WIND, HOVERCRAFTS, WATER and FUN......!!!!
Every year I say this: the Wisconsin River was high, guess we weren't disappointed again! Seems Morel Fest brings out the worst in the river! Last year Ray Matthews took the trophy for the most rides given (and unplanned!) and did the same this year! Seems he would rather give rides than cruise with us......!!
We expected a good turnout from the preliminary survey I took on Hoverlovers, but we didn't expect 25 crafts!! Awesome bunch of hovers and displays, including the following:
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| Bob and Kyle Zang..... | Kyle Zang--the future owner/operator/test driver of Universal Hovercrafts! | |
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| Bob relives old times when he grew up with the 6F!` | Kyle moving on to something a bit larger! | |
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| There were lots of RCs around...these are from Bob & Kyle.. | Doug Birlingmair readies his craft... | |
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Katie Birlingmair - our hostess with the mostest!!! | |
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| Katie decides to try out Dad's Craft on her own! | DuWayne Carlin - 1st StarCruiser for him - 1st time on water | |
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| The Hover Bus was awesome.... | a little bit of prop problems | |
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| and she was up for static display! | The gathering...we put on 100s of miles of cruising! | |
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| The Edge really flew on water too! | Verdon Weber brought his Skirtless Wonder to Muscoda... | |
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| Read all about it in Hovernews! | Unbelievable how a rectangular object can hover 4 to 5 inches high! | |
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| Verdon was all set up for passengers... | But apparently no takers! hahahaha! | |
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| Lifting with a 23 hp Briggs and pushing with | a 10 hp Tecumseh...top speed was around 45 mph. | |
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| The dam was rushing water as we approached it | and while I chose to park on the bank and watch | |
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| Vernon Weber and Mike Courtney went picture taking! | That was Mike in front of the 'falls' and this is me parked! | |
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| Ray Matthews, Terri Matthews, Shelly Penberthy.... | The lineup | |
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| Terry Tousignant and his 18SP...says next year he'll have wings! | This 18SP was ready to fly after a few wet flights without wings | |
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A couple good speed runs to warm the engines... | |
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| and | LIFT OFF! What a presentation!!! | |
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| Vernon Weber giving rides to Voycek Miezal... | And the end of the weekend with Denny Sornson giving new thoughts on old ideas to bystanders! |
Doug Birlingmair Relates the Events of the Weekend!
Muscoda, May 14-16,
2004
Well,
another Morel Fest has come and gone. My 7yo daughter Katie and I
pulled in around 6:30pm on Friday. Kind of overcast and
chilly, but I did hear Dave Lacombe go flying by on his 58 mph
speed run! Shortly after that, about 10 of us (Dave
Lacombe, Dennis Alm and Carol, Ray Matthews (and wife?), and
others I don’t know) all went into town to have dinner.
When we got back, we unloaded my hover and just had time to set
up camp, roast a few marshmallows, and turn in. 38 degrees
that night! Brrr!
Next
morning there was a thick fog covering everything. I talked
a while with Vernon Weber who dropped by with his Starcruiser.
We discussed Verdon’s skirtless hover – what a concept.
By about 9 the fog had burned off and things got going. There
was a family from Georgia (I’m terrible with names) that
brought an Italian (?) craft (the one that blew the engine last
year), as well as a smaller UH design with a 6hp lift and 10hp
thrust. That craft would do a solid 30mph, as I paced him
once down river. There was another family from Delavan, Wi
(only 7 miles from my home!), that had three craft – a
UH18SPW, a blue homebuilt design, and the Hover Bus. That
was about 20 feet long, with a 19hp lift, and Soob thrust. Basically
a flat platform with three rows of seating. Very nicely
done. They took some folks out for rides a couple times.
They had a small problem when they broke off a rudder on the 18SP
on the ramp, but had it fixed in a couple hours. Dave
LaCombe with Oblio, as well as his friend Terry (?) with another
UH18SP.
Lots
of Starcruisers, I think Ray was giving rides most of the day!
Dan Brewer from Richland Center stopped by, he bought a used 12T4
and is fixing it up for flying. Verdon took his “Skirtless
Wonder” out a few times – that is something to see.
When the angle is right you can look clear under his craft
through the other side! There were a couple of cruises up
and down river; I didn’t go due to fuel capacity. So,
I answered a LOT of questions from the public (“Are they for
rent?” “How much do they cost?”, “How
can these boats go up the ramp from the river?” (My
favorite. When I told him they rode a cushion of air, he
got a look of wonderment on his face and said “No
S**t?”)). My craft was running like a Swiss watch, I
did a speed run and saw 41 mph. Craft were going in and out
almost constantly! Late in the day we were
“invaded” by 7 Zodiac boats from the WCF (Waterborne
Canadian Forces? Wisconsin Cheese Fanatics? Oh, yes,
Wisconsin Conservation Force!), they spent a couple hours pulling
their boats out and went somewhere? Dennis Sorensen showed
with his Sevtec, but never saw water due to a fuel problem.
Saturday ended with fireworks over the boat ramp, and lots of
campfire talk.
Sunday
promised to be better than Saturday, with temps in the 70’s,
and clear skies. Hovers were leaving the ramp by 7:30am!
Dan Brewer returned with his brother (forgot the name, Dave?) and
asked if I’d give him his first hover ride. Not a
problem! He was grinning from ear to ear as we flew down
the ramp and transitioned over the water! The river was up
another three inches, so most of the bars that were there
yesterday were gone, but I found one to fly over. I could
see him bracing as I approached at 25mph, then we were over and
back on water. He was yelling and grinning away like the
Cheshire cat! We were almost back when my lift engine
shorted out due to spray and we plowed in pretty good –
kinda like a strong brake in a car. Got it started and made
it back to the ramp, where I charged my battery and dried things
off. I don’t think the smile left his face all day!
Later,
Dave Lacombe returned riding with Dave Schneider in his 13P, so
something was up. He told me his pulley mount collapsed and
his hover was on a boat ramp a few miles upstream. Dan and
I followed him to help load it up. We put it on cushion and
with a 20foot running start pushed it right up on his trailer
nice as you please! His pulley mount had broken a weld,
mount collapsed, prop reduced to splinters, radiator damage, but
no injuries. Dave said he’d use this as an excuse to
upgrade his drivetrain. There’s dedication! (or
obsession?).
Sunday
afternoon, people started to leave. I did a couple more
short runs, and then loaded up about 1pm. After chatting
with Dennis Sorenson some more, we pulled out about 2pm and
headed home. All in all, a super weekend!
Doug
Birlingmair
More Stories to Come!
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR COMING!
If you don't have a hovercraft of your own and are looking, please email me or check the For Sale page.
or Return to the Hoverins Index of past great get togethers!
