Sanger Fathers Day 2009 Camp Far West

Fathers Day at Camp Far West 2009
Every year now for the last 6 or 7 years, Scott Pellaton of Sanger Boats has spent Fathers day with family and Friends watching and enjoying the side by side casual running of boats and drivers at Camp Far West.

This year was no different as far as the great weather, nice water and the incredible comradery between the boat owners and their boats. There was however, a very unfortunate accident that took the life of one of our brother speed enthusiast. Frank Urbancic lost his life on the evening of June 20th, 2009 doing what he loved best and that was running his 1978 Blown Gas Sanger Hydro down the course as fast as he could. Frank lost control of his boat and his unfortunate passing followed.

It is with this incident at Camp Far West that we at Sanger would like to Dedicate this article to Frank and his surviving Family.

Scott always arrives at Camp Far West at least on the Thursday before Fathers Day. This lake is such a popular location that we need to set up our campground early so we get a spot on the water where the boats make their runs. The shoreline that looks West over the finger of water that everyone runs on is about a half mile long and it is generally filled with all kinds of hydros and flat bottoms, new and old. We have found that it is a Sanger Haven for these kinds of boats Sanger used to build. It is here that we all had the pleasure of meeting this short, kind of stocky and smiley face man by the name of Frank.

This guy always had a smile glued to his face and it was contagious. Frank would talk to anyone and everyone. He had no problem talking with people especially about boats. You see, Frank had spent the last 30 years as what his brother called being a “Lake Warrior”. He would frequent lakes like Shasta, Irongate Reservoir, Folsom, Bullards Bar and of course, Camp Far West.

Frank was of Austrian and Italian descent. His Mother Frances and Father Frank Senior brought Frank up as a devout Christian. Frank being the oldest brother to, Michael, Anthony and Richard. Frank was a graduate of Yreka High School in Southern California. His Dad was a union Iron Worker and Frank followed in his Dads footstep as a fellow Iron Worker for about 17 years until he started a trucking company in 1996 with his brother Mike in the Roseville area. His passion however was building motors for both cars and boats. Frank had owned vintage camaros but took a fancy to building motors for the 6 or 7 boats that he owned. His first boat was a ski hydro with a 454 in it and he owned that for about 7 years before he built a Cheyenne day cruiser with a blown motor in it. He then moved on to a 1974 Sanger bubble deck flatbottom,with a LS 7 engine. He went on to restore a Hallett V-drive and a Curtis hydro before moving onto a Pontoon boat. And then he acquired his 1978 Blown Gas Drag Hydro with a 523 cubic inch 800 hp engine that took him three years to build. I remember watching Frank run his boat that weekend and noticing that he had that hull dialed in to ride very free and very fast.

Frank lived with his bother. His brother told me that the other passion in his life was “Women”. Even though Frank was never married, he had a profound respect and love for women.

This Father’s Day, Frank was accompanied by his Brother Mike, Cousin Peter Caminata, Friends Dennis Miller and Ernie Killinger. After speaking with Frank’s brother and several other people that knew Frank, I could tell that this man was going to be missed dearly. So to Frank, we will miss your smile, your happy attitude about life and I am sure the people close to Frank could list many more qualities about Frank that we were not fortunate enough to spend enough time with Frank to get to know.

After Saturday night things were what you might call slightly quiet with thoughts centered around Frank. I was able to speak candidly with Michelle Ringler, the Manager of the Camp Far West Camp Grounds. Michelle knew Frank quite well and was moved deeply when she got the word of Franks accident. Michelle did a fine job of getting the first responders to the lake and Frank was found amazingly enough a few hours after his accident, credit going to the first responders for their diligent search efforts to find Frank

We did however on Thursday and Friday have the opportunity to do some wakeboarding, cliff diving, speed skiing and some side by side runs that got everyone on their feet. We also had the chance as always to walk the beach and see all the boats lined up along the shore and took the opportunity to talk to some drivers and owners. So what we have for you are some pictures of all that we saw on the beach at Camp Far West. And there were plenty of nice boats, engines and hardware to look at. So we hope you enjoy the pictures of that week end and say a little prayer for Frank!!!

And if you get a chance and have never been to Camp Far West, check it out and give it a visit. See you all next year. Camp Far West is located North of Sacramento. Take Hwy 65 North out of Roseville about 12 to 14 miles to the small town of Sheridan and head East on Riosa Rd and follow the signs to Camp Far West.