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I have been a competitive inboard hydroplane driver for 6 years and a vintage driver for 6 years and a crew member of several boat racing teams from Inboards, Unlimited, Unlimited Lights and Jet Sprint boats for a total of 12 years and I have been involved with racing in general for a total of 25 years. A long time for some, and short time for others. I have only driven 2 inboard hydro’s in those 25 years but this last year in 2009 while attending the vintage regatta in Wheeling, West Virginia, the premier event of vintage inboards, I had the opportunity to take a ride in a jersey speed skiff. My older brother Doug had the first opportunity to take a ride in the JS-77R Zippy Pickle with Brian DeGlopper at the helm. Doug went for a ride and came back smiling from ear to ear. “You have got to try this bro” he said. This is where the story begins. Little did Doug know that just 5 days prior to the Wheeling regatta, I was water-skiing in eastern Washington on the Columbia River with 2 friends. While photographing one of my buddies attempting to stay on a giant tube, I lost my balance and fell on top of the bucket seats in the ski boat and broke several ribs on my left side. It was very painful and very hard to breathe for days afterwards. There was no way I was going to miss out on driving the E-76 Country Stoves one last time in the 2009 season so I did not tell my brother about the accident. All day Friday and into Saturday I labored to keep my fall a secret with varied success. Only one person noticed I was slow to get in and out of the hydro’s cockpit. Fortunately for me the injured ribs were on the opposite side of the G-force when taking a high speed turn in the boat. Now….back to the other story. After watching Doug bounce around in the speed skiff, I politely said “hmmmm maybe I will pass. Then Doug as usual piped up and said, “what are you….chicken?” Well that was that, no way was I going to be called chicken so I figured what the heck, I’ll give it a try. I’m used to sitting way down close to hulls bottom with only my shoulders and head above the cowling so when I climbed in and sat on this small seat that resembled a park bench, I started to get a bit uncomfortable. Then I looked for something to hold on to. There were only two small handles and a foot rest. The driver held on to this tiny steering wheel that came straight up from the bottom of the skiff. It reminded me of my grandfathers tractor. I looked up at Doug and he was smiling and laughing as he said “be sure to hang on”. We took off from the dock in a blaze along with 4 other skiffs, much too close than I’m used to. At first it seemed to be ok but then as we headed down the back straightaway, Brian opened it up and let the “pickle” rip. Holy smokes, we were bouncing all over the place like a dolphin on steroids. Then we came to the first high speed corner. Let me tell ya, that was the scariest thing I have ever done in a boat that I was not in control of. He practically laid that boat on it’s side. I was literally horizontal to the water as we went through the corner and with every bounce, my rib cage was killing me. Well there was no way I was going to let Brian know I was not having a good time so I just screamed a lot. Lap after lap, turn after turn we went, side by side with the other skiffs. I have a whole new respect for skiff drivers and navigators. Taking a ride in a vintage skiff was a heck of a lot easier than racing one on the national circuit. Now I know why they have roll cages on them. In all of my years of racing competitively and driving in the vintage class, that was the very first time I looked forward to seeing the black flag! It will be an experience I
will never forget, in fact I will cherish it but it will more than likely
be my last. I think I’ll stick to inboard hydroplanes. I have still yet
to drive a conventional round nosed inboard so maybe my mind will change
again but for now, skiffs will be just to look upon and admire there beauty
and craftsmanship.
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