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Here are a few pics from last year, And a good read I found off the net,
Enjoy,
The Legend of the Birdman of Eatonville
by John Paramore
How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?...I dunno. How many
raceboats can be crammed into Henley's Silver Lake Resort?...About 300, it
looks like.
Whether it was a result of the New Seattle Outboard's new online
registration page (Thanks to APBA Region 11's Matt Boyes and SOA's Pat
Gleason) which produced almost 150 pre-event entries, or just a whole lot
of racers lookin' for action we got a PILE of boats at Eatonville.
The weather leading up to the regatta was about two raindrops shy of
monsoon status, but it all cleared Friday and the weekend was terriffic.
A huge benefit of online registration made itself evident right away.
Instead of the usual last minute registration thrashing that ties up the
event start there was only a little paperwork followed by a quick drivers'
meeting and an early racing start. We'd need the time because so many
racers seemed determined to have their Saturday bath, and they were all
going for style points.
Kyle Bahl got things underway in A-Stock by rocketing around the outside of
the pack and streaking off like a comet for about a lap. Then in the first
turn of lap two everything unhooked and the boat spun, dug in and rolled
pitching Kyle out in a nice little arc.
In the first elimination heat of OSY400 fans were treated to the sight of
J.W Myers in the lead pack in a big red runabout (runaplane?). The heat was
punctuated at the start by Erin O'Neill's exit hrom her hydro just off the
scoring up buoy.
Back for the second A-Stock heat Kyle Bahl quickly regained his points lead
with a simple hook and pop out...Boink!
Returning to the OSY400 final J.W. Myers joined in the swimming portion of
the program by rolling the runabout in turn one while J. Michael Kelly was
spat out to match in turn two.
Kyle returned in Formula-A hydro to complete the "Patooie cycle". Actually
Kyle was having more of a discussion with this particular boat...a new
boat...about who was in charge, and he'll likely win because he's
smarter...and bigger too. Other than finding himself riding the plywood
version of a mechanical bull in A-based hydro heats, Kyle was having a good
day with wins in C-Stock Hydro and Formula-A Runabout.
Other racers were putting on strong shows as well. Jamie Nilsen was piling
up high points in his A-based classes, and Paul Fuchslin and Terry Klemm
were flying fast in the cc runabout classes. In fact, All the region 11
racers looked fast and ran strong.
Terry Klemm looked to be on a pace at least 5 mph over record in 1100cc
Runabout when the boat snapped off three or four quick flat spins in the
last turn to let Howard Anderson and deck rider J. Michael Kelly by.
Terry's deck rider, Mike Sattler, a crewman for a Spokane team had never
been in a boat before, and seemed pretty calm about the surprise twirl.
In C-mod hydro Denny Paola demonstrated the Hillsboro exit method and
J.Michael Kelly obligingly spun to avoid Denny, then continued on to finish
third.
Finally, despite the best efforts of all concerned, Cheney Street, soon to
be known as "The Birdman of Eatonville", came onto the course in his brand
new Formula E hydro, to claim the dumpmiester title and scare the pants off
of everybody on the beach. In the countdown, Cheney made a series of high
speed passes down the front chute with the bow 2 or more feet off the lake.
At the start he was running nose high and really fast, and walking a bit
on the transom. Cheyney was passing Howard Shaw outside in turn one when
the boat lifted off, doing an end for end and spitting Cheyney out on the
first revolution (with the boat possibly hitting him). Then the boat
rotated through a second time gaining enough altitude to make the McChord
AFB traffic controllers blink. The boat appears to have come out almost
undamaged, but Cheyney wasn't as lucky. His final diagnosis was 6 broken
ribs and a punctured lung. Currently Cheyney's doing well and should
recover nicely. Howard Shaw noted that when he saw a fin drive past him
about two feet above the lake surface his greatest hope was that whatever
it was attached to wouldn't hit him.
Sunday, was a whole lot less "exciting" (or "Fascinating", if you use the
Chuck Yeager scale) but several records fell to make up for it. Just to
maintain a little of Saturday's dumpfest flavor though, a few racers took a
swim. Kim Alloway Picked up where Kyle left off in A-hydro with a long
looping flight...far enough from the boat to cause a heat stoppage. And
Mike Perman capped the day with pop out in the J-pro final.
Between those events was a lot of great racing. Including J.W. Myer's Low
Flying 25ss runabout turning heat after heat just a couple hundredths off
the record. There were Paul Fuchslin's records in 350cc Runabout and 500cc
Runabout. And Terry Klemm's record run in 1100 Runabout. Terry's race was
especially impressive because the previous day's spin had twisted the
crankshaft on his obviously well set up motor, and He had to rebuild the
motor overnight around a borrowed crank.
Also worthy of highlight was Frank Hoot's come from behind drive to just
squeeze past Jim Nilsen in a paint trading battle to the finish...You
couldn't have dropped a dime between the two boats.
Records (3 mile/4 lap 3/4 mile course):
Paul Fuchslin 350cc Runabout -- 61.297 mph
Paul Fuchslin 500cc Runabout -- 68.537 mph
Terry Klemm/Mike Sattler 1100cc Runabout -- 65.131 mph
Enjoy,
The Legend of the Birdman of Eatonville
by John Paramore
How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?...I dunno. How many
raceboats can be crammed into Henley's Silver Lake Resort?...About 300, it
looks like.
Whether it was a result of the New Seattle Outboard's new online
registration page (Thanks to APBA Region 11's Matt Boyes and SOA's Pat
Gleason) which produced almost 150 pre-event entries, or just a whole lot
of racers lookin' for action we got a PILE of boats at Eatonville.
The weather leading up to the regatta was about two raindrops shy of
monsoon status, but it all cleared Friday and the weekend was terriffic.
A huge benefit of online registration made itself evident right away.
Instead of the usual last minute registration thrashing that ties up the
event start there was only a little paperwork followed by a quick drivers'
meeting and an early racing start. We'd need the time because so many
racers seemed determined to have their Saturday bath, and they were all
going for style points.
Kyle Bahl got things underway in A-Stock by rocketing around the outside of
the pack and streaking off like a comet for about a lap. Then in the first
turn of lap two everything unhooked and the boat spun, dug in and rolled
pitching Kyle out in a nice little arc.
In the first elimination heat of OSY400 fans were treated to the sight of
J.W Myers in the lead pack in a big red runabout (runaplane?). The heat was
punctuated at the start by Erin O'Neill's exit hrom her hydro just off the
scoring up buoy.
Back for the second A-Stock heat Kyle Bahl quickly regained his points lead
with a simple hook and pop out...Boink!
Returning to the OSY400 final J.W. Myers joined in the swimming portion of
the program by rolling the runabout in turn one while J. Michael Kelly was
spat out to match in turn two.
Kyle returned in Formula-A hydro to complete the "Patooie cycle". Actually
Kyle was having more of a discussion with this particular boat...a new
boat...about who was in charge, and he'll likely win because he's
smarter...and bigger too. Other than finding himself riding the plywood
version of a mechanical bull in A-based hydro heats, Kyle was having a good
day with wins in C-Stock Hydro and Formula-A Runabout.
Other racers were putting on strong shows as well. Jamie Nilsen was piling
up high points in his A-based classes, and Paul Fuchslin and Terry Klemm
were flying fast in the cc runabout classes. In fact, All the region 11
racers looked fast and ran strong.
Terry Klemm looked to be on a pace at least 5 mph over record in 1100cc
Runabout when the boat snapped off three or four quick flat spins in the
last turn to let Howard Anderson and deck rider J. Michael Kelly by.
Terry's deck rider, Mike Sattler, a crewman for a Spokane team had never
been in a boat before, and seemed pretty calm about the surprise twirl.
In C-mod hydro Denny Paola demonstrated the Hillsboro exit method and
J.Michael Kelly obligingly spun to avoid Denny, then continued on to finish
third.
Finally, despite the best efforts of all concerned, Cheney Street, soon to
be known as "The Birdman of Eatonville", came onto the course in his brand
new Formula E hydro, to claim the dumpmiester title and scare the pants off
of everybody on the beach. In the countdown, Cheney made a series of high
speed passes down the front chute with the bow 2 or more feet off the lake.
At the start he was running nose high and really fast, and walking a bit
on the transom. Cheyney was passing Howard Shaw outside in turn one when
the boat lifted off, doing an end for end and spitting Cheyney out on the
first revolution (with the boat possibly hitting him). Then the boat
rotated through a second time gaining enough altitude to make the McChord
AFB traffic controllers blink. The boat appears to have come out almost
undamaged, but Cheyney wasn't as lucky. His final diagnosis was 6 broken
ribs and a punctured lung. Currently Cheyney's doing well and should
recover nicely. Howard Shaw noted that when he saw a fin drive past him
about two feet above the lake surface his greatest hope was that whatever
it was attached to wouldn't hit him.
Sunday, was a whole lot less "exciting" (or "Fascinating", if you use the
Chuck Yeager scale) but several records fell to make up for it. Just to
maintain a little of Saturday's dumpfest flavor though, a few racers took a
swim. Kim Alloway Picked up where Kyle left off in A-hydro with a long
looping flight...far enough from the boat to cause a heat stoppage. And
Mike Perman capped the day with pop out in the J-pro final.
Between those events was a lot of great racing. Including J.W. Myer's Low
Flying 25ss runabout turning heat after heat just a couple hundredths off
the record. There were Paul Fuchslin's records in 350cc Runabout and 500cc
Runabout. And Terry Klemm's record run in 1100 Runabout. Terry's race was
especially impressive because the previous day's spin had twisted the
crankshaft on his obviously well set up motor, and He had to rebuild the
motor overnight around a borrowed crank.
Also worthy of highlight was Frank Hoot's come from behind drive to just
squeeze past Jim Nilsen in a paint trading battle to the finish...You
couldn't have dropped a dime between the two boats.
Records (3 mile/4 lap 3/4 mile course):
Paul Fuchslin 350cc Runabout -- 61.297 mph
Paul Fuchslin 500cc Runabout -- 68.537 mph
Terry Klemm/Mike Sattler 1100cc Runabout -- 65.131 mph
(Some things don't change!) but what a hoot ! Weather was typical, scattered sun (About 50 temp) and a good time had by all ! That was summer 2010 ! 
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