All along, it was a relative quiet for thrill-seekers at Myrtle Beach Pavilion, save for the occasional storm blowing in like Corkscrew in 1978 and Mad Mouse in 1998. Then, word came that something quite unlike past tropical storms was on the way. This was not only a full-blown hurricane, but a category five. The wood went up as the South Carolina amusement park braced for this new menace, and a steel wall rose along the oceanfront perimeter. Its forces came, ripping down the small, second-hand Arrow Dynamics Corkscrew that had twisted through its double inversion until old age made it a vulnerable target for a newer, bigger storm. The new storm was Hurricane: Category 5, and it made landfall on May 6, 2000 after months of preparations as the biggest storm the city's coaster community had ever witnessed in their hometown. Raging forward at fifty-five miles per hour and climbing hills as high as ten stories, this new storm of a coaster was not only the greatest storm the Myrtle Beach Pavilion had seen; it was also the most unique.
Hurricane joined a record year for new modern wooden coasters as one of seven rides built that season by Custom Coasters alone. At the height of Custom Coasters International's wood-tracked coaster-building career, the team was asked by the Myrtle Beach park to design a ride that would take maximum advantage of the small eleven-acre site to provide as high a rate of thrills as possible. The result was a 3,800-foot out and back layout situated in the margin between the developed park and adjacent 8th Ave. spanning the entire property. Running away from and towards the Atlantic Ocean only several hundred yards east, the new ride would provide an excellent view of the beach during the climb 101.5 feet over the sandy ground. Where the double-inverting steel coaster once stood, the wooden coaster's station and braking area rose, a grand finale helix began circling the park's Scramber flat ride, and a far multi-diving and -climbing double-helix turnaround was erected to circumnavigate half of the park's Go Kart Track and cross over its path four times.
As the new wooden coaster stood dominating over the Pavilion, it was apparent that shipping the off-the-rack
Corkscrew model off to Colombia in favor of
Hurricane: Category 5 was a worthy sacrifice. It may have been a six-million-dollar investment and may lack inversions, but it offers a tempting draw for any roller coaster lover walking along Myrtle Beach with its elegant layout stretched across the park like a billboard. And along with being the park's first custom-designed coaster in nearly fifty years, it also stands as a noteworthy ride for any park, whether a small oceanfront amusement park or major theme park. In categorization, the layout may seem bland, but
Hurricane goes above and beyond your stereotypical "out-and-back" woodie with thirteen ascents, two unique helixes, and four other banked and non-banked turns.
Walking along beneath the layout of Hurricane, the out-and-back course leads future riders down the sidewalk to Ocean Boulevard and then into Myrtle Beach Pavilion where a ramp will lead future riders into the station to board the red Philadelphia Toboggan Company train. Two-dozen riders at a time may board the six-car train and secure their lap bars, then wait for the all-clear before the wheels start rolling. Moving eastward from the station, a curve to the right steers the train to the start of the chain lift where the 100-foot climb commences. As the excitement heightens with the altitude, an exceptional view of the park to the right spreads out in front of riders. Cars whizz past directly below to the left, and blissful amusement park guests walk the midway out to the right and spin around on the smaller rides. At the top, fifty-three degrees angle the train downward towards the ground, sending riders screaming exactly 100 feet to the bottom.
Three g's push riders down into their seats at the fifty-five-mile-per-hour pullout, then the track angles upwards towards the peak of a thirty-foot speed hill. Racing alongside cars on 8th Ave., the train moves along straight into the next, bigger hill. Ascending to around seventy feet, the brown track tops off and heads downward to the start of the turnaround section. Banking to the right, the track curves the first forty-five degrees and then begins climbing, climbing and diving while curving ninety degrees, then plowing on over the exit of the helix. Climbing over the go-cart track below, the Hurricane continues doing what it does best, spinning in circles, to the highest point of the helix, then dives to the inside for the second time around. The track stays at ground level for a couple seconds before hopping over another hill and wrapping up the helix by diving under the structure and ending the banking.
The coaster leaps to the top of another hill, this time climbing over the go-carts once again, then turning to the left and diving. The out-and-back layout retraces the route in reverse with a parallel speed hop, but ends early to take on a steeper hill roughly twice as tall. Riders crest the hill and start back down, passing by the first drop and entering into the silver steel structure holding the lift hill aloft. Beams pass by as the coaster bottoms out in a shallow dip, then hops over another small hill to begin the finale element. Diving to the left, the track exits the passageway of supports and begins winding around the final helix, hopping once, then twice as it goes and winding up back in the support structure and dipping down after exactly 360 degrees to circle around the Scrambler. Hurricane slows down, rounds a left-hand L-turn, then the brakes pour on, the storm finally coming to an end. After a U-turn to the right, the train arrives back in the station after two minutes of inclemency.
Written by Devin Olson
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Bill Ramsay
I rode this coaster on Aug 27, 2005. The sun was just setting and as our train pulled out of the station, a squall hit Myrtle Beach. It poured heavy rain on us the entire ride. I cannot tell you how awesome a ride it was. I have ridden a half-dozen woodies in my fifty years and I can honestly say that this coaster is AWESOME. Sorry you can't experience it in the rain but you will love it just the same. It is violent and bumpy and everything a woodie should be. I grew up in NY riding the Cyclone at Coney Island and I believe this coaster blows away the Cyclone. You have to ride this thing.
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