Tavares, Florida – March 21st to 22nd, 2009


My first actual race meeting this season has been a hydroplane race and even that wasn’t a proper race!

The Classic Raceboat Association of Florida held their yearly meeting at Tavares, on Lake Dora, this last weekend (March 21/22nd) and, despite the current economic gloom, there was a very good turnout. Tavares is about forty miles north of Orlando in central Florida, and appears to be a very charming, sleepy laid back sort of place; all the people I spoke to who live there seemed to think so too. Mount Dora is only about four miles down the road and, as someone who used to go to the wooden boat regatta there, I can attest to what a nice part of the World this is. The race course was laid out on Lake Dora; the locals told me that: “There’s alligators in the lake”, but I never saw any, probably scared away by the noise!

Okay, so plug for the local Chamber of Commerce over. This was my third regatta with our 1960 F-class hydroplane, “L’eau Reves”, and I’m beginning (only ‘beginning’ you understand) to feel that I’m getting used to the sensation of catapulting over the water at what appears to be really scary speeds.

I drove up to Tavares on Saturday morning, having got up at 5.30 a.m. and hitched up the Dodge Ram to the hydroplane’s trailer. A leisurely two hours later and I was signing on at registration, and then getting the CRA-run tractors to hitch up to the hydroplane’s trailer. This is a very efficient set up as these tractors take your boat and trailer to a parking place within range of the crane that will, eventually, pick up your boat and lower it into the water alongside a dock, where you’re supposed to have your helpers ready. I must here say a big “thank you” to all the folks who helped me once the hydro was in the water, and in docking it after our sessions. I was informed at the driver’s briefing that I should have bought a mechanic along to help me but, as someone who’s usually looked after himself at a lot of race meetings, I’m perfectly happy with the system as it is!

So it’s cart the box full of fire extinguisher (for use when you refuel), straps and driver’s overalls, helmet and lifejacket to the paddock, check the oil level in the engine (already done), attach the battery cable, take out the intake and exhaust header covers and we’re ready to go.

Our class, consisting of “E” and “F” class hydroplanes, six in all, went out at about 10 a.m. The wind had been blowing from the north (cold front coming in) and rippled up the lake surface but the ride wasn’t too bad until we started into the second lap, when a combination of surface ripple and wake from other hydros made for rough going. As I’m still relatively new to this sport, I can report that speed appears to be limited to just how much of a beating you’re willing to take. Certainly, after five laps, when the black flag was raised, I was quite thankful! My left knee’s got a bruise on it from it banging on the cockpit wall but at least I’ve found a reasonable place to park my left foot, through a lightening hole in the firewall!

This time, I had a chance to look at the other gauges on the dash as I drove around the course and noted that the engine runs very cool (some 140 degrees only), and the oil pressure is only forty psi. Later on, some of the old hands told me that this was quite acceptable in a 1957 Chevy 265 and certainly, there’s been no big bang as yet, though I do keep a good eye on the amount of oil in the engine!

The line around these oval courses is very interesting; although it’s tempting to get close to the first (yellow) buoy at the end of the straight before turning into the corner, it seems the quick way around is to take the entry wide and then progressively decrease the radius of your turn, so that you just kiss the last, yellow exit buoy on your way onto the straights. That way, you gain the maximum amount of speed down the straight. I’d been getting up to 4,000 rpm at December’s “Roar n' Soar” at Fantasy of Flight but on Saturday, I nudged it up to 4,500. Getting there!

You meet such nice people in the paddock. Tom D’Eath, who has been a long-time professional race boat driver, came over to introduce himself and we had a good chat about racing these boats. He told me that he used to run an “F” class boat in their day and, when I asked him what he revved the engine to, he said; “8,600”. What? “But that was at the end of the straight” he explained, “when it was doing about 129 mph”. Help! I feel faint.

So it’s now Saturday afternoon and it should be our turn to go out but what’s this? The Skiffs are going instead. I wandered over to the pit board to read the running order and found that, because the wind and waves had come up, the hydros weren’t scheduled to run. Ah well… home to an early dinner and a good night’s sleep.

Up on Saturday morning at six and off again to Tavares. Having done all the registration, checking in, etc., on Saturday, I can leave things a bit later now.

So I get there, have a breakfast sandwich and coffee, check the oil, refuel, give it a quick wrench check and we’re ready again. Having been passed by a couple of other hydros on Saturday (and gathered the obligatory watering down/face full of cold water, which blinds you for several seconds), I determined that I’d be first away when the green flag flew. I was. John Jenkins has made a great job of my boat and it’s been very reliable. Switch up, press starter motor, two pumps on the accelerator and she fires. Draw away from the dock steadily, so that the crew of good people who help aren’t soaked and then accelerate steadily, so that the water in the sponsons empties out, watch the cooling system tell-tale to make sure she’s cooling properly (if water’s not spraying out, it ain’t working) and off we go.

This time I booted the engine until the tacho was showing 5,000 revs and now we are motoring! And really enjoying it to boot. Didn’t see anyone else for several laps and then the black flag’s out and it’s time to go back, where the ever-helpful crew are waiting to recover me and help with connecting on the shackles, awaiting the crane hook to lift the boat out of the water and get her back on the trailer.

Again, the wind was steadily increasing and, based on the previous day, I reckoned that we wouldn’t run again in the afternoon and so I loaded up, got Bill the tractor driver to tow “L’eau Reves” back to the car park, loaded up and enjoyed a leisurely drive home, just in time to meet old friends Don and Judy Nelson, when I got home. Don had raced offshore power boats and gleefully recounted doing 99 mph down the River Thames, which flows through the heart of London. “Got a few bends in it at that speed” he told me. “Though me and my throttle man have still got bad backs from the pounding!” Not surprised.