The Cricket II, a 42-foot sport fishing boat built in 1946 and the inspiration for the
book and movie Jaws, is expected to be at the show.
BORN FROM A CONVERSATION
THE Beaufort Wooden Boat Show started in 1975 after friends Charles
McNeil and Michael Alford decided to hold a community event to cel-ebrate
their passion for traditional wooden boats. Beaufort’s downtown
was in transition from working waterfront to the tourist haven of the more-recent
past, so the first two shows took place in nearby Morehead City.
Bayne has attended the
show off and on for the past
30 years. The show presents
awards in 13 categories,
including People’s Choice, Best
Sail, Captain’s Choice and Best
in Show.
“The Beaufort show has a
large amount of boats, around
60 boats on average every
year,” Bayne says. “They fill up
the street area and the dock
space there. You see all types
and all sizes.”
For enthusiasts of the
wooden boat culture and avid boat racers like Humphrey, the annual show is as much an
opportunity to enjoy his own boats as it is to admire and appreciate the others.
“Sometimes we don’t pay much attention to the show, we just put the boats in the
water and race,” Humphrey says. “There are six races on Saturday, and then a big, around-the-
island race on Sunday. We anchor across the creek and go back and forth in one boat
and just hang out there the whole time. The times that we’ve brought 10 or 12 people, or
met people that we know up there, have been really fun.”
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WBM may 2018
Beautiful handcrafted wooden boats are the
highlight of the show.
COURTESY OF THE NORTH CAROLINA MARITIME MUSEUM COURTESY OF THE NORTH CAROLINA MARITIME MUSEUM