Norwood Lake Regatta

3rd weekend in June

...is a wild, high speed competition amoung 100 small, high-speed craft from all over the United States and Canada, converging on this tiny New York village every third weekend in June.
Norwood Lake Association President and race organizer Jim McFaddin says when the competition was first organized 10 years ago, everybody thought they were crazy.

"Here we were, a small lake association in a village of 1,750 people, planning a race that could easily bring hundreds of people from all over," he says. "They told us it would never work, that it would be dead in five years. We're in our 12th year and show no sign of slowing. Rain or shine it always works."

Norwood Lake is a glorious three-mile stretch of man-made splendor, flowing naturally from the north country's Raquette River and dammed at the northern end for hydroelectric power. The oval of the lake itself is a clear mile in length, lined tastefully with docks, private homes, and pavilions. McFaddin said it had always been a quiet flow, mostly used by the local folks for canoeing and motor boating, and for its unending source of walleye, northern pike, and smallmouth bass stocked by the association.

Since 1989, for one weekend a year, the thunder of high-speed motors is a constant on the oval, with flashy hydroplanes and runabouts skimming madly over the surface, both in pratice and earnest.

The race consumes most of both Saturday and Sunday, with "doors" opening at 10 A.M., a dozen races beginning at noon, with three heats in each race. The racing craft are swift, compact, and showy. They're seldom over 13' in length, but can travel 100 mph easily around the corners of the oval raceway, defying gravity in their quest for superiority, and risking disintegration in their zeal.

It's an exciting weekend for both spectators and racers, especially when the sun paints a pallette of color on boat and tail plumes. But it's not for amatures. "Sometimes when these boats go into the corners," says McFaddin, "they go airborne because they're going so fast. The drivers have to maneuver correctly or the boats will disintegrate. Yes, it's dangeroous - sometimes there are 10 boats, all at once, in the corners and the 'roster tails' are so thick you just can't see what's happening.&

The Regatta may be just one weekend, but planning for the race is year round.