Newspaper Article 1969 – Bone Has New $700 Boat

BONE HAS NEW $700 BOAT

NAPIER. – Outstanding Hawke’s Bay sculler, Tony Bone, will be making a determined bid to wrest the NZ singles title this year with new $700 boat.

Bone, runner-up in the national singles last year recently took delivery of the new 27ft craft built for him by George Pocock Racing Shells, Seattle.

The 30lb craft, slightly lighter than most shells, is extremely functional in design and construction. He hopes that it might make that slight difference in top competition that could help secure for him the national title that has eluded him narrowly for some years now.

The boat is constructed of a variety of woods chosen chiefly for their physical characteristics but, also, for appearance.

The keel is of sugar pine from California, a timber that will not rot. The hull is shaped from Cinnamon-coloured red cedar.

Each side of the hull is shaped from the same plank to 11-64ths of an inch. As the sides are from the same plank they expand and contract equally.

The washboards are constructed of matched Alaskan cedar.

Bone hopes to use the new craft at the Hawke’s Bay regatta on the Clive river next week and again the following week at the Auckland championships at Lake Karapiro. then at Tauranga and Wellington regattas.

“My old boat was showing signs of wear” Bone said this week. “It just might have let me down at a crucial time.”