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That month he entered his new craft in the 1913 Great Lakes Reliability Cruise for flying boats, to start from Chicago on July 8th. The event was a water-flying-craft race from Chicago to Detroit, [[strikethrough]] Michigan [[/strikethrough]] via the Straits of Lackinac, following the shore lines of the Great Lakes. Due to his brief flying experience Verplanck engaged Beckwith Havens as his pilot while he was to be co-pilot and passenger on the Cruise. Four other machines were entered in the competition; [[strikethrough]] and [[/strikethrough]] Verplanck with his party and boat arrived in Chicago July 2d. One of the worst storms in many years in the Chicago area almost put an end to the event on the afternoon of the starting day. Verplanck and Havens were the second to start and fortunately were ahead of the storm and reached Michigan City, Indiana safely. The others either did not start or were forced down behind them. Extremely bad weather, high winds, and rough water continued for several days but they pressed on, always ahead of any competitor. Their plane was damaged with wind and waves on several occasions, necessitating temporary repairs, but Verplanck and Havens flew into Detroit, winners of the Cruise, on July 18th, completing the major flying event of the year. It was indeed a most remarkable accomplishment for both men and machine and at Detroit they received the Aero Club of Michigan Silver Challenge Trophy and the Aero Club of America Medal of Merit.

Verplanck left for New York after the festivities to attend to business interests leaving the boat at Detroit with Havens who, for several days carried many prominent social and business leaders of the city. This resulted in William E. Scripps and Barton L. Peck placing orders for Curtiss flying boats for their personal use. While there Havens gave each man some preliminary instruction.

Following this, Havens flew on to Buffalo, New York where he shipped the Verplanck craft to Albany. There Verplanck rejoined him and they flew down the Hudson River to Staten Island, New York on October 7th, completing the flights from Chicago to New York. Along the way this plane had been demonstrated at many points, carrying passengers and [[/strikethrough]] selling [[strikethrough]] demonstrating the sport of water flying. In New York they were awarded the Curtiss Gold Medal for an outstanding