Hydroplanes will skip atop Oak Harbor Bay for the third consecutive year — after a nearly 40-year hiatus — thanks to Craig McKenzie’s wish to give back to the community.

Hydroplanes, under the guidance of Michelle Curry, were re-introduced to North Whidbey in 2014. After last summer’s event, Curry said there would be no race in 2016 because of scheduling conflicts. The only open August dates on the racing schedule either ran into poor tides or other annual Oak Harbor events. Curry said the race would return in 2017; she has since moved from the area.

Up stepped new race director McKenzie, who didn’t see a problem with scheduling the races Aug. 13 and 14, the same weekend as the annual PigFest and North Whidbey Lions Car Show.

The Coupeville Arts and Crafts Festival and Race the Reserve are also slated for that weekend.

“This was the best weekend for the tides,” McKenzie said. “We really feel like all the events will benefit from each other and the overall draw will be larger.”

Jim Woessner, the hydroplane race director, said he is “excited about coinciding the event with the Car Show and popular Pigfest.”

Woessner, who coincidently founded the Car Show 32 years ago, said all of the events are working closely to “create a mega-weekend in Oak Harbor.”

McKenzie said he is willing to take on the financial responsibilities of the race because he “spent the last 23 years in Oak Harbor running a very successful real estate business, and I am now giving back as much as possible.”

McKenzie, managing broker for Keller Williams Whidbey Realty, is calling this year’s event Hydros for Heroes “to honor our men and women in uniform.”

He added that non-military community members “can still be heroes by supporting this great charity event.”

Volunteers from the Craig McKenzie Team Foundation and the Rotary Club of Oak Harbor will help run the hydro races.

Proceeds from the race will go to the Rotary’s charitable causes, such as Food for Kids Back Pack Program and annual college scholarships.

McKenzie, a member of Rotary, said he will take on any financial loss and work to keep costs down and donations up.

Hydros for Heroes also falls inline with McKenzie’s work with Homes for Heroes, a national program.

McKenzie and his team are the designated local brokers for the program. When the team represents a hero in a real estate transaction, it returns 30 percent of its commission on the sale or purchase of property to the heros.

Heroes, according to the program, are members of the military (including veterans), police officers, firefighters, school teachers and health care professionals.

“My team has already given back over $61,000 to our local hometown heroes, and our goal is to give back $100,000 before the end of the year, with an ultimate goal of giving back $1 million dollars over the next 10 years,” McKenzie said.

Plans for this year’s hydroplane races are going well, McKenzie said.

“We are getting a lot of community support with lots still to do,” he said. “I took on this event six months later than I would have wanted, but we have been working around the clock to catch up and are almost there. Jim Woessner, my team and a number of our fellow Rotarians have been amazing and have worked very hard to get us to this point.”

Their work includes several changes for this summer’s race.

The crane and pits will operate off Flintstone Park instead of the Oak Harbor Marina to bring the action closer to the viewing public.

A drivers’ dinner at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 12, has been added to honor the drivers and their crews, McKenzie said. The public can attend for a nominal fee.

A meet-and-greet party from 8-11 p.m. Saturday will give fans another chance to get to know the drivers.

Spectators can get a close view of the racing by purchasing seats aboard boats that will hug the course.

“We have brought in million-dollar yachts for a VIP experience with food and drink included,” McKenzie said.

Tickets for the VIP experience can be purchased at the race website, www.hydro sforheroes.com

“We are so thrilled to be part of something that is much bigger than me or my team,” McKenzie said. “I have been so blessed by this community that it is my pleasure to be participating in the Homes For Heroes program and the promoter/director of this great Hydros For Heroes annual charity racing event.”

Racing takes place 1-7 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.