The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1954-07-06
Outboarder
Tells OF
Keys Race
BY DAVID MASON

Inc third running OF the Key
West to Marathon destined to be
famouS) cupboard race is now his
tory, but in the minds of those
who participated, the memory
will last a life time. Old man
ocean was seemingly indignant
that a bunch of human upstairs
would disregard his beautiful
white caps and ignore the fifteen
mile an hour wind which cooper
ated with him Fundamentally in
giving these few humans and
their boats a lesson in respect
which they seemingly needed.
AS yours truly was one of those
upstairs, l can vouch for this.
will attempt to give you some of
my experiences for the short time
l was a contender in this salt
water nightmare. My entry was in
the "B" class, which was the first
group to cross the starting line off
Stock Island. My mechanic was
Laurin Green, of the Navy. We
had instructions to pass the WTVJ
Television boat, which was sta
toned at the mouth of the Boca
Chica Channel. The water was
very calm at this point, so we
were travelling full throttle and
pretty well punched. AS we left
the channel. Cecil Gates, Jr., and
my boat pulled out in the lead.
About ten minutes of this and then
the waters began to get rough.
believe was the first casualty,
with a broken throttle line. After
quite a struggle we succeeded in
fixing it only to have it break
again a few miles on. More time
lost and the waters getting rough
er, this should have been a warn
ing for me to turn back, but not
dumb me. No sir, that little old
pond of water couldn't bluff me.
Pretty soon l sent Green forward
to hold the bow down. From here
on things really began to happen.
and all bad. The auxiliary fuel
tank broke its lashing and pro-
ceeded to climb in my lap. We
were really being tossed around
at this point. We were now travel
ing at slow throttle. Looking
around, we could see other boats
in a widely scattered area-all
seemed to be having trouble. We
passed a couple of boats with
motor trouble. We fought our way
up to within about two miles off
Loggerhead Key, there we came
upon sight that was the deciding
factor in my coming to a decision.
We first spotted an oil can and
seat cushions floating which gave
you a funny feeling way down in
side. The ocean was breaking so
heavy it was several minutes be-
fore we spotted the victims. Boat
upside down, Bob Ikerd and AL
Young floating around in their
safety jackets trying to hold on to
the boat. knew if i cut my motor
we would be Swamped and quick.
About this time a larger boat
came on the Scene-Sorry / don't
know either of the gents names, I
passed them a fifty foot spare
line I had and continued circling
until they gave me the secure
sign. From there on our naviga-
ton was plotted, headed for Log
gerhead Key and shallow water,
around the north side of the Key
hugging the reef then headed
straight for the Niles Channel
bridge and solid ground. We pulled
into Johnson's Fishing Lodge and
phoned for my trailer. l really
feel like winner, for I still have
a good boat and motor.
Have tried for two days to learn
just how all the others Jared but
with very little luck.
There were "a boats that
crossed the starting line. The
overall winner was Joe FELTON,.
Jr., who carries the Gold Cup
back to Marathon after spending
a year in Jimmy Hanson's pos
session here in Key West. FELTON,
was also the winner of the "D-1"
Class. His time was 2 hours, z
minutes, IL seconds. J. Turner
was his mechanic. Jerry Schnae-
delbach and Bill Porter crossed
the finish line 38 seconds behind
FELTON,. He was the winner of the
"B" Class. Cliff Schumacher and
B. L. McCreary were the only
unlimited class boat to finish.
Out of the twenty-four boats to
start, seven failed to finish, two
were disqualified for cutting in
side at Bahia Honda Bridge. Quite
few of the boats were beached as
total wrecks, two motors were lost
but were later recovered. All in
all, the ocean Marathon has truly