Book #2 in the Tom Swift 100th Anniversary Project. Now satisfied that his motor cycle is running at its peak, Tom decides he absolutely must have a speedy motorboat of his own. His rival, Andy Foger-constantly jealous of Tom-has his father buy him a boat in hopes of beating Tom in any race. But Tom has other ideas and works hard to upgrade both the boat and its motor. The same criminal gang from Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle is still hanging around Shopton. And, they are still giving Tom troubles, including trying to steal his new boat. A race won and now taking his father on a cruise of the lake, Tom rescues a balloonist whose flaming balloon is about to crash, something that would kill the man who will become an important part of Tom's inventing life in future stories. -------------------------------------------- This book has been substantially rewritten to remove outright racism and to enhance the mechanical and technical interests. Many books of this era used sentence structures, certain words and even punctuation in ways that can be confusing to younger readers today. So, every effort has been made to alleviate this issue while retaining the flavor of a story first told more than a century before.