The normally hairy chested William Haines had to submit to a full body waxing from the waist up in order to appear in this film.
This is one of about two dozen feature films directed by Harry A. Pollard, which the American Film Institute Catalog of Feature Films, in all 3 of their volumes, 1911-1920, 1921-1930 and 1931-1940, chooses to erroneously credit to comedian Harry (Snub) Pollard, who is, of course, a different person entirely.
The large vessel the speed boats race around is the S.S. Catalina. Built in 1924, it provided ferry service for up to 2,000 passengers from Los Angeles to Catalina Island. During WWII it was requisitioned as a troop transport around San Francisco Bay, carrying over 800,000 servicemen and women from 1942 to 1945. It was returned to ferry service in 1946. It was retired in 1975 as newer and faster ships came into service. It was bought by a private individual in 1977, and several schemes to re-purpose it, including a disco and a bar & grill came to naught. In 1997 it broke its mooring in Ensenada, Mexico and partially sank. It was finally scrapped in 2009. It has been estimated that this ship has carried more passengers than any other in history - upwards of 25,000,000 over its 50 year service life.
The wooden speedboats seen in the film were two of the six "Miss Catalina" series of wooden-hulled boats built by Catalina Speedboat Co. between 1922 and 1939. They were powered by WWI-era Liberty V-12 aircraft engines and could reach speeds of 55 mph. Due to high maintenance and running costs (the V-12 engine could burn through 30 gallons of gas per hour), they were retired from tourist duty in 1958.