The Vintage Hydroplanes

John O’Mara (of New York) built this radical design for this hydroplane in the late 1940s in Dayton, Ohio. The boat was built using magnesium sheeting over a wood frame design.  We don’t know where the idea for this design came from. It could have well been one of those ideas that got started on a the back of a bar room napkin. The boat registered in the A modified class in the A.P.B.A. to campaign under the name / number Red Witch A-56.  The boat’s design entails having the driver to lay flat on the bottom of the boat and steering with his feet. Read more here.

HYDROPLANE RACING BOOKS FOR SALE. First come, first served. Contact Bob Senior at 206-364-7432 for a price list. Reasonable prices and he pays the postage. This offer expires at 9:00 pm on Sunday, May 5th. 
Four books by David Williams: Hydroplane Racing in Seattle, Turbine Racing in Seattle, Hydroplane Racing in Detroit, and Hydroplane racing in the Tri-Cities
The Madison Regatta, by Farley and Harsin
Winningest, by Wil Muncey
Unlimited Hydroplane Winners. Photos and Fun Facts by David Johnson
Roostertails Unlimited, by Andy Muntz
What Were They Thinking?, by Doug Ford
The Guide to High Performance Boating, by Joanne Fishman
The Oregon Wolf, by Don Peterson
Speed and Spray. The Art of Bob Carver
Roostertails 99, hardbound and/or softbound
Hydros 2000, hardbound and/or softbound
This Is Hydroplaning.  1959, with 102 photos.

June 1 & 2. More info at the California Speedboat Association’s facebook page.

This 1972 photo, taken by Phil Kunz in St. Pete, is of the Henry Lauterbach built hydro, Kitty B. Phil was told back then that the decks were Cherry.
Editor note: If it is Cherry veneer on the decks, it is quarter-sliced. If it was the typical plain-sliced cut most folks are used to seeing, it would have cathedrals in the wood grain pattern and is a very pleasing, soft grain. This quarter-sliced Cherry also has a very heavy “flame” (which is the robust medullary rays you see and can be quite pronounced at certain viewing angles).
Below is some neat examples of Cherry, quartered-sliced, flamed.

A neat write up by Hagerty Insurance on the beginnings and evolution of the Buick aluminum V-8. A few of these motors ended up in the modified class hydroplanes. I had heard from a couple of former drivers that those Buick V8s could became almost a grenade motor when used in the highly-stressed situation encountered in a hydroplane race. [shrapnel def – fragments of a bomb, shell, casings and/or other objects thrown out by an explosion]

One of the best onboard video runs I’ve ever seen. Kirk Rodgers and his Miss Merion Bluegrass “wrings out the laundry” in this run. I also recommend viewing in full screen mode (or better yet, on your big screen TV) and crank up the stereo speakers as well.

The American Power Boat Association’s Vintage & Historic event dates are added to the APBA 2019 Events’ monthly calendars. Be sure to make your plans to attend! Please be aware there is a couple of new events and as of this posting (April 11), are tentative…so check out before making arrangements to attend.

If you want a consolidated calendar (below) click on the Jade Dragon F-888 or Miss Dinomytes GP-1001 for PDF versions or Jade Dragon F-888 or Miss Dinomytes GP-1001 for .jpg versions — and you can save these event calendars and/or print them and hang them in your shop or office. Or feel free to post them anywhere on social media, email them friends, etc. Spread the word!
Thanks to Phil Kunz for allowing us to use his photographic work for these 2019 event calendars.

This boat is coming up for auction soon. Note from the Auction house states: “It was designed by San Diegan Steve Ball and set a world record of 101.47 mph at the Modesto Reservoir in 1975”.
Folks on Facebook are saying it was a fast hydro. It was seen as far east as Morgan City. Butch Kropfeld remembers running against it when he won the 1977 Nationals at Castaic Lake in California.
Another observation was – fast in the straights, but you didn’t want to be next to the whipping tail in the turns. (I can see that)
…….Definitely unique!

John Lawrence wrote up an ACBS article on his hydro.

Bill Bunn has passed away recently, his daughter Amy Dahan has informed us. She is trying to contact the owner of her father’s boat as she has some memorabilia she would like to pass on. If anyone has the contact info for Tracey Coleman of Gambrills, Maryland, please send her an email.

Here’s the Media sheet this website has on the boat.