Today, we hung on our wall, in the pilot house, a framed burgee of “Falcon
Beach”, which is a fond memory for us.
We came to Boundary Creek Marina, with Thunderbird, after a number of
years spending summers at the dock in Gimli.
At that time we had still been working on the engine and getting the
boat running properly and were not mobile at all. So, that was the only place we could launch
and be towed to a berth, live on board and work on the boat all summer. We were tucked in a corner that no one else
would take, because you could not get in and out of it. Once the boat was running properly, Gimli
harbour could not supply us with a proper dock that we could get in and out of,
to go cruising. So when Boundary Creek
Marina offered to create a good long dock, in a place where it was easy for us
to pull in and out of, we jumped at it. And
we have not regretted it for a second.
It is the best marina we have ever been docked in.
When we arrived in 2006 we discovered that they were filming a
television series called “Falcon Beach”, at the marina. There were many “sets” around Winnipeg Beach,
including downtown streets, Beauty shop, Arcade, Beach Front etc. and every
Tuesday, they came to the Marina to film.
This all started as a pilot movie, which was picked up and ran for two
years as a TV series. One of the young
male leads “Jason “ was supposed to be running the marina for his widowed mother
and the second young male lead “Danny” was supposed to be running the downtown
Arcade for his family. It was a real teenage,
romance and angst, soap opera. (Coincidentally,
Dan and I happen to know the man that used to own the downtown Arcade in the
beach and his name actually was Danny.)
This filming restricted your movements slightly on Tuesdays, but was very interesting, and added an extra spark to life in the marina. If your boat was in the background of a shot you were not allowed to move it until after they had finished the filming for that day, as, once they started a scene they couldn’t have a boat disappear out of the back ground from one shot to the next. You had free movement around the marina until you heard them holler“ACTION”, then you froze where you were and stayed put until they hollered“CUT”, so that you made sure you didn’t walk into the middle of a scene. And if your boat was used you got paid $75.00 for that. We once got $75.00 to have two Bikini clad young ladies laying sun bathing on the bow of our boat all one afternoon. But, that didn’t end up on TV. I guess it ended up “On the cutting room floor”, as they say, but we still got paid.
This filming restricted your movements slightly on Tuesdays, but was very interesting, and added an extra spark to life in the marina. If your boat was in the background of a shot you were not allowed to move it until after they had finished the filming for that day, as, once they started a scene they couldn’t have a boat disappear out of the back ground from one shot to the next. You had free movement around the marina until you heard them holler“ACTION”, then you froze where you were and stayed put until they hollered“CUT”, so that you made sure you didn’t walk into the middle of a scene. And if your boat was used you got paid $75.00 for that. We once got $75.00 to have two Bikini clad young ladies laying sun bathing on the bow of our boat all one afternoon. But, that didn’t end up on TV. I guess it ended up “On the cutting room floor”, as they say, but we still got paid.
I think we all have fond memories and stories to tell about when the filming was going on,
about the people we met (actors and crew).
About the scenes some boats and boaters were in, the free food they
offered us from the catering tent, snapping pictures of the hot young stars, in
case they ever made it really big.
Then there were the stories of slipping drinks to actors and crew when
they were hanging around waiting for the action to start. There seemed to be a lot of waiting and they were so bored. I heard there was an actress that became
quite enamoured of the Captain of Solitude VI, who would pour an ounce out of a
can of coke and replace it with rum and nod to it as he left it here or there
around the marina set, ready for her each time her scene ended. I would like to add that he refuses to
confirm or deny that....... But, I can’t, as
he will proudly tell you all about it, if asked.
All of the boats that could, at any time, end up in a shot in any
direction from the club house, were given burgees with the fictitious “ Town of
Falcon Beach” logo, that were to be
flown every Tuesday, during filming. I
stumbled across ours, while cleaning yesterday and it brought back some fun
memories so I decided to frame it and hang it up in the boat.
IT ADDS TO MY
BOATING MEMORIES
