1907 Motor Boat Club of America Regatta
The Motor Boat Club's Race Meet
The Motor Boat Club of America held the first motorboat races scheduled this season in the Metropolitan District off its club station, 108th Street and North River, on Saturday, June 29. It was a sad affair. In the morning it dribbled. At 2 o'clock, when the races were scheduled to start, it sprinkled. At 3 o'clock, when they were almost ready to start, it rained; at 3:30 when they were started, it poured. At 4:30, an hour after they were started, it poured more. At 5:30, when they had not any where near finished, it was a perfect torrent. At 6:30, just at the finish -- well, mere words fail to describe the situation, except that it was coming down in bucketsful, the wind was blowing great guns, the river was whipped into whitecaps and the boats at the club station were rolling like mad every time a steamer went up or down the river.
Few boats came out for the races, and fewer people. A half-dozen bedraggled ones hung close to the trees on Riverside, and a half score in oilskins sheltered themselves in the club's boathouse. The entries in the racing class were Maybe and Spindrift. Maybe is a new boat owned by J. W. Allison, of the Cape May and other yacht clubs. It is an exact duplicate of Chip II, which won the gold cup last year. Maybe was built by Joseph Leyare, and is equipped with a Leighton engine. Spindrift is the well known local boat owned by William Bjur, of the jamaica Bay Yacht Club. She is 30 x 29 x 5, equipped with a Seitz motor. She was built by the Rockaway Motor Co.. She is the racing type absolutely, as of course is Maybe. Both boats were scheduled to go a course of 30 3/4 miles. They started about even, but Spindrift soon got into trouble, came back again, was repaired and started off again. Maybe withdrew on the second round, while Spindrift went ahead and finished alone.
Two things killed this meet. First, the absence of entries, which is lamentable and almost unexplainable; second, the contemptible and unpardonable weather.
| Summary: Racing division, class E: not over 33 feet and over 26.25 feet over all length. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Course on the Hudson River, 30 3/4 miles, start, 3:20 | |||||
| Boat | Owner | First Round | Second Round | Third Round | Elapsed Time |
| Spindrift | William Bjur | 1:07:59 | 52:19 | 54:20 | 2:55:08 |
| Maybe | J. W. Allison | 47:37 | Withdrew | ||
(Excerpts transcribed from The Motor Boat, July 10, 1907, pp. 33-34. )
[Thanks to Greg Calkins for help in preparing this page. — LF]