Bob Smith (left) and Pat Mahon race up Snows Channel in an electric launch made by students at the Great Lakes Boat Building School, against the electric launch Assault and Battery skippered by Ian Hunt. Bill Hunt and Bill McMillan also accompanied Mr. Hunt on the boat. Bill Hunt challenged the school's battery-powered launch against Nancy Ayers' battery-powered launch in a friendly race Tuesday morning, August 4. The student-made boat won the race quite handily. Bill Hunt of Cedarville challenged the staff at the Great Lakes Boat Building School to race its battery-powered launch against Nancy Ayers' battery powered Duffy launch, Assault and Battery, for batterypowered launch supremacy of the Les Cheneaux waterways. The two boats share the same type of electric motor, so the race would truly show the performance capability of each boat and skill of each skipper. Assault and Battery was skippered by Mr. Hunt's son, Ian Hunt, and the student-built boat was skippered by boat school board member Bob Smith.

Boat school director Dave Lesh said he was eager to see how the student-made boat would perform against another battery-powered launch and agreed to the race.

"He just came over and said, 'Let's do this,'" Mr. Lesh said, "and here we are."

The race began in Muskie Bay near Snows Channel Tuesday, August 4, about 11:15 a.m. Beams of sun shone down through the patches of large clouds, with the wind blowing steadily out of the west. The starting horn sounded and the two boats took off heading east toward the No. 29 buoy where Muskie and Urie Bays meet.

The two boats stayed fairly close to each other, with the school's launch pulling ahead slightly. As the two boats motored closer to the buoy at a speed of about six knots, Mr. Smith was completely out in front.

Mr. Smith rounded the buoy too wide, and allowed Mr. Hunt to cut under him and bring the bow of his boat several feet ahead. But the second leg of the race was into the wind and waves, which proved to be a disadvantage to the canopy-topped and round-bottomed Assault and Battery. The school's boat slowly pull ahead of Mr. Hunt to regain the lead.

Mr. Lesh, who followed the two racers in a gas-powered boat, said the bow on the student-built launch seemed to cut through the waves much easier than Assault and Battery, giving them the advantage the remainder of the race.

"It really, I think, cut through the water a lot better," he said. "The Duffy is a completely roundbottom and doesn't have a keel like the Zimmer does."

Try as he might, Mr. Hunt could not catch up; the wind

against Assault and Battery's canopy proved to be too strong, and the round bottom just could not traverse the waves as fast. Half way into the home stretch, Mr. Smith was able to pull more than three boat lengths ahead, and never let up.

His boat was the first to cross the finish line at Dollar Island in Snows Channel. The friendly race lasted about 25 minutes.

"They were pretty even as far as the speeds go," Mr. Smith said about the two boats.

Boat school instructor Pat Mahon was in the winning boat with Mr. Smith during the race, and Ian Hunt was accompanied by Bill Hunt and Bill McMillan. Both boats share the same type of motor, which is made by Elco Electric Launch of Athens, New York. The boat Mr. Smith and Mr. Mahon raced in was built by the school's first two classes of students over the last two years.

Bill Hunt said about the friendly race: "We were just looking for some outrageous fun and we had it."