Power boat averages 55.5 m.p.h to win Lyttelton event

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32425, 12 October 1970, Page 18

Power boat averages 55.5 m.p.h to win Lyttelton event

The 23ft Christchurch jet boat Jetmark (A. C. Dick) comfortably won the speed section of the Rothmans 60 power boat trial on Lyttelton Harbour on Saturday.

Hi Jack, another Christchurch boat, took the lead from the thrilling, rolling start by the 51 competitors. J. Gallagher missed a buoy in the first lap and had to go back round it. Dick then took Jetmark into the lead, and was not headed from then on.

A light southerly wind and an incoming tide made it bumpy along the up-harbour straight for the first two of the six laps, but the wind dropped and the water was as smooth as it ever is at Lyttelton for the rest of the race.

Jetmark took lhr 4min 30.2 sec to complete the course, averaging 55.5 miles an hour, and touching 60 m.p.h. on the down-harbour straight into the wind.

Dick and his crewman, M Sandeman, did not have to push the big, deep-vee hulled boat, with a 7J litre engine supplying power to the three-stage jet. At one stage, Jetmark led Hi-Jack by 700 yards. Hi-Jack, powered by twin 135 h.p. outboard engines, hit a log and part of one prop was lost towards the end of the race. Three outboards-Hi-Jack finished 30sec behind Jetmark. Gallagher said he would have three outboards packed on the stern in the next race—twin 135 h.p. and a 125 h.p.—and that this would give him up to an additional 10 m.p.h. in speed. Before the race, Dick nominated Jetmark’s average speed for the 60 miles as 59 m.p.h, while Gallagher’s nominated speed was 58 m.p.h. A Wellington boat, Plylite (T. R. Foothead), powered by twin 125 h.p. Chrysler outboards, was third.

In the excellent conditions, power was what counted, and careful driving to nurse engines paid dividends. Two Christchurch boats, Flashpoint (I. Ingham) and Firestar (F. Simpson), crossed the line fourth and fifth, while Hot Toddy (I. R. Todd), the Rotorua boat which won the eight-hour Waitemata Harbour marathon (beating Jetmark), was sixth. Hydroflite (A. W. Bower) was seventh, and the Timaru outboard Mogul (B Ford) eighth. Woman Crew

Stripteaser, a big Wellington inboard driven by B. Harvle, who got the craft ready for the race only an hour before it had to be on the steamer express on Friday evening, was ninth, after stopping and restarting once during the race. Goldfinger with Mrs B Rodger driving and Mrs L. Butler as crew, the only women in the event, came twelfth—a very I good performance.

Only 12 of the starters failed to finish. J. A. Ryan and his son, J. W. Ryan, driving a justcompleted 18t fibreglass, propel-ler-driven cruiser, began with a I roar. The boat was well up in

the field, but engine trouble put It out.

Melissa (B. Jensen), a big boat from Dunedin, was fourth at the start of the second lap, and Stripteaser fifth, but engine trouble put paid to the chances of both. Stinger (G. Cooke), powered with a 115 h.p. Johnson racing outboard, producing 150 h.p., was fifth in the second lap blit withdrew—disappointment, because it had the speed to challenge the leaders. Over-all winner The smaller, less powerful boats plugged away steadily, although spectators In thousands of cars lining the up-harbour straight, from west of the oil tank farm to Cashin Quay, had their eyes on the leaders. The over-all winner of the trial, calculated on a power-to-weight basis, was Cresta Capri (D. KHner). Another Christchurch boat. Miss Lyhn Marie (K. Horgan), was second in that classification, and also won the economy section. Puppet (S. G Galla chan), was second in the

economy speed section, and Skope (R. L. Stewart) third. Plylite (T. R. Foothead), the Wellington boat third over the line, won the nominated speed section. The teams race was won by Timaru Marine; Hi-Jack, Mogul and Spooky (B Washington), the boats coming second eighth and tenth. A total of 161 volunteers, water marshals, crash-boat crews, lap recorders, timekeepers, scrutineers, ramp stewarts, radio communication men, fuel-point workers and others organised the trial The race convener was Mr B. T. Sullivan, the operations officer Mr G. F. Perkins, and Messrs N. F. Pipe and D. R Smith were in charge of the water marshals.

Members of the Christchurch Citizens Band Radio Club worked the communications.

The Lyttelton Harbourmaster (Captain D. Holden), was the official starter. None of the entrants crashed, none was swamped and no crew members went overboard.