High-speed boating extravaganza continues Saturday on Webb’s Slough in St. John

ST. JOHN, Wash. – Sprint boats plowing around hairpin turns at up to 80 mph through a narrow ditch 3 feet deep, while spraying spectators with a rooster tail wake. That’s what’s in store Saturday for the opening of the 18th season of Webb’s Slough.

Husband and wife owners Matt and Amanda Webb cleared part of their alfalfa farm in the Palouse to build the track in 2007 and they haven’t looked back.

Popular Down Under in Australia and New Zealand, sprint boating is a team sport with a navigator signaling to the driver with hand motions.

The man-made track filled with well water is always the same, but the course through the intertwining figure eights changes each event. Teams don’t see the course map until the night before, making every race a unique challenge.

The boats often miss a turn, skid across the grass and sometimes flip over. Safety crews stand by on the islands ready to help the boaters if they roll under water.

Teams race sequentially one after another with no lag time, Amanda Webb said. There are three boat classes – modified, 400 and unlimited – each with about 10 racers.

Amanda suggests coming early for the qualifiers – it’s just as exciting as the finals to watch the teams figure out the route.

Spectators are protected from the track with haybales and a large fence as they sit in lawn chairs on a terraced hillside. This year they have added covered VIP box seating near the top.

From above, the track resembles the rolling hills.

Webb’s Slough holds two races a year: Father’s Day weekend and the weekend before Labor Day. Tickets can be purchased online at webbsslough.com or at the gate. Tickets cost $40 for adults, $15 for children ages 6 to 17. Those 5 and younger get in free. Racing starts at 10 a.m.