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Harry Turner's Addendum: The Eight-Inch Regatta
Tied into Walter’s loves of invention and adventure was his love of anything that made him “official.” He loved having titles and holding offices — and he’d often give himself some important-sounding title for himself that necessitated his creation of some high office that he’d assume with all the pomp, circumstance, and trappings he deemed appropriate.At Hyde Bay Camp one summer, Walter appeared in an outfit more akin to an air pilot’s flight suit than any nautical pilot’s uniform, but none of the young campers would have ever known the difference. Walter proclaimed himself “The Commodore” of the Hyde Bay Yacht Club . . . a Club that had none was sure they’d ever heard about until that moment. The Commodore further invited one and all to enter their yachts in the annual regatta which that year was scheduled for that very afternoon. Bewildered but sensing great fun, the Camp listened attentively to the Commodore’s recitation of the Regatta’s rules: 1) any ship had to have been built by the entrant himself; 2) all ships must be made of wood and have no artificial means of propulsion; 3) all ships must measure no more than 8 inches from bow to stern; 4) all ships must measure no more than 8 inches from keel to the top of the mast, if she had one; and 5) all ships must measure no more than 8 inches width. An old tradition had suddenly been given birth. The 8 Inch Regatta became the Camp’s central and most anticipated event every summer thereafter. Some boys would spend countless hours building boats; others would saw a piece of wood in a matter of minutes and enter a ship that appeared to be a mere
a piece of wood no longer than 8 inches in any direction. The Regatta itself was an amazing sight. The Commodore’s flagship was a make-shift structure with a throne, which rested on two latched-together canoes. The flagship was manned by 4 oarsmen in moth-eaten sailor’s uniforms borrowed from the Hyde Bay Theater.
Every boat in camp would be overflowing with campers and counselors, many dressed in their own ingenious ideas of appropriate regatta wear. (Hyde Bay Camp had little concept of danger. Rather, it relied a lot on the common sense of the boys and their counselors.) The Commodore, in full uniform, would rise and address the assembled yachtsmen and always end his address with the same line: “May the best man win, and may the best man be your Commodore!” Then the synchronized oarsmen would take The Commodore out the middle of Hyde Bay, followed by a large and disorganized flotilla of overfilled rowboats, canoes, kayaks, motor boats, rafts. (It must have always looked to the guests at Rathbun’s as if some summer camp at Dunkirk were being evacuated.)
Once in place, the Commodore would signal the start of the race and scores of tiny boats would start moving in all directions; some out towards the middle of Otsego Lake itself, others towards Clark’s Point on the opposite side of the Bay, some in the direction of Shadow Brook, and a few towards Camp itself. Where the boats went and whether they capsized were of no consequence. The rules were quite specific and literally followed — the first ship to reach shore, any shore, won.
Additional drama was always supplied by those who would do in The Commodore, those nasty native inhabitants of James Fennimore Cooper’s Glimmerglass. Canoeing swiftly out of Shadow Brook every
The festivities would conclude with a parade and awarding the winner with The Commodore’s Cup — a large tin cooking pot with handles on which were inscribed the years and names of all previous winners. Eddie Brown has the distinction as the only person to have won the 8 inch Regatta three times.