The Seafair Cup (branded as the

HomeStreet Bank HomeStreet, Inc., d.b.a HomeStreet Bank, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial services primarily in Washington, Oregon, California, and Hawaii. The company was founded as Continental Mortgage and Loan Company in 1921 by W. W ...

Cup for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the Albert Lee Appliance Cup), is an H1 Unlimited hydroplane boat race held annually in late July and early August on

Lake Washington Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle. It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It borders the cities of Seattle on the west, ...

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. The race is the main attraction of the annual Seafair festival. Seattle has hosted the Seafair Cup consecutively since 1951. The event was part of the APBA Gold Cup for the following years: 1951 to 1955, 1957 to 1959, 1962, 1965, 1967, 1974, 1981, and 1985.

History

Seattle's history of unlimited hydroplane racing dates back to July 1950, when it was announced that the APBA Gold Cup was leaving Detroit in favor of Seattle. Slo-mo-shun IV, owned by

Stanley Sayres Stanley St. Claire Sayres (1896 - 17 September 1956) was a hydroplane racer who broke the world water speed record with his "Slo-mo-shun IV" boat. Stanley Sayres was born in Dayton, Washington in 1896, and studied in Walla Walla, Washington at th ...

, won the Gold Cup race in Detroit that year. At that time, the Gold Cup was run at the home of the winner, so for 1951, the Gold Cup was coming to Seattle. The race was added to the Seafair festival. When the Gold Cup left Seattle for Detroit in 1955, local officials decided to hold a race of their own, and the Seafair Cup was born. The 1951 Seattle race was co-sponsored through 1960 by the Seattle Yacht Club. Greater Seattle, Inc. (later renamed Seafair, Inc.) became the sole sponsor of the race, starting in 1961. The Seafair Boat Club, which administers the Seattle race on Seafair's behalf, was organized in 1975. Lou Fageol won the very first Seattle race driving Stan Sayres' Slo-mo-shun V. The Emerald City has hosted the Unlimiteds every year from 1951 to 2019. In 2020 and 2021, the event was cancelled because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The next unlimited hydroplane race in Seattle is planned for 2022.

Past Seattle Unlimited Hydroplane Winners

The following boats and drivers won in Seattle:

References

External links

Seafair Cup websiteH1 Unlimited website
{{H1 Unlimited Series Annual sporting events in the United States Culture of Seattle H1 Unlimited Motorboat races Recurring sporting events established in 1951 Sports competitions in Seattle