Brewster approves hydro event application at Columbia Cove Park

BREWSTER – Hydroplane races took a step closer to becoming an annual event in the Columbia River off Columbia Cove Park when the city council, at its regular monthly meeting last Thursday, Sept. 16, approved a public event application for an exhibition race next month.
What the Tacoma Inboard Racing Association (TIRA) described as a “test session” is scheduled for a one-day run in Brewster on Saturday, Oct. 9. If it becomes a regular event like the annual hydro races at Pateros every August, the race will wear the official title of Tony Newton Memorial Regatta.
Tim Hamilton, TIRA board member and race chairman for the Terry Troxel Memorial Regatta in Pateros, told The Quad that he expects at least 15 to 20 boats to turn out for the Oct. 9 test session. Along with the racing hydros Hamilton said the vintage unlimited boats that launch for the annual Mahogany & Merlot Vintage Hydroplane and Boat Show on Oct. 1-3 in Chelan are also invited to attend the Brewster exhibition.
“These vintage boats do not race,” Hamilton said.
The test session is popular with crew members because it gives them the rare opportunity to also be at the wheel of a practice event. Hamilton said that a few hydros put in at the Cove launch last year and ran the course area at the park in an unscheduled trial at Brewster.
TIRA, a Region 10 organization of the American Power Boat Association, is always looking for new race locations as the group loses sites to development, water conditions, and other reasons.
“We used to have 12 to 15 events a season,” said Hamilton. “Now we are down to about eight.”
As an example, TIRA has been unable to race on Spanaway Lake in Spanaway for the last three years.
“One of those was due to COVID last year,” said Hamilton. “The other two were because of algae growth in the lake.”
TIRA events now begin at the end of April on Lawrence Lake at Yelm and end in the first week of October at Lake Chelan in Manson.