45 Boats Abreast Move To Spectacular Start

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30740, 3 May 1965, Page 3

45 Boats Abreast Move To Spectacular Start

The first mass race for motor-boats ever held on the Lyttelton harbour was a great success. Forty-seven boats started at noon on Saturday in perfect conditions and 35 of them completed the 40-mile race.

The spectacle of 45 boats in line abreast at 15 m.p.h. approaching the starting line off the East Mole was a stirring sight.

When the starter, Captain J. A. Barbour, dropped the flag, the faster boats roared down the harbour at speeds of up to 50 m.p.h.

Thousands of spectators watched from Gladstone pier, Lookout point, Cashin quay and Church Bay point, and other vantage points near the inner harbour. “CLASSIC WINNER”

The over-all points winner of the Epiglass 40 Classic” was Paneke, driven by D. A. Sutton. The trim, V-bottom craft, with high splash fins at the stern, was powered with a 40 h.p. Johnson outboard motor. Second was another outboard, G.W.S., 87, a Cheetah catamaran, powered with twin 65 h.p. Mercury motors, driven by W. O. Askew. An inboard boat, Pandora (B. Smith), with a 50 h.p. R.A.C. engine was third. Miss Jill (N. H. Sutton), the only one of the bigger boats to do well, was fourth. A 22ft craft, Miss Jill was powered with an inboard motor driving through a shaft on to an outboard.

The fifth boat, on over-all points, was Aqualark (G. Henderson), an inboard powered with a Zephyr 6 engine. Another inboard, Tamare (T. J. Clapshaw), powered with a 185 h.p. Bel Air motor, was sixth. The first boat home was Cresta Craft (D. Killner and J. Gallagher), the newest boat in the race. An outboard powered with a 90 h.p. 1965 Mercury engine, the boat has a V-line hull, a prototype moulded in fibre-glass. The boat will be produced for sale in Christchurch.

Cresta Craft averaged 35 5 miles an hour over the eightlap, five-mile course. It was stopped once, for seven seconds in the second lap, while a piece of wood was cleared from where it had jammed just above the propeller. The boat is owned by Killner and the engine by Gallagher. They took turns in driving. Aqualark was the second boat home, averaging 33 miles an hour, and Calypso (L. Beatty), a 17ft, deep V craft, powered with a 100 h.p. Mercury, was third, averaging 32.5 miles an hour. SIX CLASSES The race was also divided Into six classes, depending on speed, and class winners were: 15-20 m.p.h.—Bonanza (R. C.

Bird), first boat home; Cindy (T. R. Bullock), winner. 21-25 m.p.h.—Paneke and Pandora. 26-30 m.p.h.—D. F. Nuttall in an un-named jet boat was first home and first on points. 31-35 m.p.h.—Aqualark, first boat home and first on points. 36-40 m.p.h.—Cresta Craft, first boat home and first on points. The start of the race was delayed an hour to allow the Melbourne Star <13.179 tons) to clear the inner harbour. The boats were then marshalled off Shag Reef, and taken in a sweep down harbour, round the reef and up to the starting line. Captain Barbour, Lyttelton Harbour Board pilot, was on the Nancy Lynne <A. Florance) on the outer side of the boats, and B. Sullivan, in Santa Cruise, was on the inner sdde. MORE SPEED The starting line was between the East Mole and the Front Lead light. Captain Barbour called for more and more speed from the Nancy Lynne as the boats came into line. It was low water. A light southerly had fallen away, and there were only light airs over the harbour. Two of the slowest entrants had misheard instructions and were well back, one starting four minutes late. The other 45 boats were in line, and the faster boats throttled back. The wash made steering difficult, as the boats surged forward in a 400-yard line. Muritai skidded off' the wash off one boat, and her bow collided with the stern of another entrant with a crash that could be heard from the starting boat. Muritai was badly gashed in the bow, but not holed and she completed the race. The 45 boats got away to a perfect start, but there was some ducking and diving as boats on the outside swerved to get inside the course buoy anchored 400 yards off the East Mole. A bus, containing the lap recorders, time-keepers and handicapper was parked on Gladstone Pier near the mole, and the course buoy was to make the boats pass close to the mole so that they could be identified from the bus. OUT OF RACE Panther (D. Alsop) an inboard skiff with a Corvette engine, took the lead from Cresta Craft as the boats sped towards a buoy 200 yards off Parsons Rock. However the batteries in Panther broke loose and she was

out of the race after only a lap or two. From Parsons Rock the course was laid off to a buoy off Church Bay. and Miss Zenith ID. Ching) took over the lead down the back strait. The course from Church Bay was to buoys either side of Shag Reef. The boats went round the reef and then back down to the start line and the front strait. Miss Zenith held the lead until the fifth lap, with Cresta Craft. Aqualark and Calypso well up. Then Miss Zenith struck trouble with a fuel pump. The engine began to miss badly and after limping over three-quarters of a lap, the boat was stopped for about 10 minutes. The two skiffs. Panther and Miss Zenith, were the fastest boats in the race, but both of them proved unreliable. GOOD CONDITIONS Captain Barbour said conditions would never be bettered on the harbour. With most of the boats being pushed along at full speed, the drivers found it hard work in the rough patches, and the majority were tired at the end of the race. Two of the most eye-catching boats failed to complete the race. Lady Margery, powered with twin Crusader engines driving two jets, was the biggest boat and had an estimated average speed of 30 m.p.h. Deep Six, another big boat, had a very high cabinet roof over the cockpit. Both boats rode very smoothly, but neither finished. Gina, the last boat to finish, took 2hr 43min ssec, an average speed of 14.8 m.p.h., against her estimated speed of 14.8 m.p.h. All the entries were scrutinised by a panel of five officials before and after the race. Points were awarded (up to 500) for the appearance of the boats before starting. Cresta Craft was awarded 450 points, the best finished outboard, and Aqualark 422 points, the best Inboard. ESTIMATE GIVEN All entrants had to give a speed estimate before starting, and officials worked out the theoretical time each boat should take to complete the race. Points were deducted (1 for each second) for boats finishing faster or slower than the theoretical time. Points deducted for failing to lap at a consistent pace, the theoretical time divided by eight. Paneke, the over-all winner, lost 55 points on her race time, the same number on her class time, and 109 points on lap times —a total of 219. The second boat, C.W.S. 87, lost a point less, but won by being awarded more points for appearance and finish.