The Longest Seagull Race in the World by Mark Walker

Every Easter, a select, idiosyncratic but furtive band of adventurers assemble at the base of the Karapiro Dam on the Waikato River, about 34kms south of Hamilton on New Zealand’s north island. The waters behind the dam form Lake Karapiro, New Zealand’s official Olympic sculling capital, where fit young rowers look askance at the noisy, smoky Seagulls cluttering their calm and pristine rowing course.
Once ‘official’ testing is over, boats and motors are surreptitiously carried across the road over the dam, and lugged down the hill to the gravel scree at the base of the dam wall, on the edge of the hydro-electric turbine exhaust pool, complete with swirling whirlpools and strong currents.
From here commences an event held annually since 1983 – The Great Annual Waikato River Seagull Race. It is, in fact, the longest Seagull race in the world, (for now – see sidebar) covering 142km of at times interesting river navigation.
1955 British-Seagull 40-Plus outboard engine.Race classes revolve around the engine capacity of the motor (either 64cc or 102cc), a 3:1-foot boat length rule, and whether the driver is solo or carrying one or more passengers. An innovation for the 2011 race was the introduction of a new ‘Bermudan Class’ based on 20-foot long, flat-bottomed, light, narrow boats with hull shape optimised for displacement motoring with low-powered motors. The only compulsory elements are adequate PFDs, a good spares and tool kit on board – and propulsion by a British Seagull outboard motor.
These tiny, archaic, antiquated devices were first produced in 1931, and were made almost without change until the factory folded in 1996. They come in basically five types: the smallest the Forty Series, with only 64cc and a max. of 3HP; the early 102-Series, featuring head and block cast in unit, this model popularised the British Seagull pre-, during and post-WWII. The later Century 100 models have the same 102cc capacity, but feature detachable alloy heads, the subsequent Silver Century a derivative of these, and the penultimate QB range and hood-covered 125-170 Series also featured a 102cc engine, with minor mods to ignition and porting providing variation.
Jim Abernethy in his PortaBote.The final version of the Seagull was a re-badged Italian Selva 5HP, called the Seagull Sport, but these ‘fake’ Seagulls never really caught on, although the Waikato race organisers have included a class for them, as they can make small light boats move quite quickly.
20-foot Bermudan class.It is both the stripped-down, no-nonsense appearance and rugged simplicity of the ‘classic’ British Seagull that affords them a degree of charm somehow lacking in more modern machinery.
But no matter how reliably prepared, they still only produce a maximum of about 5HP, so navigation on the turbulent upper reaches of the Waikato can be entertaining, to say the least. The narrow, swiftly-flowing upper gorges feature almost sheer rock walls in places, where ferns and other sub-tropical species cling precariously to the almost sheer rock sides above the rushing stream and hurtling dinghies.
Bruce from Bermuda.Mid-stream boulders, hidden rock ledges and fallen trees all provide an element of excitement in the upper reaches, where the degree of danger is proportional to the lack of water in the river. The more water, the less risk, so releases by the hydro-electric authority are monitored closely by organisers a few weeks before the race.
Once past the thriving city of Hamilton with its numerous bridges, the river widens and slows, with lush, prosperous farming country on both banks, broken only by the occasional town or village.
The half-way point in the race is at Rangariro Bridge, about 75kms from the start, where entrants pull out for the night and camp in tents on Council-owned land under the bridge, or cross the road to stay in the relative luxury of the Rangariro Hotel. The bistro does a fine trade in traditional pub grub, and the many coloured levers behind the bar get a serious workout.
For the uninitiated Australian, it is good to know that a half-pint glass mug with a handle is the standard glass, and is called, with typical Kiwi pragmatism, a ‘handle’. Don’t ask for a schooner, it rather gives the game away!
Charles at speed.Next day, race entrants charge off into the shallow reaches of the mid-Waikato, where it is crucial to ‘read’ the river and stick to the deepest water to avoid prop damage. A curiousity of the Seagull is the patented ‘spring drive’ where drive is transmitted from the prop shaft to the prop itself via a tightly-coiled spring, mounted in the end of the shaft. In the event of a ground strike or weed jammed in the prop, the spring provides some ‘give’ and this helps prevent damage to the prop and shaft.
However, multiple strikes will eventually bend, damage or break the spring necessitating mid-stream replacement, which involves pulling the entire motor into the boat. It’s perhaps just as well Seagulls don’t weigh more than about 20kg!
Other than keeping a close eye on the tell-tale (in case weed wraps itself around the water intake) in the lower reaches racers admire the scenery, listen for any change in the engine’s regular thrum, and simply enjoy the experience of being on the water.
Seagull boats come in all sizes.One unusual feature that crops up right along all the branches of the lower Waikato are ‘bach’s’ – small, roughly-built riverside shacks that are allowed ‘traditional fishing rights’ for whitebait – a Kiwi delicacy – on particular stretches of the river. Each has a number nailed to its front door denoting what stretch of the river its occupants are allowed to fish. Some are little more than an oversized outhouse on stilts, while others feature floating pontoon moorings, glass windows and solar panels for electric light. Women are even invited to the formerly ‘batchelors only’ shacks in these enlightened ‘politically correct’ times.
But if a westerly blows up, it can set up a nasty chop in the wider reaches nearer the mouth, so for safety’s sake the race finish line at Hoods Landing is at the point where the river broadens into its estuary, a short distance up one of the delta branches.
Here the support crews and onlookers applaud the finishers before heading off to the celebration dinner and prize-giving in nearby Waiuku, where trophy presentations are accompanied by the usual post-event hilarity.
Everyone promises faithfully to be there ‘next year’ and, as the tail-lights of the trailers disappear into the deepening Kiwi darkness, the Waikato heaves itself a sigh of relief and settles back into its slumber to await the passage of the next twelve months, until the bark of Seagulls is heard once again on the river.

Longest Seagull Race?

A group of Australian Seagull owners are contemplating a trip down the Murray, among other Seagull-related activities. For more details and to get on the emailing list, contact Mark Walker on
buz_zook@hotmail.com.

Short history of the British Seagull

1931    first ‘Marston’ Seagulls made by John Marston Ltd, maker of Sunbeam cars and bikes in Wolverhampton
1935    UK distributor Merlyn Motors of Bristol directors, John Way-Hope and Bill Pinniger, purchase rights to Seagull and name company British Seagull
1938    factory and showroom now consolidated in Poole, Dorset, to be the company’s long-term home
1940s    orders from UK MoD for upwards of 100,000 102-Series British Seagull outboard motors to propel landing craft and barges for D-Day provides windfall that enables the company to expand and export post-war
1948     production of the first 40-Series, the ‘Lightweight’ 1.5HP 64cc motor
1955    production of the Century Series 102cc motor commences
1966    the Silver Century 102cc motor commences production, the Sixties marking the height of Seagull annual production
1982    final ‘classic’ series the QB range introduced, being Curlew, Osprey and Kingfisher, with engine mods designed by team at Queens University Belfast
1996    final ‘classic’ British Seagull produced and factory closed after approx. two million British Seagulls produced
1996    some marketing rights taken up by former Seagull sales director Mike Gregory under utilising Italian-made Selva motors branded ‘Seagull Sport’
Current    New Old Stock and new spare parts sales for all classic Seagulls, and all other rights and trademarks owned by Sheridan Marine, Oxford, trading as British Seagull.
    www.britishseagull.co.uk

Other useful websites:

http://www.seagulloutboard.com
http://www.saving-old-seagulls.co.uk
http://www.britishseagull.com.au

* Mark Walker is a freelance writer and former magazine editor.