BELLINGHAM, Wash. — In the 1994 film "Maverick," James Garner leaps into a steamboat and off he goes! The scene was filmed on the Columbia River. And the escape boat, based in Bellingham, is known as "The Flyer."
"I had to crouch down like this the whole way while the extra and James Garner were in the shot," says Andrew VanLuenen. He built the 23.5-foot craft in 1987 and starred in the film. OK, so Jodie Foster, Mel Gibson, and Garner are more the stars. But VanLuenen DOES appear in a scene on a different steamboat.
VanLuenen's friend and Northwest Steam Society board member Ryan Handel now owns The Flyer. He says the first thing you do on a steamboat? You wait. "This is as much fun as watching water boil," he says. Which is exactly what's going on when we arrive for a steamboat ride.
It takes about a half-hour to make steam. Ryan has wood on board that he puts into a fire in the middle of the boat. That fire heats the boilers full of water which, in turn, emit steam to power the rhythmic engine. "I can go to sleep listening to this. It's peaceful you know?" Handel says.
Not so peaceful but even more popular is the sound of the steam whistle mounted on the smokestack. "It carries for miles. This morning Andrew came in and he was probably two or 3 miles down the lake. I could see the steam cloud and, about two minutes later, I could hear the whistle."
Handel grew up near train tracks and can't resist the sound. He recalls a moment from his teens. "Heard rumors there was a steamboat on the lake. Finally heard a whistle and came running down to the boat launch on my bike as fast as I could pedal." The steamboat owner gave him a ride and he was hooked. He made one for his high school senior project. Yes, he did get an A.
VanLuenen says a steamboat will never be mistaken for a speedboat. "If you're not in a hurry, you get there you know?" Boats like the Flyer were common in the latter part of the 19th century. "Before any highways were built, this is the way transportation was. Mail, produce, everything."
His brush with fame happened at what they call a steamboat "meet" in Poulsbo. Movie producers were scouting out potential boats and offered Andrew $150 a day to use the Flyer.
They say blood is thicker than water? In this case, water, specifically 212-degree water, is in their blood. "There's just something about steam that kind of once he gets into your blood, it's there for life," Handel says.
The Flyer and at least 20 other steamboats will be on hand as the Northwest Steam Society hosts its annual "Steam Meet" in Sequim August 9-11 at John Wayne Marina.
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