August Director's Corner
It has been a whirlwind few weeks for the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum staff, crews and volunteers. On July 18 we said goodbye to longtime Museum volunteer, crew member and (most importantly) friend Karen Senior. Karen had been in the Museum fold since the beginning and spent years holding many tasks, but she was never more at home than twisting wrenches and getting dirty in the engine shop. Her memorial was stuffed to the gills with friends, family and non-stop stories.
The last weekend in July we packed up four of our Rolls-powered picklefork hulls and caravanned across the state to the Tri-Cities Columbia Cup for our annual exhibition. Things started out great on Friday with the 1973 Pay’n Pak, 1977 Atlas Van Lines, 1979 Squire Shop, and 1980 Griffon Budweiser bringing the thunder to the river. From there, however, (and in the name of transparency) things began to go sideways. Saturday morning we discovered a leak in the fuel bladder of the Blue Blaster Atlas Van lines, so out of caution we withdrew the boat from further participation. Then during Saturday’s exhibition on the water, metal fatigue caused one of the exhaust stacks on the Griffon Budweiser to fail—and that failure routed 1,700 degree exhaust directly onto the stacks behind it, causing those 4 to fail as well, eventually scorching the cowling and the deck. So another boat was out. Sunday’s exhibition featuring the Pay’n Pak and Squire Shop was cut short due to an unfortunate collision on lap two between the two boats on the race course. While both boats received damage, the drivers were unharmed. Three completely unrelated incidents on three successive days, but we got everyone home safely at the end of the weekend.
Next it was on to Seattle’s Seafair on Lake Washington this last weekend with four completely different boats to showcase. This time we rolled into the pit area with the 1962 Notre Dame hull, the 1957 Miss Wahoo, 1955 Miss Thriftway, and 1958 Miss Bardahl. The Museum was further represented with the Boeing U-787 turbine hull showcased outside the Boeing pavilion and the 1960 Miss Burien hull wrapped in Oh, Boy! Oberto colors on display at the main entrance for the event. Additionally, the Hydroplane Museum presented the popular J-Hydro exhibition race along with the Seattle Outboard Association each day, which took place in the water directly east of the pit area, in front of the VIP grandstands. The Museum gave three VIP rides for Seafair in the U-77 Miss Wahoo, and on Friday morning the U-7 Notre Dame gave a ride to Sefair’s King Neptune, former Seattle Seahawk wide receiver Sidney Rice. Though Saturday’s 4-boat exhibition was severely hindered by high winds and rough water, the Musuem’s boats put on a well-received show each day. The coverage of Sunday’s exhibition on the H1 YouTube channel had some pretty cool drone shots starting around the 3:12:00 mark of the broadcast. Sunday’s event also included a demonstration run featuring the U-40 Miss Bardahl and aerobatic performer Melissa Burns flying over the top of the hydro around the race course inverted!
Our annual Gala and Auction will be taking place Sunday, August 9th at the Tacoma Yacht Club at 1pm. The TYC has a gorgeous indoor facility out at Point Defiance, in the shadow of the ferry terminal, and we are excited to be working with this new venue with our guest auctioneer, John Curley (who is a former Seafair King Neptune!). This event is one of the Museum’s most important fund-raisers each year, and it is an excellent opportunity to show your support for our organization—for YOUR organization. Tickets are $125 per person, but are limited. If you are interested in buying a table for team/friends/family, we offer both 8 and 10 person tables. Contact the Museum at (206)-764-9453, or email teri@thunderboats.org to reserve your place today.
Until next month…
Brad Haskin, Executive Director