The Poole "Hundred."
The Poole “Hundred.” Italian’s Success in Easy Victory.
oN Saturday, May 23rd, the 100 miles race for the Trophy presented by our contemporary The Yachting World, was run off in Poole Harbour, over a lap of approximately 4 miles, with two hairpins and other more gradual turns. In spite of the appalling weather conditions the event was a great success, and the rather choppy sea in the outer harbour gave ample scope for testing the strength and seaworthiness of the hulls as well as the waterproofing of the engines.
The actual result was such an overwhelming victory for Cav. S. Salvi, that there was no actual thrill in the fight for the lead, but the race served the valuable purpose of developing the utility aspect of the outboard in combination with a useful speed, and those who failed this time will not fail to benefit by their troubles.
The actual performance of Cav. S. Salvi, in averaging 29.1 knots or approximately 33 m.p.h. for the 100 nautical miles, was one deserving of the highest praise. The engine ran faultlessly from start to finish and the hull, of the hard chine type was noticeably steady in the rough water. The only boat which might have seriously challenged the Italian entrant was Mr. Phil Turner’s Minin’s Maid, powered with F class Elto. Unfortunately this craft split a plank in the bottom, and water poured through and soaked the contact breaker, and the boat had to withdraw.
The second boat borne was W. G. Boyer with a C class Johnson on a Lee hull. He averaged 24 knots, and won the C class award. R. Wood was third on one of his father’s well-known dinghies with a B. class Johnson, thereby winning his class. J. Palethorpe was in the running for third place but cut a buoy and was made to do an extra half lap and thus came in fourth. His Sharland engine ran well, as did all the Sharland engines. He also used a Wood hull. This is the first big event in which this British engine has appeared, and now that it has got over its teething troubles,
we hope to see more of it in racing in the B class. The organisation was excellent, but the ” pit:work ” was distinctly hazy, as witness the driver who came in all unexpected, and being apparently sans pit attendants waited till someone came up and asked
“Shell or Pratts ? ” Another boat produced a certain amount of excitement by the fact that the engine would not switch off and the boat rushed round in small circles while the driver swore long and heartily at the wretched mechanic, until the model eventually ceased action.
Salvi carried fuel for the whole distance and went through non-stop, which shows that the consumption of this unlimited class engine is better than many of its type. The carburetter used was a normal motorcycle type Amal on the Laros engine. Eight finished out of the 32 starters, which emphasises the very useful part which this race plays in developing reliability in detail. Most of the troubles were in minor points such as steering and other controls, hitting floating objects, etc. Altogether an excellent event, and one which we would like to see staged more often.