Golden State Glassics - History

In 1998 while searching for information on his 1955 Glasspar Lido, Warren Laurendine of Fresno happened across Fiberglassics.com, just a few months after Kelly Wood had created it. Warren became the 22^nd member of Fiberglassics. In the summer of 2000 he met with Michael McKinney a fellow California resident, Fiberglassic member and Glasspar owner.

While boating at Lake Isabella, Michael and Warren discussed the possibilities of starting a Fiberglassics California Chapter and a website dedicated to Glasspar boats. Warren took the helm as President and the Golden State Glassics was formed in April of 2001. It was the third group to form under the Fiberglassics banner. Michael McKinney started classicglasspars.com. It was a very productive meeting.

The first Golden State Glassics meet was held at Millerton Lake, outside of Fresno, in August of 2001. There were 8 boats and 17 people in attendance.

In January of 2002, Denise Goodwin found Fiberglassics and Golden State Glassics while searching for information on her 1963 Elgin, which was sold through the Sears Catalog. After seeing the pictures and review of the Millerton Lake gathering, she asked Warren if gatherings were ever held at other lakes. She had concerns about towing the Elgin a long distance since she towed it with a 1967 VW Bus. Warren said anyone could plan a gathering and he would assist with the organizing and getting the word out. Denise gathered the information needed and spearheaded the second GSG gathering.

The second gathering of California members was held in May of 2002 at Lake San Antonio in Paso Robles, California. In attendance were 23 people (including kids) and 6 boats.

Warren Laurendine was the President for the GSG from April 2001 to August 2002 when he was offered his dream job in Indiana and relocated. Not wanting the chapter to cease, he contacted Denise Goodwin about taking over the reins. After some initial apprehension he convinced her to take it over. Denise became the second President for the Golden State Glassics.

Denise had asked many times about the Fiberglassics Nationals Meet held in Rockton, IL and holding a California National’s. After taking over the GSG, Kelly told her to go for it! The first "Southwest Regional’s" was held in June of 2003 at Lake San Antonio with 64+ people attending and 19 boats.

Next came the establishment of four regions in California; Southern, Central, SF/Delta and Northern each with a Regional Representative to cover California. The GSG now has organized boating days or weekends in all regions of California all year round.

In December of 2008 Fiberglassics was reorganized which eliminated chapters hence we were faced with a decision to find another boating site host us or to pursue a website of our own. In January of 2009 the decision was made to establish our own website. In March of 2009 it became a reality and here were are today from 22 boat owners in 2001 to well over 200+ in 2009.