Tiny boats in big-time competition at Westmoreland Casting Pond

By David F. Ashton

The Bee, Jul 7, 2010

David F. Ashton / THE BEE

Bill Amick, a Westmoreland resident, shows off his worthy craft after a race.

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Almost two months before a more-publicized 2010 Portland Rose Festival event takes place there – the Milk Carton Boat Races, this year held on June 13 – skippers from all over the Pacific Northwest converged on the historic Westmoreland Park Casting Pond – for what they say is the best day of racing of their season.

Yes, again this year, the “Electric Radio Control Unlimiteds” (ERCU) held their Portland Rose Festival Regatta there – on April 24th.

“The pond is the perfect venue for our 1/10th scale models of unlimited hydroplane race boats,” extolled Nelson Holmberg, the event’s Race Director. “The water is shallow enough to be calm, and the casting pond is the perfect size and shape for scale powerboat racing. It works out really well for both the competitors and spectators.”

Even though rain threatened throughout the day, a large number of enthusiasts – many of them from the Seattle area – were on hand, testifying to the ideal racing conditions they find year after year at this Southeast Portland pond.

Getting his boat ready for a race, we met Westmoreland’s Bill Amick, as he wired a freshly-charged battery into his “Spirit of Dayton-Walther U-77” model hydroplane craft.

No newcomer to model boat racing, Amick said that the year 2010 marks his 30th anniversary of being involved in model remote controlled boat racing. “When I was going to Llewellyn Elementary School, I’d come to Westmoreland Park and watch guys running their boats on the pond. I made up my mind that this was something that I was going to do.”

After learning that the boats and radio gear were expensive, Amick got an after-school job. “I went to work for Stephie at the Kienow’s Market – it’s now the QFC. I got enough money together, and went down to the hobby store on Milwaukie and bought my first radio boat – and never looked back.”

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