Three closely bunched boats charged around the Pearrygin Lake course.
It was a smaller than usual field for the 31st annual running of the Pearrygin Lake Outboard Regatta last weekend at Pearrygin Lake State Park. But racers in several different classes of boats provided exciting racing and memorable moments during the annual season-ending weekend of action for the Whidbey Island Roostertails Club.
The field of competitors, which included several youth, adults and a 61-year-old grandmother from the Columbia Basin community of Wilson Creek, was limited by conflicts in scheduling this year. Those included last weekend’s Nationals at Lake Lawrence near Yelm in western Washington, and the draw of Chelan’s Mahogany and Merlot event featuring reconstructed and rejuvenated classic unlimited hydroplanes of the 1950-1970 time period, often referred to as the “Golden Age” of boat racing.
Six classes of racing boats filled the adult calendar for the weekend with the C class hydroplanes and runabouts divided into engine classes.
“We really love coming to Pearrygin every year,” said race organizer Rick Hermann, a retired Boeing design engineer and former hydro driver. “The weather is usually really nice and the water is great for racing.”
Hermann also has connections with the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum in Kent, Washington, and has been the driving force behind the Pearrygin Lake Regatta and the appearance of the classic unlimited hydroplanes in the Winthrop ’49ers Day parade the past three years.
“We’ve gotten such good support from the Winthrop Chamber of Commerce over the past few years with publicity and sponsorship of the event, and the park staff is always so helpful,” he said.
“We were missing the Kelly family this year, which is always big part of our weekend,” noted Herrmann. Grandfather Jeff Kelly is a fixture among the racing community in the Pacific Northwest, but not able to make it this year. Kelly usually brings with him his son, J. Michael Kelly, who is a multiple Gold Cup winner and top driver on the H1 Unlimited circuit with the Strong Racing team out of the Tri-Cities. But he was absent this year, racing limited inboards in Florida. Grandsons Carson and Asher, as well as niece Harper, are staples at the Pearrygin event but not able to make the trip this year.
“They usually bring a bunch of boats with them and are a huge part of the day,” said Herrmann. “So, missing them was big for us. Hopefully, we can work around the scheduling conflicts for next year.”
Then, there is Samantha Myers of Wilson Creek. Unique among competitive drivers, Samantha is not only a wife to driver-owner husband Jim and mother of driver Kurt Myers, but when she hits the beach after each heat, she is greeted at shore by her granddaughter.
The Myers clan has been racing at Pearrygin since the old days of the “short track” at Silverline Resort where the course was squeezed in at the west end of the lake, before relocating to Derry’s Resort, now part of the state park.
Unique from the rest of the field at Pearrygin this year, Myers rides the boat in the prone position, laying on the cockpit floor, her bright orange helmet barely visible above the siderails of the cockpit. Most of the other drivers operate their boats from a kneeling posture.
The boat was originally built to fit Kurt, and he’s driven it in the past, but now it’s considered her boat. At the age of 61, she’s still winning heats and driving very skillfully around the course, taking the inside lane and running away from the field to first place in Sunday’s finale, placing second overall in the C-Modified class.
It’s not a full-time gig for Myers. She limits herself to racing only at Pearrygin Lake each year.
“It’s fun for me, and yeah, I get competitive,” said Myers. “Kurt first worked with me, helping me learn how to trust the boat.”
They would go out on a lake and her son would drive alongside her at increasing speeds, until they got confident with race-like conditions.
Watching her on Sunday, her ability to run the boat into a turn at speed and hold tight to the exit of the corner was particularly evident. “The boat is designed for the corners,” she said. “Once I got to where I could trust myself, it became more fun for me.”
It also looked like once she got to the lead, on the inside, the suspense of the heat turned, then to see how the battle for second/third place was going.
Three junior racers were scheduled to compete but only two, a pair of brothers from Redmond, completed the weekend in the K-Pro racing class. Thirteen-year-old Mak Cassidy and 9-year-old brother Ozzy from Redmond, Washington, raced in five heats, trading wins and points with Mak coming out with a 100-point margin thanks to his three wins and 1,800 points.
Jayden Gau of Brewster ran three heats on Saturday, finishing third in heats two and three, failing to finish the first heat. Gau did not race on Sunday and finished the weekend with an accumulated total of 450 points.
Regatta results
• C-Stock Runabout: 1, Bart Lovrich (Anacortes); 2, Kurt Myers (Wilson Creek); 3, Steve Bork (Federal Way)
• C-Stock Hydro: 1, Jim Tryon (Bellingham); 2, Kay Dub Myers (Everett); 3, Devohn Pendergrass (Snohomish)
• C-Mod Hydro: 1, Jim Tryon; 2, Samantha Myers (Wilson Creek); 3, Dale Bartley (Olympia)
• Yamato 80 Runabout: 1, Bart Lovric; 2, Kurt Myers; 3, Steve Bork
• Open Hydro: 1, Devohn Pendergrass; 2, Steve Bork; 3, Jim Tryon; 4, Kay Dub Myers
• Yamato 80 Hydro: 1, Jim Tryon; 2, Devohn Pendergrass; 3, Dale Bartley; 4, Kay Dub Myers; 5, Samantha Myers
