“Halfway Around World to Race Untried Boat”

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“Halfway Around World to Race Untried Boat”

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Description: The first of these images was published in the July 9th, 1978 edition of the Tribune weekly newspaper.

The caption read: “Don and his wife Judy planning for their Canadian adventure, with literature about the race and its Canadian venue spread out in the lounge of their Feilding home.”

Extracts from the article:” A Feilding man is participating in the first jet boat river race world championship in Canada this month - in a boat he’s never raced before on rivers he’s never seen before. Don Johnstone will be leaving on Wednesday (July 12), hoping to meet up with his sleek and untried jet boat in Canada. His wife Judy will be accompanying him. and they’ll be meeting other members of their team when they arrive. Five New Zealand boats have been entered for the world championship, which consists of two races in Canada's Alberta province. The championship finishes at Edmonton during the Klondike festival, three days before the start of the Commonwealth Games.”

““All the crew are experienced jet boaters and I think we know enough about boats and motors to know what we are doing." Don said the 650 bhp, 454 cubic inch Chevrolet V8 motor's been proven in previous races and has all been checked over. The boat's steel hull was professionally designed, although the crew's own modifications were also incorporated. It handles well. Don said. The boat has an estimated top speed of 70 miles an hour, although it's reliability rather than speed which wins marathon races. The cost? “I’m a bit shy in talking about that””

These images form part of the Manawatū Evening Standard Negative Collection. Unfortunately, only negatives between April and December 1978 are held.