Update on the Coeur d'Alene race

[Serious News]

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho - The event was traditionally called the Diamond Cup, but now there is a new group that has agreed with the hydroplane league to bring back what will now be called the Silver Cup.

When Keith Allen is not working his day job at at North Idaho cider, he is all about the hydros.

"But there's nothing better to me than hearing a turbine engine take off," Allen said.

He grew up around the sport, and volunteered at the 2013 Diamond Cup, setting up the pits and spectator areas.

"I was there three days before it started and pretty much lived there all week," Allen said.

It is that passion that is now driving him and business partners to put on what will be called the Coeur d'Alene Silver Cup.

They have set up a non-profit and agreed to terms with H1 Unlimited, the league that oversees the sport.

"We just knew that we could put it on and were willing to tackle it, pulling all the pieces together to make it happen," Allen said.

Late 2014, H1 cut ties with the group behind the original Diamond Cup Race.

Organizers of the 2013 race are still in debt to the league from that event.

The 2014 race was canceled after those same organizers failed to acquire the proper permits to host the race.

Allen said there are no hard feelings between him and the Diamond Cup folks, but he wants to make sure that does not happen again.

"We all know that mistakes were made, and we want to mitigate them to the best of our ability so they don't happen to us," Allen said.

For now, the race is being funded through private donations, the Silver Cup group is working on a Sponsor.

They have also applied for one of the required permits and are working on the others.

"This is action in motion and we're making this thing come together based on what we think needs to be done in the early stages," said Allen.

http://www.krem.com/story/news/local/kootenai-county/2015/01/14/diamond-cup-returns-now-called-the-silver-cup/21776675/

[Ratickle]

I wonder if they are going to use the Silver Cup itself out of the Detroit? That would seem a bit odd....

[Serious News]

Boats to hit the water early

DAVID COLE/dcole@cdapress.com

COEUR d'ALENE - Organizers of this summer's planned Coeur d'Alene Silver Cup hydroplane races on Lake Coeur d'Alene had to move the date of the event up one month.

The event is now scheduled for July 17-19, a change from Aug. 14-16.

The Spokane to Sandpoint Relay already had a permit with the Idaho Transportation Department for use of the North Idaho Centennial Trail on those August dates.

The relay teams would have been running right through the staging grounds of the race.

Keith Allen, general manager of Silver Cup, said there were multiple discussions with the race organizers to try and make both events work together.

But, in the interests of both sides, Silver Cup had to make the switch.

This puts the Silver Cup one week before the Tri-Cities, Wash., races, known as the Gold Cup.

There is a bright side, Allen said.

"There is a little more consistency of warm weather in July," he told The Press Friday. "It does put a little more pressure on us because it's happening about 30 days earlier."

It gives Allen and the organizers less time to get permits needed for the event.

"We're up to the task," he said.

[Serious News]

COEUR d'ALENE - Diamond Cup out. Silver Cup in.

Hydroplane race sanctioning body H1 unlimited on Friday named a new Coeur d'Alene-based group that will be working to stage hydroplane races on Lake Coeur d'Alene next summer.

The group, Coeur d'Alene Hydroplane Regatta LLC, will be calling its planned Aug. 14-16 event the Coeur d'Alene Silver Cup Unlimited. (Changed to July 17-19)

"We are very pleased to enter into this agreement with this new organization made up of very influential members of the Coeur d'Alene community who are passionate about returning our sport to their beautiful locale," said Steve David, chairman of H1.

A lot of work remains to be done, he said, including getting necessary permits.

But the cooperative agreement aligns H1's series "with a very dedicated, capable group who are willing to do what it takes, including investing their own money, to make this race happen in 2015."

He said the owners, drivers and officials associated with H1's racing series enjoyed the 2013 experience in Coeur d'Alene. The Diamond Cup returned that year after decades without a race, but it only lasted one year, with the organizers generating a rooster tail of debts.

"We are all excited at the prospect of racing in that beautiful community and venue again in the future," David said.

Coeur d'Alene Hydroplane Regatta LLC is led by Pat Stroud and Keith Allen, of Coeur d'Alene, according to records filed with the Idaho Secretary of State.

"It is important to note that the 2013 race was a huge success from every standpoint except capturing the revenue," Stroud said Friday.

The bills didn't get paid because of a leadership failure, he said.

"We, through the 2013 experience, have learned from those mistakes and will be correcting them," Stroud said.

"We feel comfortable that we can capture the revenue that was lost in the prior event," Allen said Friday.

Allen was the land-operations manager for the 2013 Diamond Cup races.

"He did a magnificent job as land manager in 2013, (and) I believe his experience comes mostly from his time at the Tri-Cities (unlimited hydroplane) races," Stroud said.

Stroud and Allen said the Diamond Cup organizers made it too hard to purchase tickets to the event.

"Many people told us later they didn't know where, when or how to even purchase tickets for the event," Stroud said.

Another problem, he said, was boat access to the log boom for spectators.

"The log boom access was not patrolled properly, nor was there any control over who tied up and who in the boat had paid" to tie up, Stroud said.

He said he and Allen have recruited the entire volunteer staff from 2013.

"They are standing by for instructions," he said.

Stroud was the owner-operator of Shady Rest at Wolf Lodge Bay, and also Anchor Inn and Maggie's Saloon in Coeur d'Alene.

He was the operations manager at the George Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, Alaska, a facility that regularly hosted major sporting and entertainment events. He did 110 shows at the arena, he said.

Before leaving Anchorage, he owned and operated a restaurant there.

Allen, a local entrepreneur, spent a dozen years doing volunteer operations work for the Tri-Cities hydroplane races.

Allen said he and Stroud plan to dissolve the LLC and create a nonprofit in its place, ensuring operations are much more transparent.

Several influential people in the community have been asked if they would support hydroplane races if there was new management, he said. The response was an overwhelming yes, he said.

Allen and Stroud have already begun forging relationships with the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office and Idaho Department of Lands, two agencies that approve important permits for the races, he said.

http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_542f1c47-c96d-5a1a-83be-a92be0be6be4.html

[Serious News]

HYDRO NOTEBOOK

3 boats stateside; Coeur d’Alene swaps date
Courier Sports Staff
Tuesday, January 20, 2015 3:01 PM

A portion of the H1 Unlimited fleet is now stateside, but the rest of the boats — including the 2014 champion Oberto/Miss Madison — are still en route on their long trip home from the Middle East.

The Maersk Denver docked in Charlestown, S.C., on Saturday with the Peters & May, Centurion Racing and Leland Racing aboard. Those boats and their equipment are currently clearing customs and should be returned to their teams later this week.

The other seven boats actually arrived in the United States on Saturday when the ship Liberty Promise docked just north of Los Angeles to unload other cargo. After that offload is completed, the ship will head south, cross through the Panama Canal and reach Jacksonville, Fla., with an estimated arrival date of Feb. 1.

According to Hydro News, Peters & May Shipping offered to unload the boats in Los Angeles but due to prior arrangements, the teams decided to wait for the ship to reach Jacksonville instead.

None of the boats sustained serious damage in the 2014 season finale at Doha, Qatar, contested in late November. At this time, the 2015 season opener is scheduled for the Indiana Governor’s Cup in Madison on Fourth of July 3-5.

Couer d’Alene date moved

Organizers of the 2015 Coeur d’Alene Silver Cup have announced a change in the dates for the event. The race will be held in mid-July rather than the mid-August dates originally announced.

After meeting with a group running a previously-planned, land-based event in Coeur d’Alene on Aug. 15, Silver Cup officials agreed to move the race to the weekend of July 17-19.

“We had multiple discussions with the other event organizers to try and make both events work together, but in the best interests of both parties, we have chosen to hold the Silver Cup on the weekend of July 17-19,” said Keith Allen, general manager and race director. “This puts the Coeur d’Alene Silver Cup the week before the 2015 Gold Cup in the Tri Cities and allows for three consecutive weeks of H1 Unlimited hydroplane racing in the Northwest.”

The race was originally called the Diamond Cup but organizers changed that to Silver Cup last week.

Brown’s surgery successful

Kip Brown, driver of the Spirit of Qatar, had successful surgery on a herniated disc in his back last week and is back home resting.

Brown, who was hired by the Ellstrom Racing Team last year, suffered the injury originally during an accident at Seattle in August. A month later, he re-aggravated the injury at San Diego and missed the Doha race as a result.

Jean Theoret filled in for Brown at Doha, reaching the final heat before failing to start.

http://www.madisoncourier.com/Content/Sports/Sports/Article/3-boats-stateside-Coeur-d-Alene-swaps-date-/18/289/88046

[Ratickle]

Silver Cup gets major permit

Group also obtains nonprofit status

DAVID COLE/dcole@cdapress.com

COEUR d'ALENE - The Idaho Department of Lands today plans to give Coeur d'Alene Silver Cup hydroplane race organizers an important permit for races on Lake Coeur d'Alene near Silver Beach in July.

Jim Brady, lands and waterways resource supervisor for the department in Coeur d'Alene, said Monday the agency was drafting the permit and it should be completed and handed over today.

Keith Allen, general manager of Silver Cup, said a permit from the state to use the lake the weekend of July 17-19 is critical to obtaining other permits for the races. This permit is good for three years.

"It's clearly the most important one," Allen said Monday.

Organizers have applied for all the other permits, too. A meeting with the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office is scheduled for Thursday, as race organizers seek a marine permit from the law enforcement agency.

On July 1 last year, Sheriff Ben Wolfinger denied a separate group of race organizers a marine-event permit for what was called the Diamond Cup after that group had failed to meet "several of the required criteria for the event by (the sheriff's) July 1, 2014, deadline."

At that point, Diamond Cup officials still had not obtained a Department of Lands permit for the event planned for Labor Day weekend last year. They received the permit later that month.

Steve David, chairman of hydroplane race sanctioning organization H1 Unlimited, said Monday that a legal settlement has been reached between H1 and Diamond Cup organizers.

The settlement ends legal action between the two parties and clears up debts owed to H1 by Diamond Cup.

Diamond Cup owners owed H1 tens of thousands of dollars from the 2013 event.

"All the issues are resolved," David said. "We're glad we're able to wrap things up and have a successful event this year."

As part of the settlement, the Diamond Cup officials pay a reduced amount and H1 gets to have a race in Coeur d'Alene.

"All of us felt it was a reasonable outcome," David said.

John Magnuson, the attorney for Diamond Cup president Doug Miller, was not in the office Monday. Miller couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Allen also said Monday that Silver Cup organizers have recently received notice from the IRS that their group now has official status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

"Our commitment was to show we're going to be different" from Diamond Cup, Allen said. Diamond Cup was operated as a limited liability company.

"We want to give back to the committee," Allen said. "This allows us to do that

http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_3addf09a-306c-58d2-babb-cd46181dbb7c.html

[Serious News]

Hydroplane races postponed until 2016
DAVID COLE/dcole@cdapress.com

COEUR d’ALENE — Organizers of the 2015 Coeur d’Alene Silver Cup unlimited hydroplane race announced they have postponed the event scheduled for July and are now planning a 2016 event instead.

Keith Allen, vice president and race director, said more time is needed to raise money for the Lake Coeur d’Alene event. To have a successful event next year, he said, organizers would have to raise at least $300,000.

Allen said organizers were crunched for time in gaining sponsorship funds to pay for the event this year, and that was the primary reason this summer’s event was canceled.

The event was planned for July 17-19 and was to be based at Silver Beach.

“We’re disappointed,” he told The Press Wednesday.

Organizers began seeking permits for the race in late December and by mid-January they had contacted all the permitting agencies. In almost every case they submitted permit applications, he said.

“Many of those permits have already been approved and issued,” Allen said.

In late January, Kootenai County Fire and Rescue, one of the permitting agencies, told Silver Cup officials they needed to pay an outstanding balance of $24,000 owed from the 2013 Diamond Cup.

It took more than 75 days — as well as hiring Coeur d’Alene attorney John Magnuson — to work with the agency and get it to drop the requirement to pay the previous bill.

“Unfortunately, due to the delay in resolving that issue we just don’t have time to pull together the financial resources for a successful event,” Allen said.

Silver Cup organizers have explained the situation to each of the permitting agencies and started the process of changing permit applications to show that the event will now be in 2016.

“Once all the permits are secured and in place in the near future, Coeur d’Alene Silver Cup Inc. can then begin marketing the 2016 event to potential sponsors with all of the necessary assurances and guarantees they would expect of us of being fully permitted to have the race,” Allen said.

Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Fire Chief Warren Merritt said the agency’s attorney initially recommended Silver Cup officials pay the $24,000. More than $22,000 was owed for services rendered in 2013, he said.

“It was an H1 (Unlimited) event with a different promoter,” Merritt said.

However, after attorneys for both sides met, they agreed that Silver Cup organizers wouldn’t have to pay the debts racked up by Diamond Cup officials, he said.

For the 2016 races, Silver Cup officials will have to pay a $5,000 “planning deposit,” the chief said. If the event does take place next year, he said, Silver Cup officials also would pay between $50,000 and $60,000 to the fire agency to pay for staffing and fire apparatus costs.

“We look forward to working with them in 2016, provided that they follow our process and the funds are paid and there is plenty of time to do the planning,” Merritt said.

H1 Unlimited Chairman Steve David said Wednesday the racing organization — which still has events in Kennewick and Seattle on its schedule this year — enjoys working with Allen and his Coeur d’Alene crew “because they tell us the truth.”

“They are not going to stage a race without complete funding,” David said. “We look forward to a great 2016 event.”

http://m.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_350aed3a-e3a6-11e4-b1fa-97e86ac879e9.html?mode=jqm