Silver Lake Photos

[Cameraboy]

Crappy weather, crappy water, but Howard Shaw and his crew did their usual excellent job of getting the show done in the allotted 5 hours at Silver Lake near Everett, Washington. Thanks to the Whidbey Island folks who showed (Bart Lovric took home some hardware) and also to Kevin Martin coming out from Spokane (and taking home hardware). The Oberto brothers dusted off the Karelsen and had John Peters and Mike Perman show us that 10 years later, they still have some fast stuff. And was that Pat Gleason in a DSH?

Several people swam (Jim Nilsen with major style points rolling out of a C Service runabout), the only significant injuries to Roy Blackwell who was treated and released with a back injury (he was home Saturday night). One really scary looking crash involving Cameron Hansing and Jonathan Nilsen - both are OK but very sore. Jonathan arrived at Cameron's empty boat after Cameron was ptooied. The following shots are by Denise Short. See the rest (two albums, crash leads the second for those who need to see that first) at http://community.webshots.com/user/cameraboy5).

[DougMc]

Looking at that photo makes my leg hurt!

[Kevin Martin]

wow mike you've outdone yourself, great shots your shot of the crash is better than i witnessed in person and i saw the whole thing!!! thanks for the kind words and the great shots of my boat kevin martin

[sponsonhead]

Up in the Air, It's Junior Birdman

The picture above only captures a small portion of the mayhem from this accident. We were loading a boat in trailer, I heard the BANG of the two boats colliding (that sound you hate to hear when you KNOW bad stuff is happening!) and looked up to see Jonathan Nilsen flying through the air about 25 yards long by close to 20 feet OFF the water.

On the Sphincter Factor scale, I would have scored that one at about 11.5; and it was probably about the most bizarre thing I've seen at a boat race since Tammy Dawe's 20SS burned up at Wakefield. Jonathan is one lucky guy this morning, as is Cameron Hansing, who was thrown clear from his boat before Jonathan launched off of it. VERY scary to watch.

R-19

[Cameraboy]

Denise shot about half of this weeks photos, including what will now be known as the "Moonlaunch" photo. I have to agree with Pat. I saw Cameron go out of his boat and was focused on seeing him signal (which he did) when I heard the impact and saw Jonathan gaining altitude. The impact with the water turned the motor hood inside out. Scary stuff.

[mercguy]

whoa.....SPOOKY!!!!!

Denise shot about half of this weeks photos, including what will now be known as the "Moonlaunch" photo. I have to agree with Pat. I saw Cameron go out of his boat and was focused on seeing him signal (which he did) when I heard the impact and saw Jonathan gaining altitude. The impact with the water turned the motor hood inside out. Scary stuff.

glad to hear they are both OK after that!!! Is the motor missing on Nielson's boat that is in the air or is the steam coming from the engine?

[Cameraboy]

Is the motor missing on Nielson's boat that is in the air or is the steam coming from the engine?

That's steam - he's still holding the throttle at that point, ready push away.

[dholt]

If there was a Pulitzer Prize for boat racing photos, this would take the cake hands down!

Unreal picture.

How did Nilsen's prop and gearcase turn out?

D.

[Cameraboy]

How did Nilsen's prop and gearcase turn out? D.

Gearcase was fine externally, and it roped over fine when Jim and I were drying it - don't know how it fired. The prop had one blade bent at the hub, and some trailing edge damage, but the other two blades looked OK. There was a prop that went across a boat deck at Newberg a couple weeks ago that sheared all 3 blades at the hub. Go figure.

[mercguy]

Reg10 aerialabatics team.......

Denise shot about half of this weeks photos, including what will now be known as the "Moonlaunch" photo. I have to agree with Pat. I saw Cameron go out of his boat and was focused on seeing him signal (which he did) when I heard the impact and saw Jonathan gaining altitude. The impact with the water turned the motor hood inside out. Scary stuff.

I have to give it to Reg10, them drivers outta joint the Air Force or something with all the aerial manuevers they are involved in!!! Between this one, Lee's 350 manuever, Kyle's on-going manuevers and J.Michael every once in awhile these guys are good and LUCKY to not have been seriously hurt. So guys, do I have to have landing gear on my boats when I race up there???????

[Dr. Thunder]

"MoonLaunch"

There was a video made of this incident ... saw it a few minutes after they black flagged the heat ... anyone know who the gentleman was that shot the footage and if it will make it's way here? It was spectacular! Thought for sure it was good enough and interesting enough to make the evening news!

[sponsonhead]

Now that is a video that I would pay good money for. It really was amazing.

R-19

[Cameraboy]

I have to give it to Reg10, them drivers outta joint the Air Force or something with all the aerial manuevers they are involved in!!! Between this one, Lee's 350 manuever, Kyle's on-going manuevers and J.Michael every once in awhile these guys are good and LUCKY to not have been seriously hurt. So guys, do I have to have landing gear on my boats when I race up there???????

Let's give Jonathan Nilsen some credit for a great job of veering to the right to avoid a fellow driver in the water. That's the second time I've seen him make a great move under pressure in a situation like that. He's a Hall of Champions member for a reason. Aaron Peterson also did a nice job of picking his way through the aftermath.

And Daren - you may not need landing gear, but you will need to learn to levitate like Bartlett does...

[mercguy]

Let's give Jonathan Nilsen some credit for a great job of veering to the right to avoid a fellow driver in the water. That's the second time I've seen him make a great move under pressure in a situation like that. He's a Hall of Champions member for a reason. Aaron Peterson also did a nice job of picking his way through the aftermath.

And Daren - you may not need landing gear, but you will need to learn to levitate like Bartlett does...

now that is how a fast boat is supposed to ride!!!! I thought that was Ryan's boat Mike? He is riding the wheel though huh? From the looks of alot of the pictures, most of the guys seemed to be riding the wheel......musta be rough!

[Cameraboy]

Yep, it was rough. Hoping from better water/weather at PRO Divisionals the 25-26 at Cullaby (shameless plug). Hopefully we have the aerials out of the system.

Ryan runs in 20, Mike runs in OSY (he's got a new boat in the works). It's a fast boat, and should be on the water racing. And I'm digging watching it run.

Ryan should be ready to run it in OSY by next year (he may get some test time there this year). He has it flying in 20 already.