1904 APBA Gold Cup
[first running]Auto Boat Cup Race
Standard Beats Water Lily--Fiat Hits Log
Although eight "auto" boats had entered, after weeks of preparation, for the three days of racing on the Hudson, to decide the championship in these waters, only three started in the first race, contested yesterday over a course of thirty-two nautical miles. They were E. A. Riotte's Standard, representing the Columbia Yacht Club; C. H. Tangeman's Fiat !, representing the Atlantic Yacht Club, and Frank Seaman's Water Lily, representing the Yonkers-Corinthian Yacht Club.
The Standard won handsomely. Carefully steered by her owner, she covered the course in 1:37:48, a speed of 19.63 knots, or 22.57 statute miles, an hour. She allowed the Fiat ! 14m. 26s. and the Water Lily 17m. 14s., and defeated the latter 5m. 24s. The Fiat 1 struck a log ten minutes after the start, when she was doing well in the race. The accident disabled her steering gear, and she was towed home by Walter Luttgen's launch Lutuhezi.
The race was started at 3:05 p.m., the boats crossing an imaginary line between the Columbia Yacht Club's pier, at West Eighty-sixth St., and a stakeboat anchored 100 yards off that point. The turning mark was the steam yacht Queen Bess, anchored sixteen miles up the river, off Piermont pier. Sixteen steam yachts swung at anchor in the stream, while the clubhouse balconies and grounds were thronged with women and yachtsmen.
The Standard in this race broke the record made by herself on June 11 for the distance, thirty-two miles, by 3 minutes 39 seconds. in time and 0:57 in speed. her racing length was 86.55 in that race, and 79.2 in yesterday's race.
With a dash of speed that opened the eyes of the watchers, Fiat I got away in the lead, a few seconds after the starting gun, with the Water Lily close to her stern, and the Standard with a small overlap on the second boat. In less than fifteen seconds the Standard had passed them both, and all three were travelling up the river at a speed equal to that of the average local passenger train.
The Standard had covered the sixteen miles at the rate of 19.8 knots an hour, the other boat making a speed of 17.4. The F.I.A.T. I had dropped out. There was no doubt about the result, if the Standard did not break down, for the time allowance she gave the Water Lily was not sufficient to overcome her own great speed.
The Standard won by 5 minutes 24 seconds.
Anson B, Cole, secretary of the American Power Boat Association, said after yesterday's race that the Express, the Boomerang, the Ardis, the Flit and Marcirene II, which are entered, but for various reasons did not start yesterday, may all start in to-day's race, if they are ready, and take their chances of scoring points enough to win. The gold challenge cup, inclosed in a plate glass case, was on exhibition at the Columbia Yacht Club house yesterday. Its designer, Paulding Farnham, who is a yachtsman and owns several boats, was a guest at the club.
(Transcribed from the New York Daily Tribune, June 24, 1904, p. 6.)
[Thanks to Greg Calkins for help in preparing this page —LF]
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