POST FALLS - After 50 years, Roger Radermacher and Water Scamp have met again.

Radermacher, who built the limited 280 Class hydroplane in 1958 in Seattle, hadn't seen the boat since he sold it for $1,000 in 1962.

Until Thursday's hydro display for the Diamond Cup Regatta at Red Lion Templin's Hotel in Post Falls.

"It's beautiful," a beaming Radermacher said while sitting in the hydroplane. "It hasn't changed. It's still like what I built."

Radermacher, 81, of Post Falls, never believed he would see the hydro again until his son-in-law found it while surfing the Internet.

"It was quite exciting," he said. "As far as I knew, the boat had rotted away someplace."

It was headed that way until Steve Kramer, the current owner from Gig Harbor, Wash., found it in a barn on Herron Island near Seattle.

"It was in bad shape," said Kramer, who met Radermacher for the first time on Thursday.

Water Scamp was the high-point champion in its class in Region 10 when Radermacher had it in 1959 and 1960.

"We took 13 trophies out of 15 races in 1960," Radermacher said.

And Kramer restored it and has made it a champion today.

It was the region's Vintage 1 champion in both 2009 and 2010.

"She gets up and kicks," a smiling Kramer said.

Kramer intends to show off Water Scamp on Lake Coeur d'Alene this weekend.

"I wasn't going to come over until I talked to Roger," Kramer said. "I should be working - I have an excavating business - but you've got to take time to have fun."

Kramer called the reunion a "proud" moment.

"We've been dreaming of this because we never thought that it would happen," he said. "It's like a ghost ship that has been brought back."

Radermacher, seeming content to stay in the boat to take it all in, marveled at each part.

Even the wooden steering wheel that Radermacher built was still there.

"I'm surprised it has stood up all these years," he said.

Diamond Cup events run today and this weekend at Coeur d'Alene City Park and on Lake Coeur d'Alene.

Vendors and a food court are open today at the park from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The Diamond Cup Regatta runs from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday on the lake.

The event is organized by the nonprofit Hydromaniacs to benefit the Museum of North Idaho Building Fund.

Diamond Cup schedule

11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Vendors and WSBA Food Court - City Park Midway

2 - 10 p.m. Hydros, Hot Rods, and Harleys - East City Park Area

5 p.m. - midnight Diamond Cup Banquet and Auction - Coeur d'Alene Eagle's Club, 209 Sherman Ave.

Saturday

11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Vendors and WSBA Food Court - City Park Midway

9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Diamond Cup Regatta - Lake Coeur d'Alene Race Course

11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Hydros, Hot Rods, and Harleys - East City Park Area

Sunday

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Vendors and WSBA Food Court - City Park Midway

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Diamond Cup Regatta - Lake Coeur d'Alene Race Course

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Hydros, Hot Rods, and Harleys - East City Park Area