8/8/2007 10:58:00 AM Hadlock residents build unlimited hydroplane
More than 30 feet long, the hydroplane is made from a fiberglass composite and contains an old-school piston engine, which produces a head-turning roar at races. The driver sits behind a F-16 windshield glass. – Photo by Blythe Lawrence
Hydroplane racing is a great sport, says Mike Hogan, because it's one of the few you can get into from your backyard.
And indeed, there is a hydroplane in Hogan's backyard.
Also scattered around Hogan's Hadlock property are the tools of his marine trades construction business, Oceanview Services: cranes, trucks, tires, tubes, hauling equipment and a variety of metal odds and ends that gleam in the early afternoon sun.
More than 30 feet long, the hydroplane, a shiny white metal affair with maroon-colored flames racing down its hull, stands in sharp contrast to the construction tools, a finished product among those merely used to create objects like it.
The hydroplane is the dream of Hogan and commercial fisherman Ray Forsman of Port Hadlock. Both grew up around the sport - Hogan in the Tri-Cities home of the annual Atomic Cup, Forsman on the Suquamish Indian Reservation connected to Bainbridge Island.
About 14 months ago, Forsman, who has owned and driven hydros in the past, paid Hogan a visit at his trailer office in the Port of Port Townsend Shipyard.
It was a strange time for both. Hogan was about to remove his construction equipment from the yard, fearing he would be evicted for repeatedly violating port noise ordinances. Forsman, who was dealing with his own business troubles, came to Hogan to commiserate.
Then, out of nowhere, he cocked an eyebrow and voiced an idea.
"Let's build an unlimited hydroplane," he said.
Backyard project
Which brings us to present day, and Hogan's backyard.
"Some of the stuff I had, some of the stuff Ray had," Hogan says casually, gesturing around as though building a hydroplane was a matter of reaching into the toolbox and pulling out a screwdriver and a few bolts. "This is something we can put together on the relatively limited means we have."
It's hard to tell whether he's deadpanning. Hogan estimates his company put about $50,000 toward building the hydro. Forsman chipped in another $50,000, and the two got the Clearwater Casino to sponsor it for $20,000.
"Why should we gamble on a hydroplane?" Forsman said, recalling his meeting with Clearwater representatives. "I said, 'You're in the gambling business.' They all kind of laughed."
The hydroplane, which is made of a fiberglass composite and will bear Clearwater's logo, is a combination of parts, each with its own history.
The hull, which was purchased from Seattle hydroplane owner and driver Ken Muscatel, once broke a speed record. The piston engine came from a California airplane engine restorer named Joe Yancey.
The hydroplane's driver sits behind F-16 windshield glass with the knowledge that the stuff used to glue boats together is basically the same material used to glue tiles onto space shuttles.
Noise power
It's that engine that's going to set it apart when it hits the circuit, Hogan says.
The overwhelming majority of today's hydroplanes are powered by turbine engines, which quiet the noise considerably.
By comparison, Hogan says gleefully, their boat is really going to make a racket.
"The new boats are faster, but they're way quieter," he said. "The noise in people's minds equates to speed."
It may also give the driver a psychological advantage.
"Funny things happen in the race industry. In 1989 the only piston boat there beat everybody," Forsman said. "Three years ago, the piston boat in Detroit won the Gold Cup against all the best turbine boats in the country. So you just don't know about what can happen."
The hydroplane is like the ones Hogan and Forsman grew up with, which were all powered by pistons. Called Thunderboats, they were so loud that you could feel the sound of the engines reverberating in your chest, Hogan said.
Turbine engines might be state of the art, but Forsman said that for him, real hydroplanes have loud engines that get the crowd behind the boat.
Their hydro may never be the fastest thing on the water - while some hydroplanes can reach speeds of more than 200 miles per hour, Forsman estimates that theirs won't crack 185 - he'd be content if it were the loudest.
"My goal is basically kind of simple: If anybody passes me, I want people to boo 'em," Forsman says. "The first thing is participation with me. The second thing is the standings."
Since he and Hogan began building the boat, hydro fans have been coming out of the woodwork, Forsman added.
"Hydroplanes are kind of a funny thing - you just never know who you're sitting next to who loves hydroplanes," he said.
When it hits the racing circuit, the hydroplane will be piloted by Dick Lynch, a licensed unlimited hydroplane driver who works at Jet Chevrolet in Federal Way, where Hogan purchased the pickups he uses for work.
Racing goals
The goal was to get the plane to race at last weekend's Chevrolet Cup at Seafair in Seattle, but that dream will have to wait another year.
While the Seafair races are among the most popular on the hydroplane circuit, they aren't the only races. Hogan and Forsman say their goal is to make the Thunderboat Regatta on Mission Bay in San Diego on Sept. 14-16.
"It'll come together one way or another," Hogan says. "We're a lot closer now."
Ultimately, they'd like to see the boat participate in every race on the circuit during the 2008 season, something most unlimited hydroplanes don't do anymore.
"Hydroplane racing, unlike sports like football and baseball, reaches across everybody, all peoples, and it doesn't have one type of group," Forsman says. "That's what neat about it. At its best times on the lake it's pretty spectacular.
"It's really electricity in the air."
(Contact Blythe Lawrence at blawrence@ptleader.com.)
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