Wings?

[shadowcat]

.....Thanks for coming over and seeing me at Wolfeboro....it was awesome to meet you guys and talk.....the pleasure was mine and we will talk soon......when the wind and waves came up the event went in to weather mode- only 3 of us decided and got the opportunity to run after the skiffs in the afternoon-myself and 2 large hydros... as for as the spin.... lets call it physics.... that's what happens in a twin engine outboard boat when an engine goes dead in the water because it is out of gas and the other is still running at over 6,ooo rpm-you turn and you turn quick-the generous organizers at Wolfeboro gave me a lot of water time and simply put-I ran out of gas in one engine-went back on 1 engine as the other engine didn't even have enough gas to start and to idle back

Ted...You did it again in Wolfboro ...Try not to make it a habit! me and my daughter were watching you run on the straight away in the stream...saw you heading twards the pier then O'my god is he ok Dad!! saw you limp back in hope you and THUNDERBALL are ok..Thanks for showing me the WING!!! still cant believe I sat in one!! was hoping to just see one!! Great to meet you...

[FUJIMO]

First Class C raceboat. Kind of "wingy"...

[FUJIMO]

Tell me this isn't a wing...

[lilabner]

Tell me this isn't a wing...

Got to be Gary's

[FUJIMO]

The "Daffy Duck" wing. I don't know...I just don't see it...

[woodbender]

I have enjoyed reading this entire post as I am a new member here. I have recently been researching the Switzer Wing boat and find it fascinating although I do find some problems with the aerodynamic claims of this boat but I do think it was way ahead of it's time. I worked for the local mercury dealer in 1962-64 after school and he had a wood Switzer Wing. From what I have found all the wood boats are gone. Does anyone know about this?

[Mark75H]

Yes all of the wood boats are gone. Those under direct control of Mercury were destroyed at Lake X when they were no longer of use as test vehicles or competitive racers. Generally the same fate for those free from direct Kiekhaefer control. In that era, no one saw the nostalgia craze coming.

[bernie]

Yes all of the wood boats are gone. Those under direct control of Mercury were destroyed at Lake X when they were no longer of use as test vehicles or competitive racers. Generally the same fate for those free from direct Kiekhaefer control. In that era, no one saw the nostalgia craze coming.

Yeah, Sam, every time I look at a photo of what I had I kick myself - should have stuck it in the barn and forgot about it - but no, I had had my fun with it, almost blew it over, time to move on, so I bought a GW Invader tunnel and wrecked that!

[velox]

When I was very young, I got to see the very first Wood Switzers in action.
With me it was love at first sight. I even made a feeble attempt to make a boat that would compete with them.
while all of my best friends like Don Pearson, Butch Stokes and George Griley got to drive them, I did not.
A few years back Rich Luhrs and Roger Hinsdale found out about my dream of driving one.
They let me drive the Miss Diablo.
The first time I drove, I was very conservative and just got in some slow laps.
After that I picked up the pace each time I drove it.
A couple of years ago we had a great wind right down the backstretch with about a one foot chop.
I extended my turn onto the backstretch and openened it up. I held on right up to where I usually backed off for my turn, when it popped straight up 8 inches in a level attitude. The drag completely went away and it accelerated 20 Mph in about 2 seconds, putting me in the backseat holding on with everything I had. I held it for about 10 seconds, overrunning the course as much as I dared.
I have operated a lot of high performance equipment including world class very high horsepower carbon fiber aerobatic airplanes, but I have never had a ride like this!
For me, it was the most exciting 10 seconds of my life.

PS
After driving the Switzer, I felt that the racing gods were with the Switzer brothers.
They built their first boat in just a few weeks from conception to testing.
If anything not been perfect when they tested it, they would have taken the boat to the dump!
The engines had to be running perfect. The tilt had to be close to perfect. The props had to be fairly correct and conditions had to be good.
If a Switzer is driven below the speed that it starts to fly, it is just another experiment. It is clumsy and not a particularly easy boat to race on a small closed course. .
There is no way anybody would have foreseen the way it pops and starts flying.
To this day it is the greatest margin of improvement any race boat ever achieved.

[RogerH]

Charlie.....I hope you get to do it again. The first time is forever!!!

[GENE LANHAM]

If a Switzer is driven below the speed that it starts to fly, it is just another experiment. It is clumsy and not a particularly easy boat to race on a small closed course. .
There is no way anybody would have foreseen the way it pops and starts flying.
.

Now you know, Leonard!!---

[lilabner]

When I was very young, I got to see the very first Wood Switzers in action.
With me it was love at first sight. I even made a feeble attempt to make a boat that would compete with them.
while all of my best friends like Don Pearson, Butch Stokes and George Griley got to drive them, I did not.
A few years back Rich Luhrs and Roger Hinsdale found out about my dream of driving one.
They let me drive the Miss Diablo.
The first time I drove, I was very conservative and just got in some slow laps.
After that I picked up the pace each time I drove it.
A couple of years ago we had a great wind right down the backstretch with about a one foot chop.
I extended my turn onto the backstretch and openened it up. I held on right up to where I usually backed off for my turn, when it popped straight up 8 inches in a level attitude. The drag completely went away and it accelerated 20 Mph in about 2 seconds, putting me in the backseat holding on with everything I had. I held it for about 10 seconds, overrunning the course as much as I dared.
I have operated a lot of high performance equipment including world class very high horsepower carbon fiber aerobatic airplanes, but I have never had a ride like this!
For me, it was the most exciting 10 seconds of my life.

PS
After driving the Switzer, I felt that the racing gods were with the Switzer brothers.
They built their first boat in just a few weeks from conception to testing.
If anything not been perfect when they tested it, they would have taken the boat to the dump!
The engines had to be running perfect. The tilt had to be close to perfect. The props had to be fairly correct and conditions had to be good.
If a Switzer is driven below the speed that it starts to fly, it is just another experiment. It is clumsy and not a particularly easy boat to race on a small closed course. .
There is no way anybody would have foreseen the way it pops and starts flying.
To this day it is the greatest margin of improvement any race boat ever achieved.

The most amazing thing to that story was they only had one engine, and had to beg and borrow one from Mercury. Bob and Dave told us the story at JJ Muggs in Jupiter at an OFF reunion. So Bob went on a road trip while Dave built the boat. Rigging an unknown boat with unknown motors is like pissing in the wind. You don't know what will bite you next. But they won the toughest outboard race on record. They are truly blessed. They also told the story of how the wing was designed. They missed their calling. Think of how fast we could have won WWII with their forward thinking, not taking anything away from our greatest generation.

[velox]

Charlie.....I hope you get to do it again. The first time is forever!!!

Notice how happy I look in this photo!
Nobody would ever believe a guy over 70 could have this much fun.
The OFF events are really more fun that the actual races were 50 years ago.
We get to drink, eat and BS.
There is no stress and everyone that shows up is a winner.

[FUJIMO]

[FUJIMO]