The old and new in the same picture!!
Jon Bartell’s beautifully restored 1960’s, 266 class
Lauterbach Miss Washington D.C. and
Mike Weiner’s 2000 National Modified Staudacher Country Boy.
Look closely folks, these boats are nearly the same size!! In an
era of 24’x12’ tilt trailered, composite monsters, the all wood Country
Boy stands alone. Jon’s vision is for a “garage friendly” boat
that will be competitive. Possibly, this might be the catalyst for
another revolution in hydroplane design. I wonder what other ideas
might be lurking in the back of his mind.
Mike Reitman is the new guardian the of the 1960’s Staudacher hydroplane
Miss
Windy. Reitman made the trek to Dayton Testing to receive his
prize from Jim Hawver. By a stroke of luck, the boats original constructors,
Jon Staudacher and Dave Wrzesinski were present on Saturday. The Miss
Windy was the fourth hull designed and built by Staudacher. Dave
recounted the humor of being in high school woodshop classes building bookends
and birdhouses then going home to build hydroplanes!! Mike was seen
in deep conversation with both several times. After returning to his California
home he characterized his weekend experiences as “cosmic”.