MOTOR-BOAT RACE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7710, 2 February 1909, Page 1

MOTOR-BOAT RACE.

A Press Association telegram from Auckland states that what is considered to be the longest motor boat race yet held in Australasia was contested between Mr H. H. Adams's Eliza and Mr J. Reid's Seabird. The course was from Auckland to Russell and back, a distance of 240 knots. The boats left Auckland at 7.50 a.m.' on Saturday morning in calm weather. Outside the harbour a Jumpy sea wjis met, the wind being nprth-east. The Eliza, which led throughout, passed the.halfway-' marls:"' at Russell at 10.50 on Saturday evening, having taken exactly fifteen hours (an average of fifteen knots) to do the 120 knots. The wind held in the same quarter, and the sea increased greatly on the run home, the boats taking a lot of water aboard and the crews being drenched. Auckland was reached at 2.25 on Sunday afternoon by the Eliza. . The whole journey occupied the time of 30 hours 35 minutes, the average running time being approximately eight knots. The Seabird rounded the mark at Russell forty-eight minutes after the Eliza. Captain McLeocl, of tho Northern Steamship Company's Clansman, who navigated the Eliza, said at one time lie felt like stopping and running for shelter. He considered the boat a wonder to get through on the return journey, the sea being so nasty. The Eliza is fitted with a locally-designed and manufactured engine. The race arose out of the Rudden Cup contest (105 knots), in which the Seabird made the fastest time, the Eliza being onej of the defeated competitors.