Washington Seaplane Pilots Association

Previous Events

Clear Lake

Clear lake was a gas as always... If you haven't seen Chuck's blurb, go to the news page!

Here are a few Amphibious Couples...

And then there is Pete....

The Experimentals were many but these were wild...

The Seawind put on a great show.And Soloy displayed their Turbine Cessna 206

The Artic Turn surprised a lot of people with it's incredible Visability. Take a close look at the windows..... If that's not enough to impress you, take a look at the shine on the floats.

Incredible airplanes were everywhere!

Mason Lake

WSPA's Annual Splash-In and Corn Roast

This was another great event. Simpson's park is a wonderful venue.

The weather appeared to be a little breasy in the morning, but it turned out well... a perfect day. We had 12 aircraft and the company of the 99s. Tamara McKenny organized the ladies and they brought the corn.

Next year we need to bring Horseshoes for the pits and since the area isn't a great spot for a landing competition or water bombing, we do have a great lee shore. We should have a sailing contest! It's a great Park, bring the kids and grandkids they had a ball too.

Next year let's plan to spend the weekend. We'd like to find a Splash-In Coordinator, someone that can organize some help to make Breakfast for those that spend the night or early arrivals. We can get the camp sites for $17/night. Campsites 7-14 have a beach and/or a dock where you can camp within a few feet of your plane.
View these Videos by Kevin Griffin, they take a few minutes to load, but after you click on it, just go to something else until you hear the sound start.

Quicktime Movies
http://www.griffinstudios.tv/download/P1010425.mov Beaver taxiing
http://www.griffinstudios.tv/download/P1010426.mov Beaver taking off
http://www.griffinstudios.tv/download/P1010432.mov Maule and Cessna floating at the dock

Lake Goodwin/Arlington "I Need some photos...."

This in from Joel.... "We had 11 registered planes this year, from as far away as Petersburg Alaska and Kalispell MT. The Brat Burn was a huge success with over 90 people in attendance. Although we did not use any of the host docks, a dozen were available through the generosity of home owners around the lake. Having the volunteers and splash-in campers in the same area made for natural gatherings each evening for story swapping and relaxation."

Mike Brown Splash-In

American Lake, Season Opener

Typical of our North West weather, the question was, will the rain and wind keep everyone away? That was my nagging question in the back of my mind on my way to roll out the Bee when my phone rang.

The call was to inform me of the weather was "going south" quickly. The forecast was not for continuous rain until late afternoon and only a few scattered showers prior. Olympia had heavy rain and as I traveled south the rain started. Weather at the Narrows didn't look good and although I'd made a few trips to the lake with supplies for the event, they we in a friends garage close to the park, but they would get soaked bringing them over to the pavilion. I needed the truck with the shell to keep it all dry.

Wouldn't ya know? As soon as the truck was unloaded the rain quit! It actually turned into a nice day, no wind and the only rain was a little drizzle. For the first time that I'm aware of, the # of straight floats equaled the amphibs. I heard from one of the other members, his airplane wouldn't start.

Thank you to everyone that brought something special, all the food was fabulous, it sure takes the blahs out of burgers and dogs. And a special thanks to my

helpers, June and Wiley Moore who showed up early and helped haul all the stuff. When we got it all there, the June and Janie Team jumped into action to organize the whole mess. Then Al got to work and did yeoman service on the grill.....We fed 23 people until they couldn't eat any more, signed up a new member, got an old member to pay his dues and sold a few T-shirts. Welcome new member to the Association, Bob Goodman.

The canoe race was running a little late and didn't pose any problems. In addition an "old fiberglass" boat group had a parade practice and all showed up to use the ramp at the time when we were expecting our arrivals. That wasn't much of a problem at all either. Everyone was real courteous and the boaters even read the sign the City had placed in the parking lot to keep trailers parked at the north end. Things worked out well even though we didn't have the radio communication we had promised you.

As everyone started to bail out about 2pm, someone remarked that we used to sit around for the afternoon and enjoy each other's company. I was taking all this stuff back to my hangar and suggested, "let's move the party there!" We have some couches and chairs with a frig and a grill, so we hung out there for the remainder of the afternoon, Hangar flying, seaplane style.

American Lake Seaplane Base History   You may have thought the SPB was closed. Not quite.
     The American Lake Seaplane Base has been all but a memory since the city of Lakewood tried to formally close it over 2 years ago, yes. But fortunately for us, it was a little harder to close than just putting a padlock on the operation as can be done on a private lake.
      Because it is a registered SPB with WSDOT and has an airport plan, they couldn't just designate it as being closed. This vital key has given some concerned individuals the opportunity to talk up the benefits and advantages of keeping it open with the city and the residents. In doing so, the city of Lakewood was able to receive a grant to the tune of $100,000 from WSDOT to improve the dock, gangway and ramp.
  Harold Clark, former president of WSPA is the man behind the new SPB in Olympia, and he has been in contact with the city of Lakewood since the meetings started more than 2 years ago.
   Harold had requested the opportunity for us to have a spring splash-in at American Lake. The City of Lakewood called to not only approved the event, they've agreed to allow us to use the park area and the swimming beach for tailing up our float planes. They had planned to have the dock, gangway and the ramp redone, however due to a delay in the permitting process, construction will not begin until the end of April.  This is the first time they have ever offered us the beach and park for this purpose!!!
    The WSPA looks forward to the re-establisment of the Seaplane Base and a long relationship with city of Lakewood and American Lake residents.

Mason Lake 2006