History

Just before the end of the nineteenth century, a few boats fitted with internal combustion engines were putt-putting around in the Long Island Sound waters of the United States. By 1902 there were enough of these crafts around to stimulate an interest among their owners as to which boat could travel fastest over a given distance with a given handicap. In short, people wanted to race their boats.

Since these early propeller-driven crafts were of many varieties and capabilities, there were as many differing opinions on practicable methods of equalizing the opportunity for all boats competing as there were owners. It was agreed that “rating and time allowance” rules would be necessary to handicap all boats equally.

Accordingly, the Columbia Yacht Club, through the efforts of member W. H. Ketcham, issued a call to all inter­ested yacht clubs to meet and arrange suitable racing rules. At a fourth and final organizational meeting on April 22, 1903, representatives of twenty clubs attended, adopted the name American Power Boat Association, set up a constitution, adopted rules and elected officers. The official family for the new fledgling group consisted of W. H. Ketcham, president; I. H. Mcintosh, secretary; Anson Cole, treasurer; and Henry Gielow, measurer.

Early APBA rules, although adequate, gave rise to disputes among member clubs (as the rules sometimes do today!). To settle these disputes, the Association established in 1913 the first Racing Commission whose duties were to “cooperate with race committees of individual clubs in racing matters, issue interpretations of racing rules when disputes arose, and grant sanctions for races.” The powers delegated to this first commission are the back­bone of the present day function of APBA. Modern regatta programs offer a great variety of racing classes to spectators and participants in the sport. Fifty or sixty years ago, however, APBA racing was composed strictly of six recognized divisions of racing craft: Cruisers, Express Cruisers, Speed Cruisers, Open Boats, Displacement Racers and Hydroplanes. Rating formulas classified the Cruisers and Open Boats, and Displacement Racers were categories for boats not fitting into these other divisions.

At the annual APBA meeting on October 25, 1923, the Association adopted, in entirety, the rules of the Mississippi Valley Power Boat Association, limiting the displacement for the hydro classes: 1-1/2 Litre, l5ls, 215s, 340s, 510s, 6lOs, 725s, llOOs and all runabouts up to 625 cubic inches. In establishing this concept of lim­ited classes, APBA provided itself with the means for rising to its present dominant position as a governing body for organized boat racing.

In 1924, the emergence of outboard motors efficient enough to stimulate racing interest prompted the Association to put into print a set of rules for boats propelled by “Outboard Detachable Motors.” Classes were set up for motors under 12 cubic inches (Class A); 12 to 17 cubic inches (Class B); 17 to 30 cubic inches (Class C); and over 30 cubic inches (Class D). During the next two decades additional classes were added and by 1948, regattas were being staged for Stock Outboards as well as Racing Outboards.

Recognizing the need for a rules-making system that would allow the driver and owner to participate in for­mulating the rules by which they must abide, the Association, at a special meeting in Philadelphia in 1949, del­egated equal voting power to the individual member as well as the clubs, which enjoyed this privilege solely heretofore. Significant actions of that “reorganization” meeting were: (1) Council was taken out of the racing rule formulation; (2) individual owners were allowed to set up and vote on racing rules; (3) the disbursement of funds and the composition of the administration were tied to the relative strengths of inboarders and outboarders on the membership lists.

Today, APBA conducts organized racing for all types of power boats from the spectacular Unlimited class to the family runabout which may participate in an Outboard Performance Craft event. Over 200 regattas are sanc­tioned annually in the United States and Canada. Nearly 3,000 racing boats are registered by the racing members. Clubs, officials and other classifications bring the total membership to over 6,000.