You can't plan for all of the interesting things you should see. Sometimes you are just sitting in a small-town restaurant, wondering why all the planes are flying overhead, and the waitress tells you it is the Grand Marais Splash-In. Float planes - I heard the word seaplanes too and am not sure if they are the same thing - are important here. After some online research I learned that a seaplane can land on water and a float plane is a version with floats. There are regular flights to Island Royal, remote fishing camps, and some medical emergencies.
The planes gather yearly so the owners and families can socialize and engage in some friendly competition. The events included a balloon drop, landing accuracy, and water rescue.
The water rescue was the most entertaining. There is a weighted dummy in the water. The pilot is alone in the plane and must circle, land, turn off the prop, and life the dummy from the water. It is a timed contest with the time starting when the plane touches the water. About half of the participants were successful, with the challenge of overshooting the dummy before the pilot could hop onto the float and grab it. One of the more amusing attempts involved a pilot who had everything lined up perfectly, but he landed into a headwind, and his plane started to float backward when he was a yard or so short of the target. He struggled trying to paddle forward without luck.
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