Tides scrub plans for hydroplane races in Bremerton

[Serious News]

By Josh Farley of the Kitsap Sun

BREMERTON — The boats had been lined up, tickets sold and preparations made for the first hydroplane racing in West Sound in seven years.

Only one problem: "You can't race in the mud," race organizer Bob Wright said.

Minus tides at race time harpooned almost a year's worth of planning for the races, which would have been held in May for Armed Forces Day weekend. Instead, the committee called Sinclair Thunderboats will regroup and ask for a date in 2017.

Leslie Reynolds-Taylor, one of two race directors, said the committee members had several options once they digested the news that the tides were off. They could have held the event later in the day or even towed the hydroplanes from another location to avoid the mud. Ultimately the committee called for doing it a year later.

"Initially, it was quite a blow of course, with all of the work we'd done and the people we'd talked to," she said. "Our community was very, very excited about this event."

The effort had additional red tape to cut through, attaining nods for the racing from the Navy and the Coast Guard. But nothing could surmount the tide charts, overlooked in early preparations, Wright said.

The American Power Boat Association, which schedules race events, will place the Sinclair event on its calendar for 2017, likely for the same Armed Forces Day weekend.

Kitsap won't be without boat racing for this year's holiday weekend. Outboard boat racing will be held May 21-22 at Kitsap Lake, according to its race director Dwight Malhiot.

Hydroplanes coming back to Kitsap is not a matter of if but when, according to Jack Quinlan, the race director for Sinclair Thunderboats alongside Reynolds-Taylor. He was saddened at the news his counterpart would resign from the committee, though she'd laid the groundwork for the event. They'd sold 700 tickets for this year and felt it has the potential to draw thousands to Kitsap for a weekend in 2017.

"The race will happen," Quinlan said. "That's a definite."

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/local/...373161911.html

[Ratickle]

That kind of sucks. I know that Biloxi has the same issues with tides for the Offshore Races, but they seem to have it dialed in every year they have it.