Club / Region "Crown Jewels" ???

[Team 12R]

In Region 10 we has so many to choose. I say "The fastest water on earth" Lake Lawrence in Yelm is our "Crown Jewel". I know Eatonville, Cullaby and Newberg are incredible races however how many roads to a HOC jacket have had to travel across the country to Yelm?

I'm blessed to live in the PNW. Great Thread

[Smitty]

Ditto Yelm, but from the perspective of an old man the best race site ever, now long gone, was Crescent Bar, near the town of Quincy in central Washington. There's a wide spot in the Columbia River with a huge sandbar, and the river has cut into the bedrock to leave a high, sheer cliff on one side. We pitted on the sandbar, held a few races on the river side of the bar, but the great thing was to set up a long, somewhat narrow course in the backwater between the sandbar and the red rock strata of that lovely cliff. The sounds of full fields of B Stock hydros and runabouts reflected off the water AND off the cliff were unforgettable, as were the sounds of megaphones and bounce-pipes on the alky motors in the '60s and '70s. IIRC, developers were selling time-shares on part of the sandbar, and the rest was a county park. Anyway, we lost the site long ago, a shame.

Another good site was also on the Columbia, next to the town of Pateros. Neat people there; the Pateros Grange used to put on a big breakfast for the racers on Sunday morning. Last year, wildfires nearly destroyed the town; SOA members donated to a relief fund. Let's hope there can be some races there in the future to mark the town's recovery.

Finally, the crown jewel for Seattle Outboard (on Saturdays) and Inboard (Sundays) racing weekends was Green Lake, in the middle of the city as Capitol Lake is in the middle of Olympia. Hugely attended by race fans from all over the area. And since it was so close and convenient the racers' uncles and aunts and grandparents and neighbors and pals were also likely to show up. This was in the glory days of the open-stack piston-engine Unlimiteds, which could be heard all over this town of pleasure boaters and sailers, and made hydro fanatics of generations of Seattle boys, some of whom eventually got into outboard racing themselves. A few neighbors and the nearby zoo got the race killed.

[pstock800]

I would say Standish Maine. It has a great beach camping, great people. and close to home. Fastjack does a great job setting this site up year after year

[HydroKyle93R]

Newberg Oregon is Region Ten's most challenging regatta. Mike told us about the swift currents, tight corners, and the right-hand dog leg backstretch, but he forgot the grueling quarter-mile boat ramp that leads from the park to the river. This bad boy is at a 10% slope, and if you race anything larger than an A Stock, you are getting an excellent anaerobic workout. I love this place for its history, and the Newberg Boat Club puts on a top notch event, one that draws crowds from all over the nearby county. They also host a bonfire Saturday night that is always an event to remember.

[T Chance]

The first time I raced at Constantine, Michigan, on the Saint Joseph River, I fell in love with the place. Perfect pits, perfect water, perfect hospitality. That was 45 years ago in 1970. My feelings haven't changed over the years. I have raced at several of the sites previously mentioned, and yes they are good, but Constantine is my favorite by far. Even the year that we awoke to snow flakes on July 16th.

[David Weaver]

I agree with Tim Chance's thoughts on Constantine, Michigan. Good pits and a driver's race course. One tight turn and one wide open turn with medium length straightaways. Great views of the course from top of the hill. Bar on site!! My sentimental favorite is Camden,NC for a Region 4 crown jewel. One of the best venues for local racing I have been to. And many, many national highpoint chases settled there on sunny Sunday afternoons!! How can Dayton not be considered a crown jewel for Region 6. So many historic races held there across many categories. It does not always have the smoothest water, but it has many good days.

[dwhitford]

dwhitford likes this about Camden, but was never at Dayton. I have the original Camden pig-roast (Eastern NC barbecue-style) recipe and prepare it in small doses periodically for family & friends, can pack a little dose for a potluck at Tabor City or some such. Far as I know, Henry Shakeshaft & I cooked the last full-pig such roast at Camden the year after the codger who cooked for us died, early 1980s.

The trouble with Camden in my opinion is that it was a perfect race site on a proverbially perfect weekend: the weekend after Labor Day weekend. That was when it was just our local CVRA club race, with barbecue. Good-weather weekends tend to repeat one another year after year at any given regatta site, not guaranteed, but in general to be relied on up & down the Mid-Atlantic.

Then the Camden regatta became a focal point for points-seeking racers both north & south to race one last time b4 the season closed. As a consequence, the club (CVRA) was squeezed to run the race later and later into the fall. The last race I attended, only as a spectator, was in late OCT. It rained and was cold all day on Saturday, and then on Sunday we got blown out, even on that little course.

I was not a club member then and had no say, but the weather was typical for East VA (and nearby northeastern NC) then. The blowout was predictable. I would've been as a Club member in favor of a return to our original pig-roast date of the weekend after Labor Day.

All my rant is moot now because developers rendered our previous access to the Pasquotank River waterfront unavailable.

Now CVRA runs their season closer considerably farther south in Tabor City, right on the SC line, with normally better resuts, altho chilly!

[runabout333]

APBA Region 7 would be Ladysmith, Wisc.. for me. Stock,,, Mod,,, Pro
APBA Region 8 would be Albert Lea, Mn. also.. " " "
I think I have my regions right.. has been toooooo many years.
Both were great lakes,,, smooth water and big turn-outs!!!
I hope pops67G agrees....