Commemorative Classic Boat Stamp to be issued Today’s announcement by the U.S. Postal Service of the issuance of commemorative antique and classic boat stamp is the result of a five-year effort by the Chris-Craft Antique Boat Club. copyright USPS
News-Antique.com - Nov 30,-0001 - As reported in the summer 2002 club publication (The Brass Bell), CCABC Executive Director Wilson Wright traveled to Washington, DC, to see what could be done to create a postal commemorative recognition for antique and classic “woody” boats. There, Wright learned a great deal about the Post Office and its procedures: about a "Congressional Postal Caucus" that oversees the post office in general and a Citizen's Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC) that approves and authorizes new stamps. He lobbied Members of The Postal Caucus as well as other members of Congress. As a result, Senator Bill Nelson (D.FL) and House Appropriations Chairman Bill Young (R.FL) - with other members of Congress - wrote generous letters to the CSAC. Chris-Craft Antique Boat Club members were urged to write the CSAC and many did. As one might suspect the Post Office is not keen on e-mail, and CSAC phone numbers were not available to the public, so postal mail was the only alternative for communication.
It was learned early on that obtaining new commemorative stamps could be a tedious, protracted process. Club members were warned not be discouraged if new stamps did not come quickly, as the process could take anywhere from five to eight years and even then success might not be achieved. During the winter of 2002, however, Wright was advised that new interest in a woody boat stamp had surfaced and the project was now on the "fast track". The winter Brass Bell, the club’s quarterly magazine, ran a story to that effect and asked members to step up their letter-writing campaign.
Afterward, Wright responded to requests from postal authorities for names of photographers and artists familiar with boating scenes.
More time passed, but little seemed to be happening. Wright continued to fire off regular letters to the CSAC, none were ever answered, yet there were unverified reports that the woody boat stamp was still on track. At one time, Wright became highly energized when he heard that a new member from Clayton, NY was added to the CSAC. Clayton is a Mecca of antique and classic boating. The fall 2004 Brass Bell contained another call to CCABC members to step up the letter writing campaign to the CSAC.
A watchful eye was kept on the process, but not wanting the Chris-Craft Antique Boat Club to appear as a pest, the frequent letters to the CSAC were slowed. Then, when it was least expected, the club received word in the fall of 2006 that a four-stamp series would be issued and postal authorities were taking pictures of vintage boats in the Lake Tahoe area.
It is known that one of those boats is a 1954 Chris-Craft 19-foot Racing Runabout belonging to club member Bill Kehoe, an industrial arts teacher of Loomis, CA. The other three are: a 33-foot GarWood belonging to the owner of GarWoods restaurant at Lake Tahoe, a 1915 Hutchinson of Danville, CA, and the John Hacker-designed ,Thunderbird commuter, which calls Lake Tahoe home.
