The Pacific Northwest Chapter’s Classic Speedboat Show
North By Northwest

by Denis Hartnett

Location, location, location... so the realtor’s mantra goes. And it was just as true for the world of boats when Pacific Northwest Chapter moved their annual show ten miles north to a promising new location in the heart of Seattle. The only thing longer than their combined names – the Northwest Maritime Heritage Center and The Center for Wooden Boats – is the relationship with this chapter. And their home at South Lake Union Park was the perfect new venue for this impressive event.

Just a few feet away from the hurrying streams of traffic on highway covered hills, the Center is an unexpected oasis of calm. Here in the most unlikely of settings, among the modern, upscale restaurants, seaplanes and pleasure yachts, time seems to stand still. Walk down the gangplank entrance overlooking the livery area with its collection of colorful catboats and pulling launches. What looks like a small floating village nestles along the massive green flanks of the Wawona, largest three-masted sailing schooner built in North America. Around past the boatshop and open-air classrooms the docks lead from this sheltered cove to the lake. Here, surrounded by the city, the world seems to unfold out into the light and space of the open water.
 

No place appreciates a sunny day more than Seattle and no one more than a boater in the Pacific Northwest. For three dazzling days this summer everything combined to make a postcard-beautiful event. Standing in the midst of all that mahogany, the sun mirroring off the glassy sides, was an intoxicating experience. The lake looked as blue as the Aegean with distant scrums of sailboats tacking back and forth while canoes and kayaks probed around the docks amid the flotillas of Canadian geese. In the late evening golden light, the white-sided runabouts and nearby yachts created a Mediterranean effect in this land of gray and drizzle. Seen from the water, the Boat Show seemed almost to press up against the skyscrapered backdrop.
 

The "Classic Speedboat Show" moniker was chosen, said Event Chairman Marty Loken in his placid manner, because it "resonates better with the public and the media. Plus it perfectly fulfills the mission of the Maritime Center." It also helped to clearly distinguish it from the "Northwest Wooden Boat Festival" held only weeks before at the same location. Seattle has a rich history regarding boats generally, speedboats specifically, and hydroplanes especially. It was only natural that hydros would be the marque club for this event.
 

So it was hydroplanes that spectators saw first as they entered the grounds of the Show. Huge, irresistible and pink – like a vision in Pepto-Bismol rising up from among the other nearby hydros – the legendary Hawaii Kai III’s presence announced that this was a boat show unlike any other. The first propeller-driven craft to turn an "official" 200-mph, the famous "Pink Lady" epitomizes the special connection between Seattle and this breed of boat. As historian Fred Farley said, " A case could be made for Hawaii Kai III being the most significant record-breaking boat of the post-World War II era…But she is best remembered for that richly sentimental triumph in the race of races on that unforgettable August 10, 1958, on Seattle’s Lake Washington" when she came out of retirement to win the most important race of her illustrious career, saving the Gold Cup for Seattle. Her nostalgic appeal was apparent as fathers and grandfathers could be overheard telling their kids about the Hawaii Kai and knowledgeably discussing the relative merits of various engine and hull types of the other vintage hydros nearby. These were all provided by the local Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum, the nation’s only museum dedicated solely to powerboat racing. Scheduling conflicts with other events around the country kept even more hydros from appearing this year.
The presence of these boats demonstrated one of this new location’s strengths: room for dry-land displays. Lining the way to the Hawaii Kai were exhibitions by the Pioneer Museum of Motorcycles and the Walter P. Chrysler Car Club. A collection of fine limited inboard and outboard hydroplanes was also exhibited here. Among them were George Greer’s 280 Class Miss Havana, a 1956 Henry Lauterbach creation which won the Best Marque Class Award and Mercury, Ike Kielgass’ 1948 Ventnor hulled masterpiece with its famed one-of-a-kind, 7L aluminum block, Faegol engine. Ike took Best of Show with Mercury.
 

Nearby the hydros was a "hook" for the public: a Gar Wood hull in the worst possible grey condition about to begin restoration, with a sign inviting everyone to "come back next year" and see this work in progress. It certainly increased the casual viewer’s appreciation for the amount of effort some boats required to become show-worthy.
 

"We wanted a show that was inclusive," said Loken. "New, old, faux – a show that wasn’t just clinging to a few old boats." After more than a dozen years of "antique and classic" events, the change of focus and location has re-energized this 220 member club. The Pacific Northwest has some of the finest types of cruising waters in the world and the boats on display were just as fine and diverse. The ninety registered boats strained the present capabilities of the public docks but next year things should relax as more permanent moorage is completed. There were times on Saturday morning when members displayed all the tact and resourcefulness of valet carparkers at a downtown nightclub shoehorning in the late arrivals.
 

Beyond the hydros and land displays were the some of the larger in-water boats. Among the Gar Woods and Chris-Crafts, a 1999 30-ft Cantiere-Serenella Venezio convertible owned by Bob "The Juice Man" Lamson drew people's attention for its stylish lines and finish (planked entirely from the same tree) as well as for its $350,000 construction cost. Named Capolavoro – Italian for "masterpiece” – this boat earned its title winning Best Modern Classic.
 

The adjacent floats zigzagged their way out past the Museum's larger working ships around toward the protected inlet of docks and the rest of the Show. The sailors that tied up here on the outer edge sometimes had to act as human bumpers during the light chop that rose up Saturday afternoon. On the leeward side were the smallest boat and the smallest skipper of the Show. Eleven-year-old Drew Fosnes with Side Kick, his 10-ft Glen L Squirt, was a real crowd pleaser and took the Best Outboard award. His well-thumbed notebook documented the progress from kit to completion this two-year project took him and his dad Drew. What was the hardest thing about the whole procedure? "Keeping it from getting scratched!" said the precocious craftsman who finished just in time for the Show. He could have been the poster child for "the joy of owning a boat." Make sure you read his own story in this issue’s Tiller.
 

Turning the corner, the boats stretched out like a string of mahogany pearls glistening in the brilliant sunlight. That's where the majority of the runabouts could be seen – in the Center for Wooden Boats' "front yard." Inspired by Lee Wangstad's suggestion in a recent Rudder article, the first "Kid's Choice" award winner could be found – and heard – here. Jack and Cathy Dando's cool sapphire-blue Rhapsody, a 20-ft Phillips Gentlemen's Racer had Gershwin’s music constantly swelling up and down the dock, making sure the public got the connection.
 

One boat treated with much affection by this chapter was Kirk Knapp's Conny. This 28-ft. launch was born here on Lake Union at Shertzer Bros. Boat Yard in 1932. Named for famed University of Washington rowing Coach Hiram B. Conibear, this boat was the “coach’s launch” for some of the UW’s great coaches. It met with disaster in 1971 and was left to rot. Kirk "acquired" Conny in 1978 and twenty years later, after an improbable reuniting with its original engine, made its maiden voyage in 1998.
 

Further around the dock was Jezebel. " It's just different...it's a people's choice kind of boat," said one member about Alan McEwan's 1955 Greavette Streamliner. It's easy to see why with its handsome, rich woodtones and green upholstery appealing to the eye and its voluptuous curves appealing to the senses. Somehow it seemed even larger than 24 feet and did win the Peoples Choice award. Nearby was Alan Thomle’s Rio Rita, a 1930 Clift Motor Company 24-ft. custom runabout that received the Skipper's Choice award.
 

There are some people who aren't content to merely own or restore boats; for whom wood is a metaphor for sometime grander, with imagination (and money) the only limit. "He's our Renaissance man," says Loken, "utterly fearless." Marty was referring to craftsman extraodinaire Dave Berg. To see him describing shapes in the air with his fingers and hear the enthusiasm while relating the details of some of his many projects is a rare chance to feel the power of a creative spirit in action. Dave has brought two of his crafts to the show. Based on a 1920's George Crouch design, Copernicus is a 24-foot delight made entirely of cedar – no mahogany! Dave adamantly says – and the name is a play on the main component of the brass that he used to cast its ten unique knees. Its companion at the show, Commander McBragg, a re-creation of a 1912 step-hydro, attracted quizzically admiring looks from the crowds for the eye-catching unusual and prominent feature projecting up behind its V-12 Jaguar engine – a wonderfully rough, hammered brass Vossberg raceboat fuel tank. The whole project was constructed from a tiny sketch found in a book that Dave then enlarged at the local copy shop and what spectacular results came from such modest beginnings.
 

The fact that people could get up close to admire and examine all the boats and talk to the owners is another benefit of the new location. For the past dozen years this event had been held on Lake Washington, most recently at Gene Coulon Park in the city of Renton. While the club expressed its appreciation for the support of that city, the drawbacks were increasingly apparent. With limited dock space the boats couldn’t be side tied and had to be clotheslined and bungy corded between the docks, creating a cats-cradle that, while clever, didn't exhibit the crafts to their best advantage. With no room for land displays, low foot-traffic and with admission fees not permitted the show really was for members only and couldn't become a destination location.
 

"Some of 'em will never get over Port Ludlow," said one member, referring to the place on Hood Canal in Puget Sound where this event was held until about fifteen years ago. It sounds like memories of Camelot to hear some talk nostalgically of that site with an eclectic blend of runabouts, cruisers and vintage cars on grass and dry land in a spectacular natural setting next to a marina. But this new location should go a long way toward creating a new standard for this chapter.
South Lake Union is the official name for the show's present site at the Center For Wooden Boats and lies at the southern edge of the lake between two of Seattle's seven hills, only blocks from the city's center. The fate of this lake was decided over the last two decades as it evolved from a mainly working industrial waterway to one dedicated to recreational pursuits. Gone are the gravel and cement plants, supplanted by a growing number of marinas and restaurants along with a large houseboat community (à la Sleepless in Seattle) that continues to maintain a tenuous toe-hold on the shores of this fabulously beautiful lake.
 

The nearby neighborhood is a different story. Today it’s the site of the most explosive growth in the city. Fueled by the funds of Microsoft co-founder – and world's fourth wealthiest man – Paul Allen, the area is now being reshaped by over 10 million square feet of new office space and 20,000 jobs into what will be a biotech and commercial hub of Seattle. And if you could give the Center a new address it would be No. 1 South Lake Union, the most prestigious location in this new scheme.
Slated to be the centerpiece of a new 12-acre waterfront park, the Center for Wooden Boats and Northwest Maritime Heritage Center are finally getting the support and public exposure from the city that they've always deserved. The Classic Speedboat Show is exactly the kind of event that everyone wants to see happen here and the move couldn't have come at a better time for all involved.
 

The show currently wraps its way around the hulking presence of the Naval Reserve Center, a building with all the style and grace of a filing cabinet. But, it did provide one thing that was in short supply. Shade. Yes, even is Seattle it can sometimes get hot, despite what members of the Lesser Seattle Society say. It was in these cool shadows on Saturday evening that the club had their informal banquet, an astonishingly delicious catered barbecue. With the constant buzzing of float planes coming and going overhead, Susan Kasparson mc'd the awards event keeping up a hilarious banter and was nominated for an impromptu "Stand-up Comedian Award" in the form of applause from her appreciative audience. Later, Dick Wagner, Founding Director of the Center for Wooden Boats, spoke to the members. Introduced as "the man with the vision," he talked of the place that the Center and organizations like ACBS have not only in preserving history, but also in making it come alive. "The decisionmakers have taken note of these gatherings," he said as he connected the past and future plans of this home for boating events. "I really appreciate this Show more than you can imagine," were his parting words to this thankful group that holds him in such high esteem.
 

Prior to the banquet, a "Parade of Classics" with about 40 boats participating made its way around Lake Union. The procession maintained a stately seven-knot pace past admiring houseboat owners, around Gasworks Park with its black profile of industrial shapes protruding into the summer sky making it look like a rest stop on the way to Mordor, and finally past a vast expanse of fiberglass moored along the western edge of the lake. This proved to be too much for some rambunctious skippers who couldn't resist breaking ranks, taking their Hackers out to the single unrestricted lane, and cutting loose. The looks on the faces of the terrified kayakers at the far end of the lane was truly something to behold.
 

As a first-time event at a new location the move proved to be a great decision. Attendance for a first time event was respectable and the club turned a small profit. With so few assured dry weekends, event planners consult weather charts with religious zeal and the competition can be fierce. Seafair is Seattle’s main summer celebration and next year the Show will be an official Seafair event, starting a week earlier to avoid conflicting with the Torchlight Parade - the 800 pound gorilla of the calendar year. This means there'll be better publicity, more boats, more historic unlimited hydros. Seattle Outboard had at least a half-dozen boat with national conflicts plus a number of inboard limited hydros were unfinished at the time of this year's show. Fiberclassics Northwest Chapter will bring classics from the 50's and there'll be a much expanded outboard motor display. With the new permanent docks installed and more space available perhaps the Classic Yacht Association could be invited. All this in addition to what's currently offered. Plus Classic Boat magazine has committed to cover the 2004 Show.
 

With the Space Needle – one of America's most recognizable icons – hovering nearby in the background, Dick Wagner enthused,"What a great place to view these icons for maritime heritage. Let's do this next year and for the next one hundred years!" The future certainly looks bright for this chapter and its new home in the Pacific Northwest.