June 23-25, 1904. Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
Columbia Yacht Club on the Hudson River, West 86th Street, New York City
Cameraman: G. W. Bitzer
1904 APBA Gold Cup [first running]
The cameras point of view is likely from the judge’s stand, possibly from a yacht club basin or yacht mooring on or near West 86th Street. The race is between small, motor-driven speed boats, which were approximately twenty feet long with the inboard engine decked over. Participants in the race were W. K. Vanderbilt, Jr. ‘S Hard Boiled Egg; The Standard, which won the championship and had never been beaten; the Vingt et Un; the FIAT; the Shooting Star; the Japansky, the Kotic, and the Nada.
”A new record for power boat racing in America was established yesterday, when in a thirty-two-mile race on the Hudson River the 100 horse-power auto boat Standard, fifty-nine feet in length, covered the course at an average of 19.67 nautical miles an hour, or 22.57 statute miles. The Standard covered the entire distance in 1:37:48. Her time is barely one-third of a mile less than was done by H. H. Rogers’s fast steam yacht Kanawha last Saturday when she won the Lysistrata Cup.”
– Excerpt transcribed from the New York Times – June 24, 1904, p. 7
”The old Columbia Yacht Club staged a race on the Hudson River in June of 1904 which they called the Gold Cup. Three boats entered the race: Water Lily, Fiat l and Standard, which was driven by her co-owner Carl C. Riotte. Standard outdistanced her two opponents and averaged 23.613 mph in the best 32-mile heat then captured the race with an average speed of 23.160 mph!”
– Taken from Roostertails Unlimited: [1973] Chapter 2 – A Little History
After just two weeks at sea, and as the fleet starts to spread out across the waves, we’re starting to see the first signs of the effects that the relentless might of the ocean is having on the rowers and boats in this year’s Atlantic Rowing Race. Â
Though most crews are now over any seasickness problems, reports are starting to filter through about broken equipment, power problems and general wear and tear on the rowers themselves. Race leader Charlie Pitcher (Insure & Go) has been operating a punishing schedule with just 4 hours sleep a day in order to maintain his position and commented on a couple of silly mistakes caused by sheer exhaustion  … Details & Pictures
Explore is launched in preparation for the Atlantic Rowing race. See it move from trailer to sea by crane while Annie and Mel sit suspended high above the harbour.Â
Havasu’s Deb Robison and Larry Smith scored their first win of the season at the 10.5-mile Open Ocean Paddling race at Santa Barbara, Calif. Saturday.
The Santa Barbara event was run under warm sunny conditions with a high surf advisory of 10 foot-plus waves. Robison and Smith, paddling a two-person outrigger canoe, battled the entire five-mile upwind portion of the course with the eventual second place finishing team of Carla and Matt Stephens, of Oceanside, Calif … Details