Spring Training 2006

We got off to a wet start..., naturally because this is boat racing.  There were thunder storms Friday and it rained well into the early hours of Saturday. Then we got to the course and prepared to run for our first time ever - but lets rewind.

We left Auburn, Washington at 9:00 am Friday and stopped for a meeting at Suncadia in Roslyn, Washington about 10:30am. Nice development with wonderful vistas surrounding an alpine golf course - but not today, we were here on business. Back on the road we pulled into Richland, Washington for a press conference at HAPO Community Credit Union at 2:00pm. Thanks to quick work by Dean and Kathy the boat looked great - so much so that we were the leadoff interview for the 11:30 pm KNDU sports report.

Saturday morning back to the pits at 8:00am. The boat is wet, the tools/equipment are wet and they are forecasting thunder showers inside of 4 hours. Not what we had hoped for, none-the-less the crew soldiers on and prepares for the day. We setup, Van tunes the engine, we finish the drivers meeting and prepare to lift. Boat on the water at 10:15am and I manage my way down to the dock, hop in the cockpit and find 3 inches of water awaiting me - not the crews fault!  I replaced the weather stripping on the emergency hatch and it is NOT sealing. I race to the hardware store (engine now cooling) while the crew lifts the boat out and back onto the trailer.

I return 30 minutes later, Dean affixes the new weather stripping and we are back on the water at 11:00am. We don't detach the sling, time for a crucial test, are we dry? Not a permanent fix but the $6.95 window weather stripping is doing the job. Into the cockpit, belts on, radio hooked up and air system engaged. Time to fire - and fire it does! I pull away at 2,000 rpm and step into it. The engines 850+ horsepower feeling their oats for the first time. I was warned that there might be a problem planing - but we pop right up. The Rain-x streams water off the windshield and we are moving out onto the course.

Time for a conservative lap. We have spent 12 weeks rebuilding virtually everything but the sponsons and we have no idea what to expect. Does the boat track? Does the gear-box hold together? Does the engine develop the horsepower we think it should?  Take it up to 5500 rpm down the back straight and everything feels fine. Oil pressure is up, water temperature is down, boat is running true. Timid rookie driver backs off at the entrance buoy and drops the rpm's to 5000 before stepping back into it. Pull through the corner and out onto the front stretch - I've dropped too much speed in the corner and take most of the straight away to rebuild it  - 82mph. Two more laps at 80mph and 82mph. What a rush, I hope the crew were as thrilled as I was. A new team, a monumental amount of work and a timid driver - we begin with a three lap average of better than 81mph!

Afternoon session, a hiccup. Boat takes off well but won't build beyond 4000 rpm - I can't see, we are plowing and there is a 3 foot wall of water in front of me at over 30mph. After a brief, but vocal panic I shut down and we are towed back to the dock. This is not the impression our team has set out to establish. Now the rookie driver jumps out of the cockpit to attend to his right hand which has 9 second degree burns blistering - result of a rookie mistake with "warm" headers at the photo op after our first run...

Five minutes later, back at the dock with bandaged hand I query what the plan is. Everyone looks at me dumbfounded and says "Put on your helmet and get out there!"

Back in the cockpit, engine fires immediately and I pull away at 2000rpm, step on the pedal and BAM we are moving. Around the east turn I pull into the backstretch and begin to feel the afternoon breeze. In the morning the water was flat but there was a fair amount of flotsam and jetsam flowing down river from the nights' storm, now the water is clean - except for the white caps. I build to 6800rpm and commit to not drop below 6400 in the corner. The water is rough from the entrance buoy to the apex buoy in the west corner but I stay committed and pull past the exit buoy - first lap 91mph. The water is so much calmer moving downstream and I scream into the east corner at 6800 rpm - keep it at 6500rpm and fly onto the backstretch. I am now appreciating why I have a custom manufactured racing seat on order, mind you not in the boat yet. We bounce up the backstretch and enter the west turn at 6600rpm - keep it at 6400 rpm and rip down the front straightaway - second lap 91mph. I have been joined on the course by Dick Lynch in the ACCS class G-13. My crew chief gets on the radio to tell me he is catching up and I ask if he is inside or outside - he is outside. I power into the east corner and prepare for the backstretch - we are beginning to bounce a bit now. Belts are no longer as tight as they once were as I enter the west turn, keep the rpm at 6500 and rocket back onto the front straightaway - third lap 89mph. Dick is no longer catching us, the water is too rough to risk the equipment by running us down. Beginning to think I have a feel for this now and move through the east turn at 6500rpm - up the backstretch at 6800rpm and... I've seen it but never before experienced it, we're sponson walking. Keep calm and drive to the entrance buoy, hook the skid fin and hit a hole - I'm flying, not figuratively but literally. The MSD rev limiter kicks in for the first time and I explode (this is not a faint effort) on the canard pedal - the boat immediately dumps air, drops forward and bounces off the water. Back in contact with "terra firma" and still on the throttle I rebuild rpm - fourth lap 82mph. Now on the "flat" side of the course I keep my foot down the entire way and enter the east turn at 6800rpm exiting at 6600rpm - so looking forward to the west turn. But the wind has dropped and the ride up the backstretch is not the nightmare I envisioned moments ago. I hit the entrance buoy at 6800 and exit at 6600 flying down the front straight for the last time - fifth lap 92mph.

Back to the dock. I can't describe the feeling! I just turned 5 consecutive laps averaging nearly 90mph on the water the second time I was strapped into the cockpit. To clarify not just "the cockpit" but the first cockpit I've ever sat in. I had hoped that I could run an 85mph lap and not embarrass anyone - I've just run three laps in the 90's (good thing MaMishk left for Seattle after the first run - not sure she would have been up for this).

My undying thanks to Dean, Van, Kathy and Rick. We made it to Spring Training, we went out on course and we exceeded my expectations by nearly 10mph. Now the unqualified rookie can troll out in lane 6 and gain some raceday experience at Tastin N' Racin before our return trip to the HAPO Community Thunder Cup in Tri-Cities, July 28.

J. Craig Fletcher

Celtic Racing - UL13