It was the Squire Shop boat, right?
As Seafair enters the homestretch, a legendary
hydroplane lost for decades is given new life.
You see them up close and personal.
The Blue Angels are back and die-hard
fans insist this is the prime spot to see the Blues up close.
Drill team has been a major part of my life.
They march with purpose and precision, but see what
they really value as members of this elite team.
These stories and more next on CityStream.
♪♪
Hi, I'm Tatevik Aprikyan
Welcome to City Stream from Stan Sayres Memorial Park.
The quiet will soon turn chaotic as this becomes ground zero for Seafair's
signature event:
the hydroplane races
The pandemic puts Seattle's summertime festival on hold for two years.
But Seafair is back.
The Torchlight Parade,
the Pirates, the Blue Angels.
and the thunderboats all return.
And this year, one legendary hydro was out on Lake Washington
for the first time in 40 years.
In 1981, the Squire Shop flipped during a test run on this lake.
It broke in half, nearly killing driver Chip Hanauer.
Fast forward several decades.
The boat showed up on Craigslist and one man made it his mission to bring it back.
Producer Randy Eng has the story.
No one ever sets out to build a losing boat.
It's always a winning boat.
And as it's being built, we're going to win races
and then it becomes a real boat and it runs.
And sometimes it's successful, sometimes it's not.
That's this boat.
But it did something that was really important.
I had my friend Brad. Brad Haskin.
He calls me up on the phone one day and says, Hey, I got this crazy idea.
If I can get a couple of us friends together,
we can go buy an old vintage hydroplane.
It's sitting on Craigslist.
It hasn't raced in years, and and the guy just wants to sell it.
And we can buy it and we can donate it and we can have a little bit of fun
along the way, you know?
I said, I think you're a little crazy, Brad, but,
let me think about it.
Announcer: "And there's the Squire Shop going into the north turn..."
I found out it was one of the Nordberg boats.
This was Chip Hanauer's big break.
He's he's our big star of this sport.
He's the guy who's won 11 gold cups.
And this was the first boat that he drove to win a race.
Here comes the Squire.
If you were here back in the seventies, in the eighties,
Squire Shop, that's where you went to get your prom clothes.
That's where you went
to get your cool bell bottoms. That connected the sport to the people.
Announcer: "Squire Shop, Chip Hanauer, holding on to the lead, as they go up into the air."
I remember when I was a young kid, we used to go to the Squire Shop
and buy clothes.
We wear the stonewashed jeans back in the day.
Squire Shop? That's the boat to bring back.
But it never could catch
Atlas Van Lines
But it went hard though.
To run number two, in a race when you're running around a trail.
If you're there and you come up the winning line, if you can throttle
hard, that guy in front of you don't know if you got it to beat him.
And that's the way we used to win races.
Announcer: "Chip Hanauer, picking them up and
laying them down, rocking and rolling, doing a pretty good job right now."
The underdog can still win.
Good ride for Chip Hanauer!
I thought about it and it started to sound even more crazier.
But over time, it was like, you know, it wouldn't be such a bad deal.
You know, I was like, why?
And he explained to me which one it was.
And I was like, you know, honey, we have history with this boat.
I was offered a ride in it, and I was so shy
and I was so nervous, and I just says, no, I can't do it.
And he says, Are you sure?
And I'm like, I'm sure.
And I think I kind of went and hid behind mom.
Oh, she goes, I got pictures of it.
Really?
I remember having braids in my hair,
and that's all I really remember about it.
There it is, her standing there on the dock.
And I said, I know exactly what hull it is.
That this boat.
You know, we got to get it now.
And I called the guy up
and he goes, I just sold the boat yesterday.
You're kidding me, right?
He goes no. I really did.
I said, really?
Oh man, we missed our chance.
Kind of knew who would bought the boat.
And after about a year of asking,
he finally broke down and said, Yeah, I'll make a trade.
I want another hydroplane.
I'm like, I don't have another hydroplane.
Well, that's the deal.
So I immediately called the museum and I said,
is there any boats out there at all that meet this criteria?
He goes I know of only one been on the market a very long time
Had this tarp is flapping in the wind strings hanging off it.
Wood literally crumbling in the ground.
It was horrible.
But he kept seeing the potential in it.
We set up a meeting, drew up the paperwork, and we
finally got the boat.
To me, it was a Chip Hanauer boat
It's the Squire Shop
It had a deck on it.
I didn't really care
Get it down here
day one. OK, let's remove the deck.
I remember holding up the first sheet and I hold up the fiberglass
deck and I'm looking at it and the wood backing had crumbled into the boat.
And I'm like, where's the deck?
It's in pieces laying inside.
And like, wow, this is really rough.
The very first thing I did
in restoring this boat was pick the mushrooms off the bottom of the boat.
It was so saturated with rain,
oil from the years of racing, and then the damage was done.
I was still hopeful
because as long as I kept a screw, it was the Squire Shop boat.
Right?
It's a ton easier.
It's not old, grimy, unrecognizable stuff.
All fresh cut and brand new.
Not a screw put in the wood.
You know, it's completely fresh.
We're trying to preserve not just create new.
And so it was important to stay true to the original design.
There's a legacy that we get to leave behind.
It's something that not only our families enjoy being a part of,
but other people get to enjoy.
The parts. Well, it's it's kind of a long trail spans almost the entire country.
Some of them literally about a block from my house,
which was the cowling in the lake.
Once I heard that story, you wouldn't believe how many times I drive by.
It's out there somewhere.
It was a long time to just find out where it was,
and then to get the amazing amount of volunteers I had to help me get it.
30 some odd years, the bottom of Lake Washington...perfect condition.
Exciting.
Great job, guys.
You guys see, we're working on the project.
We got these parts hanging up on the wall in our garage.
Where'd you get those?
Oh, a boat caught on fire or something exploded. Engine failure,
or whatever. The guys are just saying, here, take it home. Souvenir.
Been on the guys wall, since the day it happened,
He goes, you might want to use these.
Absolutely.
The boats now are all plastic and all composite boats.
But the old method of building them out of wood is getting lost.
So it's kind of cool and help show these guys and teach them how we did it.
We're building boats, and we're teaching people how to build boats.
So we're preserving more than the history.
We're preserving the knowledge.
If it was just gonna been a museum piece, then
I probably wouldn't have gotten involved, but to see it run again,
that's the really cool part about it.
I feel good and nervous at the same time.
First time for a boat going out, is always...
you never know.
You always double check. Triple check.
But there's always that, heebie-jeebies, you know,
Remember popping those decks and oh.
It was a much larger project.
You start by peeling off
all the bad stuff, and there really was pretty much all bad stuff.
So that was a huge job.
And then getting hit with COVID right in the middle of it.
This one took a lot longer than it should have, but we're really,
really happy to have it on the water finally.
(engine sputters)
Come on, Dave.
(engine starts)
(people clap and cheer)
It's been a nine year
journey for myself since the day of the idea.
It's one of those pinch me moments.
I can't believe we pulled it off.
We did it, baby.
(boat engine purrs)
Hear that?
That's the happy sound!
I haven't decided if I'm going out for a ride yet.
Maybe. (laughs)
Anything's possible.
I have no desire to ride in the boat.
I am still just a fan, and that's all I'll ever be.
Oh, Bob.
We did it, man. Yep. Yep.
Every boat has sort of a spiritual guide, if you will.
And that's. That's Gary for this project.
He is certainly the spiritual guide to this boat.
He raised money, and he bought the boat, and then he donated the boat.
Our guy for the Squire Shop is Gary Laws.
I mean, it's probably built better now than it ever was brand new.
It's a piece of art that actually runs now.
Would I do it again?
I probably do it a little differently.
But, you know, it was totally worth it.
It's not just about the boat and it's not just about, you know,
getting it back out on the water.
It's about the journey with my family.
Seeing my dad and seeing Gary smile and seeing mom smile.
That's the important part to me.
The Squire Shop will always have a special connection to Seafair.
Back in the eighties,
before the event had corporate sponsors, it ran into financial trouble.
Squire Shop owner Bob Steil stepped up and provided the funds
to keep Seafair afloat.
Restoration of the boat has become a show of gratitude for keeping Seafair alive.
As for the boat itself, the restoration was done
at the Hydroplane Race Boat Museum in Kent.
15 dedicated museum volunteers
worked countless hours to give the Squire Shop new life.
If you'd like to visit the museum or learn more about it, check out their website.
Thunderboats.ning.com
Next, the Blue Angels return to Seafair
and one group says its viewing location cannot be beat.
We'll show you a CityStream continues.
♪♪
(jet roaring)
This remains one of Seafair's most popular attractions.
The stunning airshow performed by the Navy's Blue Angels
has been a Seafair tradition since 1972.
COVID grounded the Blues for two years, but the team is back
and will show off its new, larger and louder
F/A-18 Super Hornet jets.
Also next year, the Blue Angels will welcome their first ever female pilot.
Lieutenant Amanda Lee has been selected to fly with the famed squadron.
Of course, long time Blue Angels fans have a favorite viewing location or two,
but one group insists there's only one place to watch.
Each year, they flock to Ruby Chow Park at the north
end of Boeing Field to experience thunderous takeoffs and landings.
Producer Randy Eng takes a look.
This spot is, to me, the best spot.
You know, you see 'em up
close and personal.
This is the best place
to watch the Blue Angels ever.
Hands down.
Everything. Right here.
I think that us Seattle natives
that sit here
at the end of the runway understand
you know, where
they taking off and they're landing.
You know, that's the best
(engine roars)
Seattle's shortest air show
sitting down here.
(imitates jet flying by)
Technically,
they're just
(whispers)
BOOOM!
because you can't hear 'em coming.
You can hear 'em leaving. (laughs)
Come on with it...
I'm ready.
(jets roar)
I told you.
(jet roars)
This is where it starts.
They take off.
They're down low. It's...it's loud.
Why the ladder?
So they can get up above the busy fence.
It's a Seattle thing.
You can't get at Lake Washington.
Yeah, they have the hydros.
We've seen the big flying shows and stuff
like that.
I done seen it.
But to feel the Blues
right over your head.
That's the best. That's the best.
But then the waiting though...
Get ready.
Yeah, yeah...
(laughs) No really! I'm serious.
The wait for them to all
come back in formation is the best.
It's that salute at the end,
right here at the end of the runway.
They're just being slow about it.
This is the best part.
All right.
Even though we was getting ready
for 20 minutes!
Ingrid, look over there.
Get ready.
(jets whoosh)
I told you.
You know, it's that Seattle Soul.
Blue Angels are the Seattle soul
in the summertime.
It's part of Seattle history.
It's what Seafair is about.
(Woooooo...yeah)
Can't nothing get better than that!
That was the longest, shortest show ever.
THE BEST!
(everyone claps)
If you'd like more information on the Blue Angels performance schedule,
go to seafair.org and click on the events tab,
then scroll down to the Boeing Seafair Air Show.
From precision pilots to fancy dancers
summer is the time to move and groove to Latin music. Since 2009, Belltown
Dance Studios Salsa and Bachata on Alki has drawn
hundreds of people who love to dance to the water's edge.
♪ Salsa music ♪
From salsa
to a Seattle drill team that marches with precision and purpose.
That's ahead,
as CityStream continues.
♪♪
The Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team is celebrating its 70th anniversary.
The group has gotten international acclaim for its distinctive style and precision.
But more importantly, the drill team has given generations of young women
an identity, a support system, and an appreciation of their culture.
The organization is the subject of a new documentary.
Here's a work sample from Dela Chen's production.
(foot tapping) ba da rum, pum, pum, ba da rum, pum, pum, ba da rum pum, pum, pum,
pum pum. rum, bum, bum, bum
ba da rum bum, bum, bum.
When the parade comes and you see the girls,
you can hear them from afar and you already your heart is pounding
cause you're so happy that we're part of it.
♪♪
Well, Auntie
Ruby was a role model because she was a Chinese woman.
She started this whole thing.
Coming up in the Chinese Community, Girls Drill Team.
They have been around since 1952, and they performed all over the world,
including San Francisco, Portland,
Philadelphia, Washington, D.C.,
Taiwan, and the Republic of China.
Because we're a precision
military drill team, we were trained by Ted Yerabek.
So we had to be precise
We learned about our community.
We learned about respect and about traditions
and about all the hardships of those who came before us.
Bowing to visitors who come into our community for the Chinatown parade,
sign of respect and welcoming, of kinship.
Organizations
like the drill team and other community organizations are really important
to help kids realize that they have value in their culture.
And just having an identity with others of the same culture was really important.
Oh, drill team's done so much for me
because it was basically most of my formative years.
This friendship and this sisterhood that's carried on for all these years
And so
drill team has been a major part of my life.
Performing gave us the ability to come together
like on a weekly basis and see each other frequently
and then form the connections that make us community and friends and family.
I had the opportunity and the gift
to have made lifelong friends that
I really care about.
The drill team that the public sees doesn't begin
to scratch the surface of what it means to us as the drill team members.
To called drill team
a performance team is a huge understatement
because it is merely like the platform upon which we build
all of our other relationships that I would say are much more important
or have been a lot more critical for me in forming identity
and becoming an adult.
That confidence
to be a leader, to speak and to
empower girls and share really stemmed
from being on the team.
And just a strong impact.
And a lot of
times you go out into the world and you don't have that
group to who identifies you on the inside and outside.
Everyone who came before us
has paved the way for when we marched.
I don't think there's
been given enough attention to how special it is and how unique it is,
but it means so much to us, and the majority of people
don't know what it is.
That's why sometimes we have peaks and valleys in enrollment.
How do we continue
to show our extended girl families and cousins and aunties and uncles
that there's something still here.
And I think it's just a great time to showcase them
and let all these people in Seattle and Washington know
that we're here and we're still strong and we want to build it and keep it going.
Documentary producer Della Chen hopes to premiere the film in early 2023.
She'd also like to make it available to public schools
as part of Washington State history curriculum.
We'll be right back.
♪♪
That wraps up this week's
episode of CityStream from Stan Sayres Memorial Park.
If you'd like more information
on Seafair and all of their events, just go to their website:
Seafair.org
I'm Tatevik Aprikyan,
thanks for watching.
♪♪