Close call for jet boaters

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34000, 14 November 1975, Page 24

Close call for jet boaters

(From L

LES BLOXHAM

IGUALA (Mexico). Three Dunedin men had a lucky escape when their jet boat somersaulted through the air and sank after striking a large rock in the Rio Balsas, Mexico, yesterday morning. Stan Hansen, Bert Weil, and Lex Cameron, who were competing in the Rio Balsas international boating marathon, suffered only minor cuts and bruises, but there is little hope that their $9OOO boat, Lion Brown, will be recovered. It rests, together with four other boats (all Mexican) somewhere beneath the murky surface of the Balsas River near the Santa Elena rapids, an inaccessible area. “Those blokes are very very lucky. I don’t know how they escaped being badly hurt,” said Mr George Davison, of Christchurch, who saw the accident from the New Zealand support-boat he was driving. “Their boat hit the rock, bounced into the air, and did a full 180-degree roll. It was upside down, and I

could see three heads hanging from the hole. Then it dropped like a brick into the water and then there was nothing.” Rescue teams dived into the river to assist the New Zealanders as they floated down the river. They were later rescued from an outcrop of rocks by Mr Davison. Mr Davison and the crew probed the waters for twenty minutes in a fruitless effort to find the boat, which was not insured. Stan Hansen, the skipper, also lost a $lOOO movie camera.

In spite of the accident, the team not only leads but also holds third, fourth, sixth and seventh places, even though two boats were seri-

ously handicapped by mechanical faiulres. Neville Sutherland won the stage in Aotearoa, with Peter Philip’s Miss P.D.L. third, and Bruce Snow’s Edna, fourth. Miss Suzuki (Rod Coleman) was sixth, and Miss Kiwi (Bob Stout) was seventh. John Butterfield, of Christchurch, who is driving a Mexican entry, Bacardi Jet, is in second place. The New Zealand boats out of the running are: Stan Hansen’s Lion Brown (sunk), Mike Sandeman’s Kitchener (valve and piston damage), and Howard Smith’s Golden Key (holed near the jet intake). Smith might have the boat repaired for tomorrow’s stage, but he is now four

hours behind the first 10 boats. Miss Suzuki’s crew are also in trouble. Although they finished sixth, today their boat completed the course with badly-damaged bearings in the jet unit, and Coleman was not confident that repairs could be made by today.

Tennis.—Results In the Dewar Cup International Grand Prix tennis tournament in Edinburgh were:—Men’s singles, third round: Christopher Mottram (U.K.) beat Ray Moore (South Africa), 0-6, 6-4, 6-3; Eddie Dibbs (U.S.A.) beat Charles Pasarell (U.S.A), 6-4, 6-3; Jimmy Connors (U.S.A.) beat Karl Meiler (West Germany), 6-2, 6-1: Hie Nastase (Rumania) beat Ismael Ey Shafei (Egypt), 6-2 3-0, retired.