1908 Hudson River Carnival
Motorboats Show Good Racing Speed
|
Dixie II, the international motorboat champion, gave another illustration of her speed capabilities and the smooth-running qualities of her engines yesterday in this second day's competition of the series of races on the Hudson River from the Colonial Yacht Club. Steered by Capt. S. Barclay Pearce, assisted by Engineer Albert Rappughn, Dixie II covered the 30-mile course two minutes faster than on the previous day, her time being 1:05:40, averaging 27.34 nautical miles an hour, or 31.44 statute miles. Capt. Pearce did not let the boat out to her utmost speed, as on the preceding day, when, during one of the ten-mile rounds, she made the high average of 37 statute miles. He was satisfied with even, steady running, but to-day, in the final races of the carnival week, he is quite likely to give the spectators a stirring object lesson of just how fast the boat can go when pushed. The three rounds of the triangle were made in 22:28, 21:51, and 21:21 respectively.
Next to Dixie II, George F. Baker Jr.'s Vim and Joseph H. Hoadley's Den divided the speed honors. Den made the best elapsed time in the race for boats under 33 feet, covering the 30 nautical miles in 1:26:36, about 21 minutes slower than Dixie. Vim, with a horse power of 81 against Den's 71, made the run in 1:34:30, 7 minutes and 54 seconds slower than Den's time. On time allowance Vim won the race handily, her corrected time being reduced to 1:08:06, being allowed 28 minutes and 8 seconds by Den, the scratch boat. F. H. Tucker's Macon came second and H. R. Sutphen's Elco third.
The protests against the winning boats in the long-distance races on Wednesday were decided in favor of the disputed boats. Alabama was protested on account of her rating as the winner of the sixty-mile race to Peekskill and return. A remeasurement gave her a rating of 58.82, as against 46.35, but the difference was not enough to cost her the race. On the other hand, Vim, the winning boat in the 140-mile race to Poughkeepsie and return, actually benefited by the protest. On being remeasured her old rating was found to be a trifle too high, 69.66, while the new figures bring her down to 68.29, giving her the cup by a few additional seconds..
(Transcribed from the New York Times, Sep. 26, 1908, p. 8. )
[Thanks to Greg Calkins for help in preparing this page LF]
Hydroplane
History Home Page
This
page was last revised Thursday, April 01, 2010
.
Your comments and suggestions are appreciated. Email us at wildturnip@gmail.com
© Leslie Field, 2001