143. The Need for Speed on the Connecticut River

In this episode, CTExplored publisher Elizabeth Normen talks with Connecticut River Museum curator Amy Trout about the museum’s summer exhibition Speed: Hydroplane Racing on the Connecticut River, 1900 – 1940. Trout tells us what a hydroplane is and why racing them became popular in the midst of the Great Depression. As opposed to yachting, she explains, hydroplane racing was an everyman’s sport that people flocked to the riverfront to watch. She talks boat design, which outboard engines were popular, and who the stand-out racers of the 20s and 30s—a number of whom were young women—were. Speed is on view through October 9, 2022.  

Read more!

Pleasure Boating on the Connecticut River, Summer 2018

https://www.ctexplored.org/cover-story-pleasure-boating-on-the-connecticut-river/

Full Steam Ahead: Steamboat Travel in Connecticut, Spring 2009

https://www.ctexplored.org/full-steam-ahead-steamboat-travel-in-connecticut/