The Springs Historical Society held the first Great Bonac Canoe Race on Saturday, Aug. 15, 1981, and the item shown here is that year’s map for the race’s route. The application form changed only slightly over the five years the races were held.
Races occurred rain or shine beginning at 11 in the morning. In 1981, the race started from Shipyard Lane near the Springs General Store. Other route maps from later years show the starting line moving to the end of Louse Point Road. The course covered four miles in total. The markers and color-coded legend on this map of Accabonac Harbor show the route from start to finish, including every buoy, committee station, and flag along the way.
Registered contestants were required to be 15 or older and wear an approved life jacket during the race. The registration form shows that the entry fee for 1981 was $3 per person, with no more than two participants per canoe. The open contest prohibited racing canoes and double-bladed paddles. These rules remained consistent for all the races, and only the entry fee changed, increasing to $6 by 1985.
Over the years, more race classes were added, including unlimited, mixed, rowing, and kayak classes, with divisions for men and women. Some classes had special rules, with the unlimited class permitting racing canoes, and the kayak class allowing double-bladed paddles.
In 1984, Deanna Tikkanen, one of the leaders of the event, spoke to The East Hampton Star about the end of the women’s division and the start of a new Captain Kidd division in which participants dressed in costumes and decorated their canoes. Contestants in that division were judged based on their ensembles, not on where they finished in the race.
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Mayra Scanlon is a librarian and archivist in the Long Island Collection at the East Hampton Library.
