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LAKEPORT, Calif. — The annual Clear Lake Splash-In took off Friday under cloudy skies.
As seaplanes soared over mountains and skimmed onto the Lakeport shoreline, industry professionals, aviation enthusiasts and visitors of all ages gathered along the waterfront.
Spanning from Friday through Sunday, the annual event features seminars on seaplane operations, youth programs, innovative aircraft demonstrations, and discussions on developing Clear Lake’s seaplane infrastructure with professionals and local officials.
While seminars took place at the Lakeport Yacht Club, located at the 5th Street boat ramp, pilots who had flown in parked their aircraft on the lawn behind Skylark Shores Resort for spectators to view.
The seaplane viewing got off to a slow start, as thick clouds lingered overhead.
Around 2 p.m., three planes were parked at the lawn of Skylark and two docked in the water just behind the hotel, drifting quietly, looking out over the open lake. Ducks and geese swam into the shadows cast by the seaplane wings, seeking shelter from the glare, while visitors remained few and far between.
“It’s pretty quiet today,” said Redwood Valley resident Jeff Blank who walked up to examine the red-wing seaplane — the largest of the three on the lawn at that time.
Blank said that he has attended Splash-In as a visitor multiple times in the past. “There used to be a lot of people with like 20 to 30 planes,” Blank said. He figured the smaller seaplane turnout this year was due to the weather.
For John Elbert, a volunteer assisting with incoming landing, the lower viewer turnout near the planes was because “everyone is over there in the seminar!”
Still, more spectators gradually arrived as scattered beams of sunlight occasionally broke through the clouds.
Some wandered among the planes on the lawn, while others lined the shore to watch the ones floating in the lake. Parents strolled with their babies, and pet owners walked with their dogs on leashes.
Lakeport Councilmember Brandon Disney made a brief stop on the lawn, asking for directions to the seminar to discuss Clear Lake “dock options” for seaplanes. He was then directed to the other event site, the Yacht Club.
Seaplanes touch down for the weekend
The favorite “show” for the visitors at Skylark, of course, was to watch a seaplane glide in from the distant sky and land with a splash on the lake, just yards away.
Together with other visitors, seasoned pilot Phyllis Manning-Lee who is also a seaplane instructor was waiting for her friend to land.
She drove from her home in Napa to participate and said she couldn’t get a room at Skylark. “It’s fully booked!” she exclaimed. She planned to stay at a friend’s place in Lakeport over the weekend.
Manning-Lee told Lake County News that Clear Lake is a popular destination for seaplanes. It’s not only an open lake but also has beautiful views when looking from above, she explained.
As she sat at the bench by the shore, Manning-Lee constantly checked the aviation information app on her phone, tracking the location, height, speed and landing time of her friend, Alberto Rossi, who disembarked from Hayward, East Bay.
She pointed to the clouds and mountains afar, and said that’s where Rossi would be coming.
As a pilot, Manning-Lee said she always knows the direction even without navigation tools.
The app showed that Rossi would land at 4:03 p.m..
By 3:40 p.m., everyone nearby had gathered at the shore, including those who had been examining the planes on the lawn. They looked up, stretching their sight toward the distance, scanning the sky—each hoping to be the first to spot the approaching aircraft.
The plane appeared as small as a bird when it first pierced through the shadowing clouds. Spectators pointed and called out, helping each other locate the tiny speck—and correcting those who mistook actual birds for the plane.
The first time seeing the seaplanes
Among the enthusiastic viewers was 7-year-old Brandon Bartko of Lakeport — the only one who had walked out onto the dock, standing closest to the water, and of course, the landing.
He stood straight, still and quiet, eyes fixed on the approaching plane as it circled, searching for a place to touch down. Then it burst into a splash in the lake and taxied gracefully right in front of him.
This was Brandon’s first time to see a seaplane and he told Lake County News he liked it.
He was asked about what he was thinking on the dock.
Brandon looked over to the lake, contemplated, and said, “How cool it would be to be in a plane just soaring over the lake.”
Do you want to be a pilot? he was asked.
“No,” he responded, a little quicker this time — apparently he had thought about his future seriously. “I want to be a diesel mechanic.”
He was then asked if he would want to go for a ride in the seaplane?
A longer-than-usual pause ensued as Brandon clearly entered his typical deep thinking mode.
“Hmm, maybe,” he finally gave a well-considered response.
Asked about what he was thinking, he responded, “Sometimes I get scared on planes, and I don’t like being scared. And another reason, and the ‘yes’ reason, is that I know it’s not gonna crash at all.”
When asked if he was coming back on Saturday, the child finally looked up to his grandfather Bill Beedle and asked, “Are we?”
Beedle is a 40-year Lakeport resident who also attended Splash-In for the first time on Friday.
He gave a wide grin and said, “We'll come back tomorrow and look at some more planes. You bet.”
Email staff reporter Lingzi Chen at
