A really neat story posted in the Hydro Racing story section on Les Brown and his Long Gone hydros from crew member, Ray Jackson.
Small Barn find hydro
Ray sends in these photos and he has been trying to estimate the age of this 9′ step hydroplane.
If any one has any ideas on this, please contact Ray Robbins @ rjr26pt2@yahoo.com
How to move a boat off it’s work dolly unto a road trailer?
Step One: Hire someone who has the correct equipment.
Step Two: You’re done.
Miss Laval
Hello Vintage Hydroplanes website,
I just came across your site as I was looking up information on older hydroplanes. My father (Réal Lavoie) had one for a couple of years and my sister in law just scanned this old pic of him with his boat, dating from 1968. We lived in Laval, QC, Canada and we would go the various regattas in the province (Valleyfield, St Felicien, Bauharnois, Pointe aux Trembles, etc).
The fashionable thing at the time was to name your boat “Miss (city name)” so ours was the Miss Laval, #41 with a Chevy 280 cu in engine, so he raced in the 280 class. I was 10 years old at the time but I have many memories of that boat and the races. There was a driver with the family name “Leboeuf” that would often win at that time… Just seeing your site brings back many more!
This is the only photo I have at this time.
Thanks!
Guy Lavoie
Hebe O-60
We are the new owners of HEBE, purchased at the BJ Auction in Scottsdale, AZ.
We are ACBS members and plan on running the boat and showing it.
We live in Oakhurst, CA, near Bass Lake.
Dick and Sandy Wendt
2015 APBA V&H posted
The 2015 APBA Schedule of Events has been posted. Also minutes from the National Meeting are posted in the APBA V&H section.
Salton Sea & Lake Elsinore, CA 1948
Kevin Braun added 10 more photos to his father’s photo album on the website.
Gay Zephyr
I am part of a small maritime museum down here in Paynesville , Victoria, Australia who are working to record the local maritime heritage before it is all lost. The story is long and interesting as the Gippsland Lakes were well serviced, pre-railways, with a fleet of small ships and steamers and had a flourishing fishing industry – almost all of the ships and boats being of wood construction. Most is gone now but has progressively been replaced by a thriving tourist industry centred on recreational boating.
The purpose of contacting you is that we have acquired the “frames” used a station moulds by a local boatbuilder in constructing a high performance racing runabout for a customer and in the process of finding more we have tracked down the now 96 year old owner who provided the attached photos. He said it was a USA design from the E-Class but could not remember anything further.
If anyone can you shed any light on the ‘E-Class Runabout” from around 1953 and/or point us in the best direction please?
The boatbuilder concerned is a focal point of our museum display as we have his workbench, some tools and his drawing board and equipment so it would be nice to wrap it all together with the E-Class story.
Rob Cook
(Click my name to send me an email)
Pan American Regatta
Our good friend, Jay Marshall found this picture in his closet of an old boat race to be held on Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans, LA. The date is in the early 1960s. The upper right picture is his uncle in his Colcock 48. Under him is Johnnie Landaiche in the 3-time National Champion 150 Wickens hull, “Belle.” Under him is the original 225 Siracusa “Country Boy.” It is a Wickens hull, and was replaced by the Lauterbach hull.
