Where Rooster Tails Fly – Seattle Seafair 1952
1952 Champion Spark Plug Ad Copy – Courtesy of Vintage Garage
An annual tradition in the Seattle area for over 60 years, Seafair continues to be one of the most popular summer events for thousands of people each year. And since it’s inception, wooden boats have been an integral part of the event over the years, from native built canoes, to runabouts & big cruisers, to outboard race boats, and unlimited hydroplanes – Seafair has something for everyone.
Seafair is a summer festival in that encompasses a wide variety of small neighborhood events leading up to several major city-wide celebrations. While many small block parties and local parades occur under the auspices of Seafair, most Seattle residents associate Seafair with the Torchlight Parade (and accompanying Torchlight Run), Seafair Cup hydroplane races, and the Blue Angels. Seafair has been an annual event in Seattle since 1950 but its roots can be traced to the 1911 Seattle Golden Potlatch Celebrations. – (Wikipedia has the full history of Seafair)
Recently Seattle’s KIRO TV posted this great 25-minute film from the 1952 Seafair festival titled “Where Rooster-Tails Fly” featuring some great vintage boat racing – in living color. So while you are munching on your Cheerios, or enjoying that Sunday morning coffee, take a trip with us back to 1952. – Texx
You can also click the KIRO TV link above to view the video, and if you want to view the video on your smart phone. You can also click on the “go full screen” button in the menu at the bottom of the video to enlarge the viewing area.
Texx, the video did not load on the web site.
Hi Greg – If it doesn’t load, you can also click on the KIRO TV link above to view the video.
Texx, I finally figured it out and watched the video. A great tribute to a bygone time that I would have liked to have been part of.
Great! It’s a good video for a cool, fall Sunday morning.
Another great video of boating history and how it was. Where do you find these gems? Thanks for sharing.
Our friend Rob DaPron from Seattle found the video and sent us the link. It’s almost like a time capsule.
Great! Love the wind and selfpropelled craft in the beginning. Those big cruisers running up through the Straits of Juan deFuca out to Stewart Island looks like a good time to me. Thanks Texx Get some rest.
What a great way to get going on a Sunday morning.
Thanks1
When I lived in Vancouver (late 70’s), their version was called “Sea Fest” and included a bath tub race from Nanimo to a beach in Vancouver. But, nothing as extensive or succesfiul as the Seattle Fair.
Get out the DeLorian… this film takes you back in time….
I grewup with those hydros and they inspired my first woodies that got raced behind bikes. In my case a Schwinn Black Phantom.
I am sure one of these hydros was a lot faster than the other, ‘just can’t remeber which one it was.
Its great to have those pictures so future generations can see the original colors you painted them refer to when they are being restored. I wonder which one would win if one had been towed by my Schwinn Stingray?
Those are cool Gary.
Definitely the Black Phantom 🙂
Can anyone ID the make/model/year of the cruiser at 9:46, with the sloped transom? Thanks
Which one?
Wow, this really brings back memories from my childhood. I watched this race on something that was very new to all of us then — television! Within 3-years I owned my very first outboard utility hydroplane. Then on to a 48 cu. in. limited hydro, always dreaming of driving an unlimited someday when I ‘grew up’. Unfortunately, I never grew up. I was, however, lucky enough to live in a part of the country that saw a need for saving the old boats from my past, so I got involved with their restoration at the Hydroplane & Raceboat Museum. To get a ride was a memorable experience, and maybe that will translate into driving one ‘someday’.
This one……? I don’t know either!
That’s the one in the foreground. Great looking boat.
Dick Dow, if it is an early Shain, how early are we talking?
A one-off or low production?
Brian,
I’m not sure – if I recall it was a late 30’s, either 28 or 32′ most likely one-off or low production.
Thanks for your assistance Mr. Dow – Always appreciated..
Thanks Dick.
Long, low, and sleek. Like the Thunderbird before the fly bridge was added later.
I have a real soft spot for those cruisers.
Have my eye on a ’48 CC 34′ express cruiser.
This is if the ’58 CC 38′ Connie does not break me.
Troy – Most of those old cruisers have a “soft spot” for you too… Just sayin’
It sure is great to see them cruising together in the Seafair film.
And Im sure all those cruisers have plenty of soft spots.
I believe the boat with the turtle stern at 9:45 is an early Shain. I last saw that boat for sale about 20 years ago on the hard in a boatyard on the Duwamish. I don’t know what it’s fate is. Incidentally, I understand the Shain boatyard where all the famous “Trimmership” models were built was supervised by Stan Young for quite a while…
Don’t know what that long sedan is you’re referring to but it is appears to have art deco influences. Hope we can nail it down. Love they captured the times back then – much more innocent. That must be the beginnning of the end for step hulls and Miss Pepsi as the shovel nose hydro’s started to take over.
That 13 mile outboard river race looked like a blast with all the twists and turns, log jumps, bridge pilings, and sand points to avoid or jump. My son is ready to build a replica and do it.
The Slough race is something else. I watched as a kid and my father vetoed it. I was stuck on puget sound racing a 8′ 3 ptr against friends.
In the early 90s the local ACBS chapter ran a couple Slough races and it wa memorable
The US Army Corp of Engineers straightened out most of the Sammamish Slough in, I believe, the mid/late ’70’s (Dick D or Craig M could pin this down better). Taking out all those twisty curves plus (I’m sure) the county having some say in this kind of ‘disruption’ killed this adventurous race — famous while it lasted.
Fun old film. What a celluloid collection of coolness!!
Love all the retro water skiing and sincro swimming.