Tastin’ N Racin’ review -
5th place overall in our first race ever!!!
Friday night:
The
boat is in the pits our crew chief is in
Time to find out what it’s like on a tight course with other boats on the water. See you Saturday, 7am.
Saturday night:
We got
it 2/3rds right… Ran well in
the qualification session in the morning and prepared for my first laps in the
heat of battle with other boats on the course – we drew Heat 1B. Went out at the 5 minute gun and things
started to fall apart immediately. I was way off my marks for the two minute
and one minute to start and trailed the field by 30-40 seconds. This is part of
the steep learning curve. We were running fine until the fourth corner in lap
3, the steering slipped. I decided to slow down and try to bring it around lap
four to finish the heat. Best laid plans… when I got to turn one on lap 4
the steering broke loose and the boat hooked hard to the right. I had to shut down and get towed back
in. Not in our game plan. After
investigating the problem, we discovered that the turnbuckle had worked loose,
easily repaired (and my fault). Van
reconnected the turnbuckle and safety wired it so that it could not come
apart. On the course for Heat 2B,
we are in a draw with four very experienced drivers and me an unqualified
rookie. I did my best to keep up speed, stay out of the way and finish. Went
out at the 5 minute gun, ran during the mill, timed the start much better
(although still 10 seconds off) and ran as hard as I could given the rough
water conditions. A successful
heat! We saw the green flag, we saw the checkered flag and we came back to the
dock under power. We earned points in the qualifying session and in heat 2B, we
should have earned points in Heat 1B, another lesson in “things that must
be checked every run”. Now
onto Sunday for Heat 3 and hopefully making it into the BMain.
Sunday night:
We
got it 3/3rds right! After the morning physical and instructions (especially
for unqualified rookies…) at the drivers meeting we prepared for our draw
– Heat 3A. Out on course about 10 seconds after the 5 minute gun I
quickly got to speed and found my bearings. Got timing runs during the mill
from the score up buoy to the start/finish line and from the start/finish line
to the score up buoy. Now I knew where we had to be at the one minute gun.
Still relegated to the back row – trailing the lead boats by five seconds
we only missed the mark by 5 seconds this time and thanks to two boats jumping
the gun finished second and claimed 300 points. HUGE - this put us into the
BMain with the long shot of advancing to the finals. Radio problems before the
BMain and when the 5 minute gun went off my radio man thought it was “5
to the 5” – I was still sitting on the back of the boat – not
even in the cockpit! I jumped in strapped down, hooked up my air and radio and
took off. Out on course I spotted the other boats – I had been assigned lane
3 and was free to start on the front line. The UL-14 and UL-83 started
“dancing” for lanes, knowing my timing marks I ignored them and ran
a flying start. I hit the start/finish line 2 seconds off the mark at full
speed. By turn 1 I had caught the UL-83 and passed them in turn 2. About
¾ of the way up the back stretch I had caught the UL-14 and we went
through the corner together. By the start/finish line we were slightly ahead
– but no overlap. The UL-14 strayed from lane 1 to lane 2 to lane 3 in
turn 1 - I pushed out to lane 4 but hadn’t left enough room for the UL-83
catching us from behind, Wil had to cross through my roostertail and
wake… I passed by the UL-14 in turn 2 and got the overlap to move into
lane 1. I held steady at about lane 1½ the rest of the way and was able to hold
the hard charging UL-83 and UL-14 off
winning the BMain and advancing to the final! An unqualified rookie who
had never raced a competitive lap in his life and a crew of three who had never
competed in a hydroplane race in their lives and we made the final at our first
race out. This was beyond anything we hoped for or expected. On the trailer
with 30 minutes to prepare for the final – I will be outside and 5
seconds back, unqualified rookie… When they lift the boats all **** has
broken loose. The temporary floating dock has come off its’ moorings and
is pointing down course – not at the course. I wait for the UL-40 to fire
and leave, then the UL-72, the UL-1 and the UL-14. The UL-33 is on my starboard
side but isn’t firing to move on course – I wait. I try signal Bob
but get no reply so I fire and leave the dock, mind we have a BIG right hand
turn to make to start moving up course. Unbeknownst to me the UL-33 fires just
after I leave and I unknowingly cut across his bow and wash him down when I
step down to get on plane. Out on course I lose radio contact with my crewman
in the tower – all alone now. Not the start we had hoped for –
never the less this is the final and we need to demonstrate our best. I move
into lane 1 after turn 2 and run as hard as the wind and water allow –
fifth place. We made the final and scored points in a final in our first race
ever. To give full credit WE is our
crew chief Dean Hendrickson who
unfortunately could not be there for TnR and was trying to keep track of what
we were doing from Los Angeles, Van Jeppesen engine builder extraordinaire who
put together an engine that ran strong all weekend, Rick Wood who helped me get
this all started and manned the radio in the tower, Kathy Hendrickson who is
normally there to take care of all the small details and Lary Hendrickson who
pitches in to help all around. There is no “I” in team and *we*
could never have done it without them.
