Now that I've got your curiosity going, we can go back to our history books and recall the American Indians and how they traveled by water (The Canoe). There are many types of canoes made from different types of materials. Some of them were animal hides, tree bark, wood and more recently aluminum, fiberglass and plastic. The North American Coastal Indians most commonly used what is called a dugout canoe. The method was to take a large tree and carve out a canoe. Then they would dig out the inside of the canoe. Ta-dah! An Original North American Runabout.

Now back in 1969, I was a J stock Runabout Driver and my Dad had taken me to watch a race in the Seattle, WA. area called the Sammamish Slough Race. In the pit area there were the usual hydros and runabouts, but in addition to the usual there was a group of unusual crafts there. I asked my Dad what they were and he told me they were Indian War Canoes. "But Dad", I replied, "they have outboards on them." He explained to me that there were a group of coastal Indians that were invited to the race, and that they used a solid cedar dugout canoe, approximately 20 ft. long with a Mercury Mark 25 outboard for power. I watched with amazement as these Indian War Canoes went sped up the Slough at speeds much faster than my J Stock Runabout. As the last Canoe passed by I began thinking to myself, "boy, someday I would sure like to try one of those."

My racing career continued on over the years, as one would normally expect. I went from racing runabouts and hydros in the stock, mod and PRO Categories, to racing inboard hydros and OPC tunnel boats. I went from circle races to long distance marathon races. I was always looking to try a new challenge. After 30 years of exhausting all the possibilities that I could afford, I began to think about those unusual Indian War canoes again.

In the late 70's I had become a Yamato Outboard dealer, and every few years one of the Coastal Indians would find me at the annual Capitol Lake race and ask questions about the Yamato Motors. As the years went on I began to ask questions about the canoes, but they never would tell me much. It became obvious that they were a very tight group and the chances of getting involved in their Canoe Racing were slim to none.

On a cold January morning in 1995 a man called and asked if he could strop by the shop and see a Yamato outboard. I agreed, and in few hours later he arrived. I showed him the Yamato outboards, and in our conversation I asked what he was considering putting the motor on. He explained that he was considering putting it on a Dugout Canoe. I asked more questions and he willingly answered. Come to find out that he was a second generation Indian War Canoe Racer. He stopped by the shop several more times over the next few months and eventually invited me to come to some of their races.

I loaded up the Van on July 4th with a Yamato motor and brochures and headed for the Washington coast to the Quinault Indian Reservation. About half way through the Reservation where the Quinault River meets the ocean, there's a small town called Taholah. I had arrived several hours early, and as I drove through town there were Indian War Canoes in people’s yards and on top of pickup trucks. As I turned a corner where the road meets the river, I recognized the pickup truck of the man who had invited me to the race. There were a dozen canoes in the yard and several people working feverishly on their late model Mercury Outboards. I stopped and introduced myself. There were all very curious about the Yamato Outboard and asked if they could have a closer took. The asked a million questions and then asked if I would cover up the motor and not tell anyone else. I agreed, if they would tell me about the Canoes, and they agreed.

We started off with a tour of the canoe club’s Long House, where many of the canoes are stored. They explained to me that the canoes were made form a clear cedar tree log, 3 ft. by 3 ft. by 23 ft. long. The canoe is then roughly shaped and dug out, then is left to dry for a year. If the canoe doesn't split after drying, they then finish the canoe and add a transom board for the motor. The only hull board is for the motor. The only hull dimension is that it must have a 22 ft. planing surface. All of the canoes had a square tail end, which they said had evolved from the radius end canoes some 20 years ago. The width of the planing surface of most of the canoes was 18 to 24 inches. The motor requirements are that it had to be a production motor of 25 cubic inches or less and they have two classes, a Stock Class and a Modified Class.

It didn't take much too figure out that building my own canoe was not an option, so I asked if there were any canoes that I could purchase or borrow to try my Yamato motor on. They replied that there were none available, and that all the canoes were shared and traded with relatives. I then asked if someone would build me a Canoe. Their reply was that it could cost me about $10,000 in time and materials to have some one build me a canoe. I thought to myself, this is not looking good.

We then headed to the race course, which was downriver on the other side of town (about 6 blocks). When we arrived, they pointed out where the course was. What I saw was several buoys high and dry on a sand bar. They laughed and said not to worry, the tide will be in in about an hour. They unloaded their equipment and began testing, running up and down the narrow channel of the river. It was no time at all that the tide had come in and they were testing the full race course. I helped with whatever I could, unloading canoes and motors from their pickup trucks and holding the canoes in the water. Soon they began racing and I was standing on the beach thinking, boy that looks like a lot of fun.

At the end of the final heat of racing, I congratulated the racer that had invited me to the race, as he had finished in second place. I helped them load their equipment back on their truck. When we were finished, I said goodbye, and I turned to find by my van, there were some Indian blankets on the roof and three men loading a canoe on top of my van. As I walked up to my van one of the men said, "go home, practice and we'll see you at the next race."