Motorboating at the 1908 Summer Olympics

The Olympic motorboat racing was originally scheduled to be held in mid-July but, as the dates did not suit the Duke of Westminister or Lord Howard de Walden, they were postponed for more than a month. On the original date, these two influential figures were in America making an unsuccessful challenge for the “British International Cup”.

The Olympic races were held under the auspices of the Motor Yacht Club, from their club ship Enchantress, in Southampton Water. All races consisted of five laps of a course of approximately eight nautical miles, for a total distance of 40 nautical miles. The competitions were marred by extremely poor weather conditions. In addition to the three Olympic events, there were several handicap events held concurrently at Southampton.

Motorboating never again appeared on the Olympic programme and, until recently, it was actually precluded by the Olympic Charter, in which Rule 47.4.2 stated “Sports, disciplines or events in which performance depends essentially on mechanical propulsion are not acceptable.” However, in more recent versions of the Charter, this distinction has been removed.