The Great Steamboat Race

All aboard, it’s time to jump back in time, clamber aboard and enjoy a cruise on one of America’s great institutions, the great river steamboat.

Belle of Louisville

We say cruise, but the ride aboard these historical paddle steamers isn’t just a genteel pleasure cruise; it’s all a part of the annual race, started in 1963, now known as the Battle of the Belles, between the Belle of Louisville and the Belle of Cincinatti, two magnificent river boats that once ruled the roost on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, taking goods and gamblers, travellers and pleasure cruisers up and down the great waterway linking the bustling cities of the east to Louisville and on down the great Mississippi.

It should be fun, as one captain famously joked: “There are no rules in river racing.”.

Not that there are broadsides or high-speed ramming, just a series of nautical manoeuvres down the Ohio. And don’t worry, you won’t get wet, the big boats average a leisurely 7mph, over a 14-mile stretch, quite a lazy race if ever there was one.

For faster thrills aboard, there’s a few rounds of Texas Hold’em or a swill of bourbon at the bar, or perhaps a slow sweet Mint Julep, dinner and entertainment. The Cincinnati is actually a floating hotel! Luxury!

The race usually takes place on Kentucky Derby weekend, but this year it’s been rescheduled, due to the high waters and flooding of the Ohio River. The water was flowing too fast for the Cincinnatti to head downstream and there’s too much debris from surrounding floods for the steamers to race, say organisers.

The race now kicks off on Wednesday June 29. Spectators usually flood the banks of the Ohio, armed with picnics, or clamber up the Louisville water tower, watching by the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge, either on the louisville side or the Indiana side.

But the best view by far is right up close, aboard the competing steamers.  Most popular is the Belle of Louisville, one of just six riverboat paddle steamers left, and the oldest in existence, now a national landmark in itself. Tickets cost $130, including dinner, drinks an entertainment. A ride on the Cincinnatti costs less, $75, with dinner and entertainment but no free drinks. (It’s a cash bar like the old days.)

If racing aint your thang, book aboard the Belle of Lousiville the day before for an annual Texas Hold’em tournament, it will be like going back in time when the boats plied the rivers, as pleasure cruisers and floating hotels and casinos.