1907 Spring Lake Motor Boat Regatta

Spring Lake, Grand Rapids, Michigan, June 22, 1907

At Grand Rapids

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH., JUNE 24--The first regatta of the Spring Lake Motor Boat Club was held Saturday afternoon, with 21 craft entered, and proved to be the biggest kind of a success.

The start of each race was made in front of the Spring Lake Hotel, which is the headquarters of the club, and there were a goodly number of spectators out to see the events. The Seabird, belonging to P. B. Perkins, was the judges' boat, and the judges were Alois Bilz, Andrew Pauls and P. B. Perkins. W. R. Laughtry and Charles S. Emerson acted as starters and timers. All but 2 of the 21 boats entered finished their events.

The handicapping of the Class A event for auto-boats was done at the start so the boats would finish together. The boats handicapped were tied to the docks, the engines started and the ropes cut at a given signal. The prizes for first and second were club pennants, blue and red. The summary is as follows.

(Excerpts transcribed from The Motor Boat, July 10, 1907, p. 35.)

[Thanks to Greg Calkins for help in preparing this page. — LF]