Genovese’s love for history and preservation extends to vintage Canadian racing boats, a lifelong passion of his that has sparked creation of this impressive collection. Genovese’s passion for restoring and preserving the classics began with the old wooden racing boats that skimmed the waters of his childhood summer cottage in northern Ontario. In the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s the area was an important wooden boat-building centre and there remains a strong tradition of fixing up the old boats and keeping them in boathouses for the summer. This fascination led him to purchase and restore a small fleet of historic Canadian wooden boats – from record setters like Miss Canada III and IV, Miss Miami V and Miss Canadiana to vintage cruisers like Rambler, a restored 70ft 1903 Polson Iron Works Yacht and and Pistoff, a 1960, 970-horsepower twin engine Vic Carpenter custom runabout — that remain on Lake Muskoka. “When Miss Canada IV set the world water speed record in 1950 at 200 mph she captured the imagination of the nation. She is a significant part of Canada’s boat racing history,” said Genovese.