An Air Of "Frenetic Tranquility" Abounds At The Lagoon

by ANN Correspondent Matt Russell

At the south end of Wittman Field, I board a big yellow bus for the ride to EAA’s Seaplane Base. After a 4.5-mile ride through the cornfields, and with the madness of AirVenture completely out of sight, we disembark on the side of the road and walk into the woods through a gate. We follow a well-cut nature trail.

The temperature cools under the towering forest, and senses awake to the lakeshore sounds and smells. Soon the trail opens and we are back amongst the airplanes, but this time they are all... floating. A calm lagoon appears to be holding near 50 seaplanes when I arrive, and a flurry of activity is quietly occurring. From somewhere up in the trees a woman’s voice on a loudspeaker calmly reminds the visitors, "Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! We have water and lemonade, and it’s gonna be a hot one!"

I am lucky to meet Paul Seehafer, chairman of the Seaplane Base. Paul is a very busy man because he and a roster of around 225 volunteers are in constant motion during AirVenture to support operations at the Seaplane Base.

"We always like to meet new people, but it’s a family atmosphere," says Seehafer. "Our first campfire night that we have, we call the reunion campfire. It’s where we get together and catch up with each other." Strolling through the Seaplane Base grounds, Seehafer proudly showcases the "something different" aspect of the environment. "See those two over there?" he says, pointing to a couple in lawn chairs, quietly viewing the water. "We have people doing that all the time. Once, a journalist walked up to a couple doing the same thing and asked what they were looking at. They replied ‘nothing,’ and that was the beauty of it." Seehafer continues, "That’s kind of what the Seaplane Base is about. We’re like being at the beach house."

Asked about a schedule of activities, Seehafer explains, "We don’t try to schedule things. We try to encourage people to go fly and let others see the airplanes."

I ask Seehafer, who owns a Lake Amphibian and a Kitfox on floats, how his team educates the visiting General Aviation community about seaplanes. "We recently have been trying demonstration flights. A lot of people are interested to learn things, like how a plow taxi and a step taxi are different, or simply how you turn a seaplane in the water. We have someone on shore with a microphone who can announce information about each airplane."

A Republic SeaBee, N713ET (above), pulls into a slip, aided by a couple of dock volunteers. "He’s an airline pilot from Puerto Rico," Seehafer explains, "…and he loves giving rides to volunteers. That’s what the pilots do here… they donate their time and fuel.

Other donations, mostly in the form of time, are made by the volunteers who keep things moving on the water. "We have our radio point volunteers who provide advice to each plane, and control access to the lagoon," says Seehafer. "They let you know when it’s safe to enter, because the opening is only 100 feet wide." He points across to the shore, "Then we have our Dock Boss who decides where you should park, depending on what kind of airplane you have."

Over on the dock, five-year volunteer Brett McKinney takes Minnesota resident John Justad out to his DeHavilland Beaver, which is moored in the lagoon. "This is my first floatplane, and my first time to fly a floatplane to the Seaplane Base," he says, who bought the Beaver about two years ago. Justad further explains owning the floatplane "...may turn out to be a 'been there, done that' experience," but one he’s having great fun with.

Volunteers regularly operate pontoon-boat tours of the Seaplane Base. This gives AirVenture tourists a chance to view the wide variety of visiting seaplanes up close. When asked how far pilots travel to reach the Base, Paul Seehafer points to a turbine-converted Cessna on floats and says "Germany… a man and his ten year-old son made the trip from Germany this year."

The EAA Seaplane Base has a small camping area reserved mainly for volunteers and pilots who keep their plane at the Base. Concessions and vendors (of seaplane products) are also on-site. Nightly events include bonfires, karaoke, a fish fry, and an annual watermelon social.

"As far as I know, this is the largest seaplane gathering in the world," says Seehafer. But of course.

FMI: www.airventure.org/2007/events/seaplane_base.html