The anything goes raft race!
Recently, I read of the exploits of a teenager who flew cross-country to set a new record (with his instructor at his side) and you have to give him credit. I like to see youngsters getting involved in aviation, it's good for the sport to get future pilots and airplane builders started early. Anyway, this brought to mind a story that took place during the last part. of WWII. I had been ferrying T-6's from St. Louis to an army airbase near Tacoma, Washington. I had stopped at Spokane, Washington on the last leg of the flight, and was spending the night with a fellow ferry pilot, named Art, and his wife and two girls. The oldest of the girls was about 15, named Gina, and she had entered the Annual Anything Goes! Raft Race, which was to be run the next day. The only rules of the race were, you had to be at least 14 years old, could prove you can swim, and you had to wear a life-jacket.
The main reason for these stipulations was that part of the race meant traversing a 60 foot falls. Spokane Falls are a bit scary and most entrants simply beached above and then carried their crafts down and around the falls. No one had been killed to date, but a few foolhardy folks who did try shooting the falls usually wound up with bruises and broken boats. It would probably have been fairly easy in a kayak but no one had thought of it. But, Art had an idea of his own and would have entered, but with his schedule being what it was, wasn't sure he'd be in town for the event. So he mentioned it to Gina, who took to it immediately. The idea was to combine a canoe and a glider.
Gina was handy around tools and with the help of her Dad she started to work. Gina borrowed a canoe from her Uncle and decided to build the wings and such herself, as money was a problem. All summer she hammered and sawed away, and the day before the race it sat in the garage ready to be tested. When I saw it that night I was impressed with her workmanship (now-a-days I guess you pronounce it 'workpersonship'). The only thing that bothered me was she had used piano wire instead of cables for the rigging. The wings would fold up (like hands in prayer), and extended, the span was about 40 feet. She had rigged a couple of pulleys with a light rope, which when pulled on let the wings fall and lock themselves in place. Pretty ingenious! With the wings folded up the canoe was top heavy and would have tipped over, but Gina had installed slim outriggers on each side, with struts sticking up to form part of the wing latching system, as well as to add support for the wings in flight. The whole thing reminded me of a dragonfly perched on the water. Since I was ahead of schedule I decided to spend the next day watching the race. I'm glad I stayed, because it was a sight to see.
There were about 40 or 50 different craft assembled for the race, rowboats, canoes, washtub's lashed together, all manner of rafts, inner-tubes and such, and two kayaks. Someone had finally come up with the idea of kayaks and they were the odds on favorites to win the race. The strangest looking affair though was Gina's canoe-glider. It had almost everyone baffled, what with the wings folded up like they were. Most people thought it was a canoe with a new type sail. The race started about a mile above the Falls, just below the Washington Water Power Dam, and continued on for another seven miles below the falls. The hardest part. of the trip would be the falls and the rapids below. When the race started the canoes and kayaks took the lead, as expected.
Gina was having trouble steering as the outriggers weren't set low enough and the canoe kept tipping one
way, then the other, but she managed to get to the middle of the river where the current took hold and
propelled her ahead. She was trailing the pack, rowing her heart out, trying to get up speed. About 1000
feet above the falls she was moving along nicely and she yanked the rope, snapping the wings into place.
After we got the craft launched, we got in his car and headed for the bottom of the falls. Art wanted to be on hand in case Gina had trouble coming over the falls. We found a path that led down to the river and we got there about the time the two guys in kayaks started over the lip of the falls. The first little falls was about 15 feet and they easily made it, but the second set of falls was a twisting dog-leg to the right, and about 30 foot straight down. The kayaks hit the second lip and sailed over the edge, taking a nose dive. Kersplash! We waited, holding our breaths, because the two affairs had disappeared under water. We were getting anxious but finally they surfaced, that is, both guys popped to the surface. The kayaks were nowhere to be seen, probably caught in an underwater eddy, being smashed to bits. The two swam for shore to sit out the rest of the race. People cheered and clapped their efforts. Some of the other contestants had started their portage around the falls and we waited for Gina to make her effort.
Art was getting edgy, after seeing what had happened to the kayaks. It was 10 minutes or more before we saw the wings at the top of the falls. One tip was dragging in the water and Gina was struggling to raise it just as she started over the edge. Gina's guardian angel rode that canoe, that day, because as it started over the wing came up level and the canoe sped downward gathering speed. Art had given Gina lots of dual time in Cubs and such and he had confidence in her ability to control the wing warping device that steered the slightly sweptback wings. As the canoe-glider neared the second set of falls Gina was doing about 40 mph and the craft was getting very light. Over the edge it started, dropping into a nose dive, but almost immediately came up and flew!
Dipping right she felt for the best glide ratio and soon the amphibian was sailing along. As she flew above us we heard the taught rigging wires singing and Gina laughing hysterically as the Hugh crowd roared their approval, almost drowning out the noise of the falls. The pride showing in Art's face seemed to be brighter than the noon sun. As we watched with baited breath Gina sailed on over the river, but it soon became apparent that she wasn't going to make it all the way past the rapid. She was losing altitude too quickly. She did an excellent job of picking out her landing spot, but as soon as she set down one wingtip dipped and snagged the water, spinning her around backwards. Now that the flight was over the wings were useless. And indeed, they were a great hindrance, making the craft dip one way, then the other. But, gutsy Gina just turned around and oared her way through the rest of the rapids and went on to a Hugh lead.
Once we saw she was out of the rapids Art and I started for the finish line down river. Getting their we waited an hour or so but finally Gina came into sight and won the race by a mile (actually, it probably was closer to 3 or 4 miles). The large crowd on hand applauded and whistled their appreciation for a little lady with nerve. Gina's face was radiant and she couldn't control her hysterical laughter. Falling all over herself she tried to help Art and I fold the wings and carry the rig to the trailer. After she received her trophy we all piled in the car and headed for home, towing the newly christened amphibian behind. After she calmed down enough to talk she began making plans for next year. 'Heck no! Next month.' she added. The first thing she said was the outriggers needed to be lowered about a foot, the wingspan increased about 10 feet, and some way of re-folding the wings from inside the canoe. Art could hardly contain himself and between the two of them I had no choice but to sit back and listen to the uproar.
Several months later I ran into Art again and he told me they had been having a ball with the canoe-glider,
until Art stalled it into the rapids and destroyed the craft, and almost himself to boot. He said they were
making plans for a better amphibian for next years race.