CORA News

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May 10, 2012

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May 7, 2012

Sanction for Cullaby is in.  PRO Divisionals (except for 350-500-700-1100 runabout). Third and final year of the Mark Moberly Memorial trophy.  Beach start for OSY 400.  Novice C class - both days, Sunday is the "divisionals" for them and they will do a beach start.

RVs are limited as usual, first come first serve.  Don't just show up with an RV, contact the race director first.  We're going to manage the parking differently.  Racers and crew will need to park in the pit area, along the perimeter curbing.  All RVs and race trailers in the boat trailer stalls.  We'll do parking passes for pit area parking like Newberg. 

With the new safety rules, we need to limit the locals from driving through and rubbernecking - we want them to park in the small lot and watch.  The launch area top of the ramp will be fenced off as hot pits.  This will eliminate some of the "spectator area" around the announce stand.

These changes will mean that Assistant Risk Manager Bill Thomas will need assistance in controlling the two pit areas.  The both race director and club commodore are looking for volunteers to help Bill during the race days.

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May 7, 2012

CORA member Don Nyberg has plans available for a CSH/20ss boat.  Don's latest design is influenced by the work of Sam Hemp and Dewey Anderson.  The full size plans are available for the cost of commercial copying services.

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May 7, 2012

Next up - Moses Lake May 19 & 20.  Johnson Racing is making the long trek from the 503 to the 509. We may stop in Tri-Cities on the way - the U-11 and 88 unlimited teams are testing Friday the 18th.  Ryan Johnson and Aaron Salmon are crew members for the U-11, and of course that JW Myers fellow drives it.

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May 7, 2012

CORA member Cameron Hansing was injured in a crash at Castle Rock on Saturday.  He is in the hospital at Longview and should be released in a couple of days.  Please keep Cameron and the Blackwell/Thurman clan in your thoughts, as they are part of our CORA family.

Tony Perman, one of our Seattle area members, suffered an injury in the pits on Sunday, and is home resting.  Drop him an e-mail if you have a chance.  Tony has been generous with his support for CORA

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 May 7, 2012

 Great event at Silver Lake near Castle Rock.  Fine job by Kyle Bahl and his SOA crew.  Good CORA turn out, esspecially that McMurphy rooting section.

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April 15, 2012

Don't forget - Trailer set up party at Bartlett Marine in Forest Grove Saturday April 21 at 10 AM.  Unconfirmed reports that there will be pizza and beer available.

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April 15, 2012

Thanks again to Aaron (Brant) Policar for the opportunity to show off outboard racing at his NAPA store in Tigard.  Participants enjoyed deals at the store, burgers and dogs, and a nice SWAG bag. Thanks also to Sherri & Bill, Mike Z., and Al for bringing boats, Joel for supervising, and Jack coming down to support the event (and anyone else who showed up after we left).

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March 30, 2012

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February 29, 2012

Busy Saturday at the spring Region Meeting.

The Records Race proposal is still out there.  The idea is that the head tax that each club pays per race to provide a subsidy for the kilos would also be used for the Lake Lawrence Records races (spring and fall).  There is more work to be done on the proposal, and it will be looked at again this fall.

The schedule is set - see the CORA website home page.  We are responsible for three events - Newberg in conjunction with NBC, Cullaby Lake, and Kilos.  Ken Kaiser, myself, and Allen Thorsen are the respective race directors, and we will be looking for help.

Risk Manager is a completely different task this year.  The event referee is the official Risk Manager, and there will be at least one Assistant Risk Manager at each event. All persons with Risk Manager in their title are required to pass an exan and be on a certified list with APBA, just like referees and inspectors.

Pit area set up up will be much more restrictive.  Hot pit areas need to be fenced off (back to the orange fencing for us).  This will lead to some small changes at Newberg, and some major ones at Cullaby.  At Cullaby, the pit area will no longer be a free-for-all.  Boat trailers and RVs will need to be in the boat parking area (no more trailers on the perimeter - sorry Lee).  Ther only parking on the perimeter will be for tow vehicles and crew.  Those vehicles will need to have a CORA parking pass.  The entries to the pit area will be corndoned off - there will not be a way for folks to drive the perimeter during racing, as the ramp area will be fenced off.

There are increased requirements for rescue boats, and those are still in development.

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February 21, 2012

Good story about an Oregon inboard racer from back in the day, exerpted from a story by John Paramore on an e-mail list:

Sid Street would run the same boat (266 cu. in. hydro) to 146.9 just 2 years later and two years after that Dixon Vose ran a 139 kilo
average...Not much at first glance but it was one of the first kilos records set after APBA adopted the kilometer as the standard in '58,
And Dix had run an astounding 151 mph on the initial pass. He looked even faster entering traps on the return, but slowed and coasted out
for the lower average when he passed through a flock of low-flying ducks. He told us he couldn't identify the first two "things" that
flew past his head, but recognized the third as a mallard and elected to finish the run wadded in a ball below the dashboard.

Dixon was a pretty interesting guy, an Oregon peppermint farmer who at age 50 thought boat racing might be a nice hobby, and went
straight for the hairiest class in North America. His style was spectacular. ..Mostly a kamikaze first lap that few were comfortable
challenging, leaving Dix with a first lap lead that few could overcome...His 27 straight heat wins in 266 were what made Bill
Muncey a 7-liter racer. That's not a knock on Bill...Racing was Bill's "business". Winning brought attention and profit, but reckless
risk taking was a life or death gamble against the house, and Bill was neither blind nor a dummy.

The 1960 kilo and following day regatta were to be Dixon's retirement show. He planned on setting records in both. He got his kilo mark
despite mixing it up with the ducks, and In typical Dix fashion ran the first 100 mph lap I ever saw in inboards, only to take off like a
bird at the start of lap-2. The boat went up almost 50 feet with Dix ejected at the top. The boat came down hard and rose into the air
again, shedding bits and chunks. Dixon came down stretched stiff as a board and skipped off into the air again before sticking. Rescue was
right on him with resuscitation, and Dix was sent off to Virginia Mason. When several of us went there after the race we were given his status (broken ribs, arm and leg, punctured lung) and told he wasn't allowed visitors, but they thought visits might be OK in 2 days. When
I went to the hospital Tuesday I was told Dix had been checked out. Nurses said he was patient and compliant sunday, but was so grumpy
and insistent on getting out to harvest his peppermint crop on Monday that they gave up and let him go with only a bit of cast reinforcement.

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February 20, 2012

Reminder from APBA - mail in your annual membership fees before the end of this month to receive the discounted amount.  Full fees take effect March 1.

You have until April 1 to process your CORA membership fees at the discounted rate.  See the link to this years application form on the main page.

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February 20, 2012

Here's an e-mail from Jan Shaw regarding the Region meeting this weekend (February 25th):

Remember the Winter Region 10 meeting is This coming Saturday, Feb 25th at the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum  

10am-12 noon   Referees tests and Scorers test.  It is more fun to take these as a group.  

General Meeting 1-4pm   Activity Chairs  5 min each for report of your category.  Pat Gleason can you do a small report on the Safety Committee actions, I have a power point on insurance. 

Dave Cossette will handle both Treasurer and Race Calendar. 

Club Commodores and club Treasurers bring your checkbooks to pay for this years races, and any fines.

Terra, I would like a report on capsule training. 

John Arwine, I would like a report on Rescue Boat procedures. 

Thanks to you all for your volunteerism for the sport of boat racing.

 - Jan

February 12, 2012

Yet another schedule change. Inboard Moses Lake (record 1 1/4mi or 1mi course) has been moved back to May 19-20 (formerly Bremerton/Kitsap weekend). This past week Jim Nilsen exchanged emails with Ana Cappelletti, Moses Lake Race Director, about the possibility of adding 5-6 selected outboard classes to their program.  She took this to the TIRA BOD meeting Thursday night & they were all for it.  The outboard classes will likely be the popular suspects (CSH/20/OSY, AX), as the want a good turn out.  I pitched 250/350/750/850 Mod/PRO combo.

So, the new schedule reads:

5/5-6 Silver Lake Castle Rock (tent.)

5/19-20 Inboard Mose Lake (selected outboard classes)

5/26-27 Newberg

6/2 Everett

6/23-24 Cullaby

7/14-15 Little American Lake

8/25-26 Eatonville

9/8-9 Moses Lake

9/21-23 Lawrence

10/13-14 Kilos
 

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February 5, 2012

 Hi All,

After a banzai run to Seattle for some family errands and the SOA Ball, here is some new information on the 2012 season.  I have added a newly revised schedule at the bottom.

 No Inboard Lawrence.  No Mayfield.  Silver Lake Castle Rock is still a tentative. Bremerton (Kitsap Lake) is off.  Stock Divisionals are at Parker in Arizona in April. Mod/PRO Divisionals at Oroville, CA in June.

 5/5-6 Silver Lake Castle Rock (tent.)

5/26-27 Newberg

6/2 Everett

6/23-24 Cullaby

7/14-15 Little American Lake

8/25-26 Eatonville

9/8-9 Moses Lake

9/21-23 Lawrence

10/13-14 Kilos
 

Here's an e-mail from Jan Shaw regarding the Region meeting this weekend (February 25th):

Remember the Winter Region 10 meeting is This coming Saturday, Feb 25th at the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum.

• 10a-12 noon   Referees tests and Scorers test.  It is more fun to take these as a group.  
• General Meeting 1-4pm   Activity Chairs  5 min each for report of your category.  Pat Gleason can you do a small report on the Safety Committee actions, I have a power point on insurance.  
• Dave Cossette will handle both Treasurer and Race Calendar. 

Club Commodores and club Treasurers bring your checkbooks to pay for this years races, and any fines.

Terra, I would like a report on capsule training. 

John Arwine, I would like a report on Rescue Boat procedures. 

Thanks to you all for your volunteerism for the sport of boat racing.

An update on our equipment project:

• Kicker boat motors are at Bartlett Marine for a refresh.
• The clock is at Alzatek for an upgrade from prototype to production (thanks to Dick and Terry for their support in this effort).
• We are looking at the possibility of having a custom boat scale built as opposed to replacing what we have.
• Brant Policar will be donating our outboard oil and zip-tie needs.
• We have identified several options for buoys.  Thanks to Bill Dingman and Mike Zonich for their work on this.

There will be a trailer party sometime prior to Newberg, possibly in conjuction with something that looks like a general meeting or a board meeting.  Maybe with beer and pizza.

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April 16, 2012

Don Nyberg, CORA member from the Salem area, has plans available for a 20ss/CSH hydro. The boat will use commonly available materials and be somewhat similar to a Hemp, but  may look more like the boat Jersey Holman drives.  Don is finishing up the full scale patterns, which should ease construction for the low experience builder.  Don designed and built the hydro driven by Aaron and Brant Policar.  That boat handles very well, but the current boat plan should be lighter and faster.  Don is not into this effort to make money, so he can make  plans available  at the cost of printing.  The Salem blueprint shop he uses can print them on roll stock in full boat length prints with little size distortion.

Don't forget that CORA member Bill Blackwell also has boat plans available.

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April 16, 2012

We have quite a race going on to see which CORA member can sell the most ads for this year's Newberg Race Program.  The Standings so far (bonus points for new ads):

Jack Fournier - 2 new ads

Denise Johnson - 1 new ad, 1 renewal

Mike Johnson - 2 new ads

Brant Policar - 1 new ad, 1 renewal

River notes

The Willamette has been running high this winter and early spring.  Twice it has flooded the parking lot at Rogers Landing.  Here are some statistics from those two events:

Week of January 22 - River Height 83 feet; Discharge 170,000 cubic feet per second; Flow 7.8 feet per second (5.3 mph); Temperature 44 degrees

Week of April 1 - River Height 78 feet; Discharge 140,000 cubic feet per second; Flow 7 feet per second (4.7 mph); Temperature 42 degrees

Here's the averages for race weekend the last couple of years - River Height 59 feet; Discharge 30,000 cubic feet per second; Flow 2.5 feet per second (1.7 mph); Temperature 55 degrees

Imagine being six feet tall, standing on the dock watching CSH - in January, the boats would have been 18 feet over your head.  Imagine setting up for turn 2 with a 5 mph current. And 44 degree water.  Think about the amount of water that is 140,000 cubic feet - and that amount moving past you every second.

Fortunately, the warm weather this coming week should bring down a lot of the snow pack.  The dams on the upper Willamette are already managing river flow.  The river should be in the 58-65 foot range the rest of the month, hopefully dropping in height on Memorial Day weekend.