1911 APBA Gold Cup
How Mit II Won the Gold Cup
Results of the Three Days of Racing on the St. Lawrence, in Which Dixie Was Disabled.
Another Case of Luck and Reliability Winning Against Superior Speed.
Frontenac, Thousand Islands,--Ideal weather conditions, a course that left little to be desired from the spectators’ standpoint and a general curiosity on the part of everyone to ascertain first hand as to the speed capabilities of Dixie IV, created an atmosphere of interest in this year’s Gold Challenge Cup races, run over the Frontenac course on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 8, 9 and 10, unequaled since the famous Gold Cup came to the Thousand Islands a number of years ago. In a way the races were disappointing. So far as the weather man was concerned, he did his best for the three straight days, but Dixie IV, in the way of speed stood far and above the other boats entered, occupying a class by herself, and leaving the result, barring accidents, a foregone conclusion a minute after the starting gun had boomed over the waters.
But the accidents happened. The intricate mechanism of the fifty thousand dollar racer went wrong during the first day’s race, causing the melting out of a bearing and the absence of Dixie on the two following days, when she was being stripped, a helpless cripple at the boat house of Commodore Walter Jerome Green at Watch Island. This proved a big disappointment to the crowds that came from far and near to witness the contests and especially get a glimpse at the boat which was heralded as the probable representative of this country against Great Britain’s speediest in the coming races for the Harmsworth Cup.
The opening day found the skies overcast during the morning and a rather stiff down river wind ruffling the St. Lawrence, weather not especially favorable for hydroplanes. In the early afternoon the skies brightened and the wind died down a bit, although a shower an hour before the race sent the hundreds along the river banks scampering for shelter, while aboard the yachts lining the course, sailors were set to work in making things more snug for parties aboard. When the race was called, however, everything was pleasant.
Dixie IV was at her boathouse 16 minutes before the gun sounded, with men working over her mechanism. It looked for a time as though the boat would not be a starter. Even when the gun sounded, Dixie was a mile below the starting point, with Burnham at the wheel. It took her but a short time, however, to get into the game, in a way that showed how futile would be the efforts in speed of the other boats, Wasp, Hornet, Skipper, and Mit II. Viva not having put in an appearance.
Dixie, with the clouds of spray hiding her general form, tore along over the 28 mile course, passing one and then another, yet going at nowhere near her full speed, the twin screws turning but 850 revolutions instead of the 1,100, their normal speed. So slow was Dixie’s time that the 28 miles were covered in 51 min. 45 sec., a speed which called forth a protest from certain ones, in that it was not representative of the boat’s capabilities and that the public, in reading the press reports would form a wrong impression of the boat’s speed.
The first race was Dixie’s last at the Thousand Islands. Sometime during the race an oil lead forward had run dry and during the 28 miles a bearing had run without oil, melting out the Babbitt and putting the boat out of the contest. It was not until the morning of the second day that the serious condition of affairs was known. It became rumored in the early afternoon that Dixie was out of the running. The faces of leading members of the Frontenac Yacht Club, defenders of the trophy, told of the disappointment, for it had been the hope that the cup might remain another year at their palatial quarters.
There is the keenest rivalry between the Frontenac club and the Thousand Islands Yacht club, who, through the speed of its representative, Mit II, now holds possession of the cup, and it is safe to presume that no money or efforts will be spared next year in getting the fastest thing afloat to hold the cup at Alexandria Bay, the home of the Thousand Islands Yacht Club.
With Dixie out of the race on the second day, the crowd naturally looked to Skipper, representing the Chippewa Bay Yacht Club, to carry off the honors, but in this race, the uncertainty of intricate mechanism was again demonstrated, the boat breaking a portion of her oiling system, and withdrawing after covering but a part of the course, giving the race to Mit II in 53 min. 31 sec. Skipper got busy, made the necessary repairs and like the Wasp, on the day previous, chugged over the along late in the afternoon, and so maintained its place in the contest.
The third day’s race brought out but three starters, Mit II, Wasp and Skipper, the event being taken by Wasp in 53.17, with Mit II in second place and the Skipper third. On account of time lost at one point of the course through an oversight in not properly turning the flag, Skipper had to go back and make the turn a second time and in that way lost second place to Mit II.
Thus it was that Mit II, a boat which at the conclusion of the first day’s race seemed to have but the slimmest of a show, won out on points and lugged off the cup to the home of the Thousand Islands Yacht Club.
Motor boat enthusiasts from various sections of the country, spectators at the races, found only the highest of praise for the course and for the welcome by members of the Frontenac Yacht Club. The affair became the gala week of the season at the Islands, attracting a brilliant assemblage each day. On Wednesday night the annual ball of the Frontenac yacht Club was held. For the occasion the extensive grounds about the hotel were decorated with Japanese lanterns, while the ballroom overhead wore a canopy of flags of all nations, a huge flag of the Frontenac yacht Club forming the background at the far end of the room. As to the course, it was of four laps, so arranged that every inch of it was easily seen by the spectators whether aboard yachts or along the shore.
(Excerpts transcribed from MotorBoating, September 1911, pp. 3-5.)
[Thanks to Greg Calkins for help in preparing this page --LF]