1954 International Cup
Pasquotank River, Elizabeth City, North Carolina, October 3, 1954


Gale V Wins at Elizabeth City

bullet Speed Boat Race is Won by Gale V
bullet Gale V Wins at Elizabeth City

Unlimited hydroplane racing in northern latitudes came to a close Oct. 3 when three of the better known racers competed in a 90-mile, three-heat race off Elizabeth City, N.C., for the new $1,500 International Cup. The two-day regatta was sponsored by the Pasquotank River Y.C., previously identified with sailing in general and Moth Class racing in particular. There was nothing Moth-like, however, about the big unlimiteds, five of which showed up for the race.

Lee Schoenith driving the family's Gale V, from the Detroit Y.C., took the first two heats and placed second in the final to wind up with 1,100 points. Bill Cantrell, who two weeks earlier had won for owner Joseph Schoenith, the President's Cup in Washington, took a first, a second and a third for a final second in points in Gale IV. Horace Dodge's My Sweetie Dora, driven by Jack Bartlow, also of Detroit, was third. Two other of the Dodge My Sweetie fleet failed to finish in any of the heats they started in. Because they were racing under Gold Cup rules, three 30-mile heats were run off in one day; this situation may be changed by next year with a new deed of gift, thus eliminating this business of boats following each other around a course 30 times in one sitting. Curtis Martens, of Hampton, Va., won the Commodore W. A. Rogers Memorial Trophy for the 266s; this prize is in honor of the late Bill Rogers, one of the founders of the President’s Cup Regatta.

(Reprinted from Yachting, November 1954)


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