1st Annual April Fools Day Kinetic Regatta

April 1, 2001

It was raining cats and dogs on Sunday in Seattle. None of my family wished to accompany me as I headed to the 1st Annual April Fools Day Port Townsend Kinetic Regatta towing along my Escapade. They all thought it would be cold and wet.

They were right. It stayed cold and wet - in Seattle, and even in some of the communities on the way to P.T. However, at Fort Worden State Park, just north of P.T. where the regatta was to be held, it was a little breezy, the sun was shining, and there were lots of patches of blue in the sky. I could see all the storm clouds massed to the south, but that is where they stayed all day.

A pretty large group of people came to the regatta. Many were dressed in kinetic garb. A number of people brought along their kinetic sculptures as well. These included the Luny Rover, Toadboiler, John Montgomery's amphibious paddlewheel canoe, the (formerly) Milk Duds vehicle, and others.

There was a BBQ grill set up outdoors as well as in the kitchen shelter, and people brought a lot of food to share, much of it home made.

A number of picture albums were also available for perusal, including one that had pictures and paraphernalia from each of past Port Townsend kinetic races, along with wonderfully appropriate captions and comments.

After lunch, while the music was being set up, I prepared to launch my Escapade near the Marine Museum. As there was no dock available at the ramp I recruited a willing bystander to sit in the boat and take it to the Marine Museum dock after the boat left the trailer.

He seemed to have a great time pedaling around the area, and later his wife and their companion also took it out for a spin. After that quite a few other folks went for rides, including some of the kinetic folks who were/are IHPVA members from years past.

Later on several of the kinetic vehicles made their way into the water, and we had some short, impromptu speed challenges. As would be expected, the Escapade handily beat these versatile craft. However, Clair's Toadboiler came pretty close in speed, with its use of a model airplane prop on the end of a weed eater, using a knurled cylinder rubbing against the side of the rear wheel of a mountain bike to transfer power from the bike's crank. The pontoons were fairly short, but well streamlined. Good work, Clair!

Afterwards I went on a short cruise out into the bay, going past all the crab pot buoys sprinkled almost as far as the eye could see. There were also a couple of divers with their wet suits and snorkels checking things out on the bottom, as well as fishermen in their motor boats checking on the pots. I headed north until I was just past the lighthouse. There I could experience some of the larger swells from the Straits of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific, as well as see the tip of Vancouver Island way off in the distance.

After returning to the boat launch and winching the Escapade back onto the trailer I ran into a minor problem. My car's battery died, and the tide was starting to come in! Luckily, some kinetic judges were passing by and gave my car a jump start. Whew!

After some delightful conversations with some of the other folks whom I had not seen in years it was time to head back to rainy Seattle.

Thank you, John Montgomery, for arranging this event.

Take a look here for pictures.

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