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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Steve Christilaw: Lake Chelan boat show makes waves

You can’t always stroll down memory lane.

Sometimes you have to float.

My sweetheart and I have been spending time at Lake Chelan, where I lived for a half-dozen years growing up. It’s changed a great deal since those idyllic days there were hit songs on the local radio station like “Little Old Lady from Pasadena.” It’s fun to see all the new sprinkled liberally amongst the familiar.

Apple trees have given way to grape vines in a number of the orchards and wine has become the cottage industry of choice in any number areas. It’s gone from growing Winesaps to making wine, and you can spend days wandering from winery to winery, tasting the wares and enjoying the vintner’s art.

Even the apple trees have taken on a new role – the area produces a good deal of hard cider. It’s a far cry from those days when I was a kid, when it seemed the drinks of choice came from Seattle and Tumwater. And the apples that got pressed went into making our morning juice and not an evening’s libation.

Because of a business meeting for my significant other, we make an annual trip to the area. This one started early to celebrate a birthday with family from South Carolina.

Which put us in town for an event we have always just missed: Mahogany & Merlot. It’s a celebration of area wine and another staple of the lake – wooden boats.

It’s fun to wander the docks and admire the old Chris-Craft boats that have been polished to a high gloss.

And then there’s the other part of the celebration.

They bring out the hydros for a few romps around the lake.

Not the new-fangled turbine-powered boats. These are the old-time favorites, the thunderboats of the bygone era of boat racing.

The Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum in Kent organizes the appearance of a number of boats that have been rebuilt or refurbished to their original glory, guaranteed to provide longtime hydro fans a reason to reminisce.

This weekend brought out the 1962 version of the U-40 Miss Bardahl. And like any of us who have been around for a half-century or longer, as she has, there was some coughing and snorting before she finally roared to life and kicked up a nice, long roostertail as she navigated the course.

Her classic lines were way ahead of her time when she debuted. Other boats, including the 1967 Miss Bardahl and the 1968 Miss Budweiser, were designed based off what famed designer Ted Jones did with this 1962 classic.

The Miss Bardahl won the 1958 Apple Cup race on Lake Chelan with hometown driver Norm Evans at the helm. His son, Mark Evans, is a successful hydroplane driver and was my grade school classmate. I vividly remember his dad testing his boats on the lake when we were kids.

A full-scale replica of the 1957 Miss Wahoo, with her elegant, wooden lines and distinctive name stenciled on the side, harkened back to the era when race boats were built and raced by sportsmen and not commercial enterprises. The U-77 was the last of those sportsman-owned unlimited boats. Owned by Bill Boeing, the Miss Wahoo was one of four identical hydros built from design plans from Jones – the 1955 Miss Thriftway, the 1956 Shanty I and the Miss Spokane were her sisters.

Miss Wahoo rolled over at the 1960 Seafair race in Seattle and the boat, then owned by Bernie Little and running as Miss Budweiser, was destroyed in a collision in 1966.

And I can safely say that I have never seen an unlimited hydroplane race that did not involve the Miss Oh Boy! Oberto. And Sunday was no exception. She even took passengers along for her laps.

The boat that circled the course Sunday was an exact replica built from those original plans.

But the highlight of the day was to once again see the restored 1973 version of Miss Pay ’n Pak. With four championships and 22 race wins, this boat was the most successful piston-powered boat in the history of the sport.

It was the first of a new breed of hydroplane. Sleeker. More powerful. It was the bridge between the Miss Bardahl’s and Miss Wahoo’s of the racing world and the turbine-powered boat that carried the sport into a new generation.

I had been watching the Oberto take a few laps with a 70-year-old passenger when my old favorite powered up for the first time, and just the sound brought back fond memories.

The Miss Pay ’n Pak sounded different. There was an edge to her thunder that meant business, and when she cruised out of the pits to attack a course, it spawned a feeling of anticipation in race fans.

It’s good to get a taste of that feeling once again.

History should never be confined just to a museum. Sometimes it needs to be back out on the water, calling down the thunder and making waves.