In his 25 years of involvement with racing unlimited hydroplanes, Redmond resident Tom Anderson has taken part in some big races.
None of them, however, will be as big as the upcoming Oryx World Cup in Doha, Qatar, a small peninsula located on the Persian Gulf between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The World Cup, which will take place from Nov. 19-21. It marks the first time the sport has been contested outside of North America, and there is a lot on the line.
Anderson’s boat, the U-5 Formulaboats.com owned by Ted Porter’s Precision Performance Engineering, is currently in second place by less than 300 points behind the U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto, with a total of 2,000 points on the table at the World Cup, the American Boat Racing Association Unlimited Hydroplanes’ final race of the year to determine which boat takes home the title.
“This is it, it’s the last one, for all the marbles, and it’s exciting,” said Anderson, the U-5 boat’s crew chief. “Obviously we would like to win it, but we’re going to temper ourselves a little bit because we’re so close in the hunt for the national championship. If I had to pick, I’d certainly take the national championship over winning that race … it’s an accumulation of a body of work the whole season.”
Remarkably, a total of 10 boats will be transported halfway across the globe to participate in the season-ending event, each weighing between 6,500 and 7,000 pounds.
“That part I wasn’t exposed to,” noted Anderson when inquired about the cost of shipping the boats to Qatar. “But it was a massive undertaking because the entire fleet went, 10 boats and the trucks… It’s the most competitive field I’ve ever raced against.”
HAIL TO THE CHIEF
Anderson, who currently works as a Plant Supervisor for Puget Sound Energy’s White River project, got his start in the sport as a volunteer.
“I came across a team … went inside and asked if I could help,” recalled Anderson. “That was back in 1984.”
As he gained more experience working on the multi-million-dollar pieces of equipment that can reach speeds of 200 miles per hour, he moved up the ranks and was hired as the U-5 boat’s crew chief back in April of 2008.
“I oversee every aspect of what the U-5 does,” explained Anderson when asked about his job description. “As far as our driver, I’m the one talking to him when he’s out there, as our team, I oversee our propeller and our hull people, engines, cockpits, and work out the strategy with our driver of how we’re going to approach a particular event in general.”
Anderson added that the conditions play a big part in overall preparation, as a course in San Diego will typically be calm and fast, but on Lake Washington, for example, even a nice day will lead to a rough and choppy course.
“You want to know the course, but size has an awful lot to do with it,” he said. “You can’t really set the boat up until you find out what the conditions are.”
COMPLETE COVERAGE
For those interested in following the World Cup despite the 11-hour time difference, Anderson noted that fans will be able to follow the event live.
“Fans around the country, including around here at the Unlimited Hydroplane Race Boat Museum (in Kent), are going to have slumber parties,” he said. “The race will be covered live at about midnight on Friday the 20th and ending at about five in the morning.”
Anderson’s boat already has one victory this season, the “Thunder on the Ohio” race in Evansville, Ind., and while he and his team would love to end the season on a high note and eclipse the Oberto! boat for the national title, the soft-spoken crew chief made sure to note that the people involved with the sport of hydroplane racing, first and foremost, are what keeps him coming back.
“I’ve worked with teams that have been lesser-funded, and I enjoy the challenge of making something that probably shouldn’t be up on the ladder of competitiveness as we (are),” Anderson said. “But the people I work with, I certainly enjoy that part of the racing. I enjoy the fans, and right now with Formula I’m enjoying both, because we’ve got some first-class equipment and we’re experiencing some really positive results.”
