleer that a book could be written. Short of a naval novel, here's a few pics of Chanticleer to bring our members up to speed on a boat that wasn't built for same, but actually to go fishing, because Francis was a serious fisherwoman...

Chanticleer Bow...