The following article was written and provided by Bob Moore

Red Bank, NJ and The Jersey Speed Skiffs

The Jersey Speed Skiffs are a class of racing boats which are unique to the Jersey Shore and provide the spectators with an exciting, highly competitive form of inboard power boat racing.

Developed as 'pound boats', the early skiffs were used by commercial fishermen plying their trade.  Contrary to popular rumor, the speed skiffs were not used as 'rum runners'; their lack of cargo capacity made them impractical for such a venture.

Among the early skiff builders, Harold 'Pappy' Seaman of Long Branch is considered to be the 'father' of the Jersey Speed Skiff.  Pappy designed the first speed skiff and many of his innovations and improvements are evident in today's boats.  George Wolcott was another local builder who contributed greatly to the speed skiff's early development.  Forsberg, Clayton, Becker and Russell are other builders who also were involved in the design and building of these early skiffs.

So versatile were these skiffs, that the owners would use them for recreation and fishing during the week and race them on the weekends.  Being resident of the Red Bank/Long Branch area, many of the competitors would 'form-up' in the Pleasure Bay area and travel enmasse by water to the Red Bank race site.  Here they would anchor and watch the races.  At the appropriate time, they would 'weigh anchor', run their race and then return to their anchorage.  At the end of the day, the skiffs would again 'form up' for the return to Long Branch.

Although hydroplane design has changed greatly over the years, the speed skiffs have remained basically the same.

Speed skiffs have raced at Red Bank for over 50 years, in fact Red Bank was the site of one of the first sanctioned American Power Boat Association (APBA) for the skiffs at the 1948 National Sweepstakes Regatta.

The Jersey  Speed Skiffs are to Red Bank what baseball, apple pie and hot dogs are to America.