Adios Beats Standard [1903]

Adios Beats Standard [1903]
Fast Power Craft Contest Over Course in the Bay Under Auspices of Brooklyn Yacht Club

The new boat Standard that has been attracting so much attention of late in New York Bay met a boat from Syracuse called Adios, yesterday afternoon, in the power boat regatta of the Brooklyn Yacht Club, on Gravesend Bay. Adios is the Spanish for "good day." and she bade good day to the Standard soon after the start. The starting signal was given at 3:35. It was a one-gun start, and the Standard, according to the rules of the American Power Boat Association, was to allow the Adios 0:03:27 over the course of 10 1/2 miles. The Standard, with a waterline length of 58.10 feet and 105 horse power, was rated at 84.21 feet racing length, while the Adios, with 55.02 feet waterline, 106.16 horse power, and much greater beam, was rated at 76.21 feet racing length. Hence the time allowance in favor of the latter.

The boats had beam speeding about the bay before the preparatory signal was given, and it was difficult to determine which showed the greater speed. The only question about which there could be no doubt was that both went through the water at an extraordinary rate. After the preparatory signal they circled about the line like express trains. The course was from a mark off the Brooklyn Yacht Clubhouse on Gravesend Bay to and around the red buoy on Robbins Reef, in the upper bay, north of St. George, S.I., and return, making 10 1/2 miles. In going over the course the boats passed to the westward of Fort Lafayette and up and down the narrows.

The Standard was the first to respond to the starting signal, and she crossed the line almost immediately, and about five seconds ahead of the Adios. She started at a great pace, but had not gone very far before something went wrong with her machinery, and she came to a halt. The Adios passed her like a flash and was soon lost to sight in the mist over the water below Fort Hamilton. After a few minutes delay the trouble with the Standard was rectified, and she started pluckily in pursuit of her vanished adversary. The committee had a launch to follow the racers over the course, but it was unable to keep insight of them. The next glimpse secured was of the Adios rushing back for the finish with the spray flying in fountains over her bows and a trail of foam astern. She finished long before the Standard came in sight. It was a one-sided race, but it proved beyond cavil that the Adios is a flyer. She covered the course in 34:17, or at the rate of nearly twenty miles an hour. Incidentally it may be mentioned that the Adios tackled the fast steamer Monmouth a few days ago on one of her regular trips to Sandy Hook, and beat her handily.

             Elapsed       Corrected 
             Start Finish  Time  Time 
Adios        3:35  4:09:17 34:17 30:50 
Standard     3:35  4:17:20 42:20 42:20

The Adios therefore won by 11:30, corrected time. The Adios was built at Syracuse, and is owned by H.J. Leighton. Mr. Leighton said after the race that on account of the accident to the Standard he did not push his boat over the course. She has a record, he added, of twenty-three miles an hour. The Standard was built at Staten Island, and is owned by E.A. Riotte. It is said that Mr. Riotte recently made a proposition to Mr. Charles R. Flint, to race his boat against the Arrow, and that Mr. Flint replied: "At present I have a lawsuit on my hands, not a boat. When I get a boat again I will be ready to talk to you."

The other races scheduled for the Brooklyn power boat regatta were postponed on account of the inclemency of the weather until next Wednesday. The race between the Adios and the Standard would also have been postponed if Mr. Leighton had not wanted to take his boat back to Syracuse at once. The next race of the American Power Boat Association will be held next Saturday under the auspices of the American Yacht Club at Milton Point on the Sound. A twenty-five mile race for an endurance test will be started at 10:30 A.M., and the regular races at 3 P.M.