COEUR d'ALENE - Powered by a 12-cylinder Allison engine, Miss Wahoo blasted across Lake Coeur d'Alene this weekend, gliding over the waves like a rock skipping off a pond.

Inside the cramped cockpit, driver David Williams skidded around buoys and opened the throttle wide. Because of the boat traffic and choppy conditions, he couldn't push the flat-bottomed, 28-foot hydroplane to her top speed of 160 mph.

But he did manage to hit 120.

"It's awesome. It's just a dream come true," said Williams, director of the Hydroplane & Raceboat Museum in Kent, Wash. "It is a physical workout to control (the boat). It takes a lot of upper body strength."

Eleven hydroplanes circled a long racecourse at the Diamond Cup Regatta on Saturday and Sunday, running in packs of two, three or four. Spectators thronged downtown Coeur d'Alene, watching the action from the concrete steps of Independence Point, City Beach or The Coeur d'Alene Resort boardwalk.

The Diamond Cup, organized by the Hydromaniacs club and held in conjunction with the Hydros, Hot Rods, and Harleys event at City Park downtown, benefited the Museum of North Idaho Building Fund. Hydroplanes large and small - including limited, unlimited and two Jersey skiffs - were on display.

"They're all the different sizes, different engine specifications," said Hydromaniacs volunteer Dave Walker. "People can see the different classes. Lake conditions are really, really good."

Hydroplanes were once a common sight on Lake Coeur d'Alene.

From 1958-68, the Lake City hosted the Diamond Cup just about every summer. The racing was fast and exciting, and huge crowds would line the shore as the hydros flew by.

This year's Diamond Cup lacked the breakneck danger of races past, but it still brought back a few memories.

"I think it's wonderful," said Tim Johnston of Coeur d'Alene, who remembers watching the hydros 50-odd years ago, when he was still a kid.

"We used to sit on Tubbs Hill, and four of 'em would come down, 180 miles per hour," he recalled. "The hair on the back of your neck would stand up."

After winning an auction prize, Colleen Collins of Post Falls took a ride with Williams in the Miss Wahoo. Donning a helmet and racing clothes, she even steered the ship for a moment or two.

"There's nothing like the sound, or the beauty of the rooster tails," Collins said of the hydroplanes. "Everything goes by so fast. It's hard to even see a landmark."

Hitting those speeds in a high-powered machine, she added, was like nothing she had ever experienced.

"This is an extreme for me," Collins said.

Under cloudless skies on Sunday afternoon, the Wahoo and Oh Boy! Oberto hydroplane - both classified as unlimited, the fastest of the fast - burned a few more laps around the course. From shore they looked like colorful specks, their white tails streaming behind them.

The Oberto is 30 feet long, sports a 2,000-hp engine and can reach speeds of 185 mph. She was an even match for Miss Wahoo, and the two hydroplanes dashed from buoy to buoy, steering clear of the pleasure boats and wave runners.

"We like to remind people why they fall in love with boat racing to begin with," Williams said.

Don Shafer of the Hydromaniacs thanked everyone who helped make the Diamond Cup a success. When the plans were being formed, he said, the club didn't know what to expect.

"The group of us, we think it turned out extremely well for the first time out," Shafer added. "We're extremely happy with the way it turned out."