1914 New York Canoe Club International Challenge Cup

Gravesend Bay, Brooklyn NY

CANOE TROPHY STAYS HERE

Leo Friede Easily Defeats Canadian Challenger in Straight Races.

Leo Friede, Manhattan Canoe Club, had no great difficulty in successfully defending the International Sailing Canoe Trophy for the New York Canoe Club in Gravesend Bay yesterday. Two races were sailed and in each contest the American defender easily defeated Ralph B. Brltton, the Canadian challenger, of the Ganenoque Canoe and Motorboat Club. Friede won the morning race by 5 minutes and 44 seconds, and he took the afternoon contest by 7 minutes and 23 seconds. The series was two out of three races.

The races were sailed over a triangular course. The start and the finish were off the Marine and Field Club at Bath Beach. The breeze was northwest, and had enough body to send the little fellows around the triangle in excellent style. As it came the canoes had a run, a reach and a beat home.

Britton led Friede over the line in the first race. The little canoes were beam and beam as they dashed by the committee almost on the whistle, but the American soon began to draw away from the challenger and was leading at the first mark. At the end of the first round Friede had opened up considerable water between his canoe and that from the Dominion and was leading by 2.3 seconds.

Friede continued to forge ahead during the second round and when he jibed at the beginning of the third round he had increased his lead to 3 minutes and 5 seconds. The third round saw Friede still increasing his lead, and when the canoes were again clocked the American was leading by 6 minutes and 18 seconds.

The afternoon contest saw practically the same weather conditions and general state of affairs. The summary:

FIRST INTERNATIONAL SAILING CANOE RACE.
Start, 11 A.M. Course, 8 miles.
Canoeist and Country	Finish	Elapsed Time
Friede, United States	12:29:42	1:29:42
Britton, Canada	12:35:26	1:35:26
SECOND INTERNATIONAL SAILING CANOE RACE.
Start, 3 P.M. Course, 8 miles.
Friede, United States	5:44:46	2:04:46
Britton, Canada	5:52:09	2:12:09

This report was first printed in the New York Times. The understanding of the editor is that works of this age are in the public domain under United States Law.

There are photographs of Leo Friede here and of Ralph Britton here.

Leo Friede's Canoe 'Mermaid' still exists. According to this Yahoo groups posting, "the Antique Boat Museum [1000 Islands, Clayton, New York, USA] are honored to have more than 10 decked sailing canoes in our collection, including several classic 16-30s. Among them are Ralph Britton's Tomahawk, Leo Freide's Mermaid, H. Dudley Murphy's (nee Sherry Proctor's) Banshee and one of unknown provenance."