A LONG BOAT RACE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 13877, 1 February 1909, Page 5

A LONG BOAT RACE.

AUCKLAND, Jan. 31. What is considered locally to be thej longest motor-boat race yet. held in Australasia' was ' contested* yesterday and to-day between Mr HL H. Adams' Eliza and Mr J. Reid's^ Seabird. The course was from A,uck3and to.,.Russell and back,' a? distance ;of'24o; of'24o' knots. The boats left- Auckland ;at 7.50 -yesterday morning in calm weather/ 'Outside the harbour a' lumpy sea w&s met, 'the wind being east-north-easti " .The ; Eliza I,'1 ,' which led throughout; p.tiss^d the halfway mark at Russell at 10.50' yesterday evening, having' tkkeri exactly 15 hours (an average of eight knots), to do the 120 knots. The wind held in tho same quarter, * andvfche sea increased greatly on the run home, the boats taking a lot of water, aboard crews being drenched. Auckland" harbour was reached at 2,sathis~ afternoon by the Eliza. The> wSole journey occupied the time of 30 lfoYifs 35 1 minutes, the average running time being approximately eight knots. '» The Seabird rounded the mark at Russell 48 minutes after the Eliza. Captain McLeo3,'of the Northern - Steamship* Co. J s Clansman, - who navigated the, Eliza, said at one time he' felt like stopping and running fot 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 Rudder Cup Contest (105 knots), in which the Seabird made the fastest time, the Eliza being? one of the defeated competitors.