Concours d"Elegance

A Real Estate Newsletter for my Clients and Friends

Lake Tahoe

Wooden Boat Show!

The 38th Concours d’Elegance, the antique wooden and classic boat show at Carnelian Bay on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe, is held every year on Father’s Day. Ticket prices are reasonable at $35/person. It is a fun event located right next to the Garwood's Restaurant, home of the “wet woody” and excellent fish tacos! Proceeds from the show go to support local charities.

The show started in 1972 when a group of Tahoe Yacht Club members convened to share their common love of wooden boats. The oldest boat in this year’s show was the Frolic, which was built in 1915. There was also a rare fiberglass boat, the “Penny Lee”, built in 1949 at the start of the fiberglass boat construction.

The show featured historic boats such as the Thunderbird, the boat used by an eccentric multimillionaire George Whittell Jr, an heir to one of San Francisco's wealthiest families. The Thunderbird has twin airplane engines so George could make it from North Shore to South Lake Tahoe in about 25 minutes.

If you ever wondered why the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe is largely undeveloped, it is because during the Great Depression George Whittell, Jr. purchased over 40,000 acres of the east shore of Lake Tahoe, about 27 miles of shore stretching from Cave Rock at South Lake to Crystal Bay at North Lake Tahoe. George kept it undeveloped until the 1950’s, at which point many building restrictions were already in place to prevent further development. Now much of the land is owned by the state of Nevada, including his mansion, the Thunderbird Lodge (which sponsors a great Christmas dinner at the Thunderbird Lodge in early December).

Enjoy the photos that follow.

Classic boat with Mount Talac in background

Classic wooden boats lined up at the dock