Touching the edge: North Bend hydroplane drivers push machines, selves at Seafair
August 11, 2010
By Dan Catchpole
UPDATED — 12:05 p.m. Aug. 12, 2010
Touching the edge
Defending national champion in unlimited light hydroplanes, Kayleigh Perkins-Mallory has plenty to smile about. She made history at Seafair when she became the first woman since 1982 to drive an unlimited hydro, the U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto pictured behind her. (Photo by Dan Catchpole)
In hydroplane racing, the start is everything.
Drivers have five minutes to get from the docks to the start line. They jockey for position, trying to time it so they cross the start line at full power when the green flag goes up.
Cross too soon and get penalized. Cross too late, and you’re already out of the race.
“Most of the actual competition happens before the start. The rest — you’re just going for a ride,” Kayleigh Perkins-Mallory said.
It was a bad start that did in the North Bend driver in the final heat for the unlimited light hydroplanes Aug. 8 at Seafair on Lake Washington. Driving the UL-72 Foster Care-Triad Racing Technologies, she crossed the start line in fifth place.
Even so, Perkins-Mallory, who won last year’s race, roared back to finish in second place, less than a boat length behind the leader, Paul Becker.
She took the loss in stride. Becker dedicated his win to his brother, who died in June.
“For anything to lose to, it was an OK loss by me,” Perkins-Mallory said.
The 22-year-old driver is currently in third place in the national standings.
Breaking barriers
Despite her young age, Perkins-Mallory has already made a big impact in unlimited lights. She has been the national champion every year since she began in 2007, when she won the Rookie of the Year award.
The day before the final heat, Perkins-Mallory became the first woman since 1982 to drive an unlimited hydroplane, when she took two-time defending national champion U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto out for test laps.
As defending national champion for unlimited light hydroplanes, Kayleigh Perkins-Mallory has plenty to smile about. She rewrote history at Seafair when she took practice laps in the U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto behind her. She is the first woman since 1982 to drive an unlimited. By Dan Catchpole
It was a big step up from unlimited lights, which weigh half as much as the turbine-powered unlimited hydros. Perkins-Mallory had been lifting weights for months to build her upper body strength that’s critical for pulling the big boats out of turns.
“You could feel the weight on the turns,” Perkins-Mallory said.
She hit 175 mph, with an average of 147 mph.
Despite a sore neck, she said she’s looking forward to getting out again.
Some people think skittering across the water’s surface at speeds approaching 200 mph is dangerous.
It doesn’t have to be, Perkins-Mallory said.
“I’ve seen a lot of friends get hurt driving these,” she said.
But by driving smart, a racer can avoid most crashes.
Perkins-Mallory has never had a bad crash herself, but, she said, she has learned from other drivers’ mistakes while watching on the dock.
Her older brother, Brian Perkins, got her into racing. Before her first race in a 2.5-liter stock hydroplane when she was 16, Perkins-Mallory had been into ballet.
But she and her brother grew up around hydroplane racing. Her family has supported Seafair for decades. As children, she and her brother hung around the boat pits, “sitting in every boat that the crew would let us,” she said.
Today, Perkins-Mallory is a role model for young fans, especially girls.
Before one practice session, two young girls in braces asked if she would pose with them for a picture.
“Of course!” she said.
On the edge
Brian Perkins has also had a strong career so far. He is making a name for himself as the driver for Go Fast Turn Left Racing Inc., which owns U-21 Miss Albert Lee.
Perkins finished third in the final heat for the Albert Lee Cup at Seafair. He is in fourth place in the national standings.
Like his sister, Perkins loves boat racing, and he is in his element in the boat pit.
“I love the sights, the sounds, the smells, the people. There isn’t a thing about it I don’t love,” Perkins said.
So, what is it like to race an unlimited hydroplane?
“It’s absolutely amazing,” Perkins said, as his eyes sparked with adrenaline. “You’re literally flying over the water.”
Perkins-Mallory gives a slightly different take on it. It’s like “being in a small plane going down a road with a lot of potholes,” she said.
To win, a driver has to race on the edge, Perkins said. He has to know exactly how far he can push his boat.
Perkins said he is still learning what the edge feels like.
With a new boat, he and his crew are also still fine-tuning and squeezing every bit of speed out of it they can find.
After practice laps Aug. 6, the crew dismantled the U-21’s engine to tweak its gear combination in an effort to find a few more miles per hour.
Co-owner Brian O’Farrell said they plan to lighten the boat’s hull after this season to further increase its speed.
Fast doesn’t come cheap
But being fast in hydro racing isn’t cheap.
The parts are expensive — a propeller can cost upward of $15,000 — and money has become scarcer in the sport.
Several big sponsors — including Budweiser — have pulled out in recent years, leaving teams scrambling for new sponsors.
Very few teams have full-time members. For Perkins and Perkins-Mallory, driving is a part-time gig. They both work day jobs at Seattle-based Perkins Glass, which their family has owned for more than 100 years. Both dream of working full time as drivers one day, though.
O’Farrell is hopeful that hydroplane races will get national television coverage again in the next few years.
“Once we do that, there will be money back in it. Right now, there isn’t money,” he said.
He and his father Gregg co-own Go Fast Turn Left Racing Inc., a money loser for them. They support the team with their company, Lakeridge Paving Co.
The sport’s growing international audience could bring money back into it, too. The next — and last — scheduled race this year is in Qatar, Nov. 18-20.
There is talk of races being scheduled in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and even China, he said.
The growing overseas popularity of hydros was evident the next pit over, where the U-96 Spirit of Qatar was parked. The boat is driven by veteran star Dave Villwock, who finished a close second at Seafair.
It’s a death-defying sport with little financial gain.
But Perkins-Mallory wouldn’t do anything else.
“I make a lot better boat driver than a dancer,” she said.
Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.
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[...] Perkins Mallory (22) is de eerste vrouwelijke hydroplanepiloot ter wereld. Ze stuurde de supersnelle U-1 Oh Boy! behendig over het Amerikaanse Lake Washington. [...]