North Bend hydroplane driver OK after frightening Seafair flip

“I was driving angry, and when you are that angry you don’t pay attention to what the boat is doing,” said 23-year-old Kayleigh Perkins-Mallory, after her unlimited light hydroplane rose like a kite, pin-wheeled, then crashed, top down to the surface of Lake Washington on Sunday.

The blow-over accident happened in the final heat of the Unlimited Lights at Seafair. To the naked eye, and viewers watching live on television, the crash appeared nasty. But Perkins-Mallory, of North Bend, suffered only shoulder and neck bruises.

“It was a very gentle crash. I really don’t have a scratch on me,” said Perkins-Mallory. “This boat took all the brunt of the force.”

Earlier this year, the same boat caught fire during a test run on Lake Washington, and Perkins-Mallory had to jump into the cold water.

Sunday, safety technology and training helped her escape serious injury.

Perkins was wearing an oxygen mask during the entire race, and when the boat blew over she immediately remembered her driver underwater routine.

“I was focused on just holding my air mask, and breathing slowly. The divers pulled me out, and was just sort of relaxing,” she said.

Divers had Perkins-Mallory out of the cockpit in less than 90 seconds.

Perkins-Mallory got a bad start in the heat and was trying to make up water on the leader, Paul Becker. The race was stopped after the crash, and Becker in the UL-1 won the trophy when it was run later on Sunday.

“I was just pushing harder than I needed to be,” Perkins-Mallory explained after she was evaluated by a medical team. “I was trying to play catch-up in the first lap and I should have caught the leader a little later.”