One person stands out though, and that is the late John Rose, who started racing with tethered hydroplanes, became a champion several times over in outboard hydros, and then returned for another highly successful stint with the tethered boats. What is even more remarkable is that this was achieved in each case with engines that he had designed and built entirely from scratch.

John Rose was born in Coventry in 1930, and after education at the local technical school, went as an engineering trainee at the Morris factory, working in the machine shop. Around 1948 he became involved with the Coventry MES where Bill Churcher, who had started racing tethered hydroplanes in 1939, was also a member, registration CV1. Bill raced a series of 15cc four-stroke boats called ‘Annette’, the last of which is happily still in existence. It was probably this association that prompted John to build what would be the first of his many engines, and start running tethered boats. The motor he built was a single cylinder, 15cc four-stroke, with inclined overhead valves, very similar to Churcher’s pre-war version and based on Westbury’s Kittiwake design. Although both had the carburettor on the right and the exhaust on the left, Bill’s took the drive from the timing side of the engine while John’s had the cam box and pushrods to the front of the boat.

1953 was to see some major changes for John Rose, starting early in the year when he married Catherine ‘Marion’ Nassau in Coventry. He also became a member of the Bristol Club, moving down from Coventry to work for Bristol Cars, a post war offshoot of the Bristol Aircraft Company. He had moved to Bristol Cars because at that time they were involved in racing around Europe and at Le Mans, and being involved in this appealed to him immensely.

In the 1953 season review, published in January 1954, it was noted that John had been using a brew of methanol and nitro-benzene in his motor and had abandoned spark ignition in favour of glow plugs. These changes did not seem to affect the speed of the boat, but made starting the motor much easier. The 1954 season passed by without a mention in any reports, but things then become a little confused as John appeared with a ‘new Bristol boat’ at Bournville in 1955, which was called ‘Mayfly’. Still a 15cc four-stroke, it made a successful debut by taking 3^rd place at 39.18 mph. By a strange coincidence the exactly same speed in 1956 secured 2^nd place in the Collier Trophy, again at Bournville, but this time with ‘Meteor 3’. Again, no details of this boat or engine are recorded. A more significant event in 1956 was the arrival of John and Marion’s first son David, conveniently born just before the regatta season got under way.

As well as tethered hydroplanes, Bristol was also a centre for full sized hydroplanes, with a number of well know national and international competitors based there. The British Outboard Racing Club organised events at the Welsh Harp in North London, and South Cerney, a name familiar to all tethered hydroplane competitors, but quite how John became involved with the bigger versions is something of a mystery?

In the mid 50s the single step hull powered by a horizontal twin or four cylinder American motor was being superseded by the three point hull using the German Konig racing engine, the British Anzani or small stock outboards such as the Mercury or Martin. There were still a band of engineers though who built their own motors or converted existing ones to suit, and John joined this group. He set to and produced a delightful 250cc parallel twin, similar in configuration to the Konig with everything built from scratch, including all the castings. Racing was divided according to capacity 250, 350, 500, 1000cc and whether you were running on petrol or dope (methanol). To give himself flexibility he designed his motor so that it would run on petrol with a set of AMAL carburettors and a huge range of jet sizes to choose from, or a set of home built dope carbs. As well as the motor John also built his own hull, which he called ‘Jester’.

The motor was a work of art with crankcases, cylinders, disc housings all from home produced castings. The crank alone was a masterpiece with four throws and sealing rings let into the edge of each crank web. Unlike the Konig with its iron liners, John’s individual cylinders were very advanced, having chrome bores. All the mountings for the hull were home produced as well, which is an incredible achievement and a tribute to John’s engineering skills and tenacity, as everything was manufactured with a 3½" Myford ML7 and a bench pillar drill, both of which are now in Mike’s workshop.

Around 1975, which was couple of years after Sir George White sold his stake in the company, John left Bristol cars to work for Cam Gears in Clevedon who were making steering racks and gears for commercial vehicles. There he was involved in the design of gearing systems and the test rigs for life tests. While John was happy to compete against the Konigs at national level, he was less enamoured with the rise in popularity of the stock motors in handicap events and in the late 70s decided to retire from racing and return to tethered hydroplanes.

The twin was sold to Danny Keay and now resides with Jack Wood in Leeds. The Vee 4 was sold to John Skidmore who ran it for a while before destroying it comprehensively when a con rod broke. A new crankcase was built some years ago by ‘yours truly’ and now all the parts are in the hands of Peter Rix from Lowestoft who intends to restore it to running condition. Remarkably, it is the chrome bores that posed the biggest obstacle in the rebuilding of this fabulous motor.

While the Bristol MES which had amalgamated with the Bristol Boat Club and Model Car Club was still going strong, celebrating its centenary in 2009, the Cotswold Model Marine Club was becoming the hotbed of tethered hydros in the area. John would eventually be elected Commodore of the Cotswold Club as well as a Vice President of the Model Hydroplane Club. Alongside John there was Jim Williams, another fine engineer, and between them they formed a formidable team for many years to come. On his return to the tethered hydroplane fraternity it is obvious that John had been busy in the workshop in the intervening period, as he had produced an exceptionally well engineered schnuerle ported 15cc engine for the ‘B’ class. Like his larger hydroplane engines, everything for the motor, including the castings were produced at home, and Mike Rose still remembers the Sundays when his mother wanted to start the dinner but had to wait as the moulds were being dried in the oven. He also had another project on the go as he had built an exact replica of his original 15cc four-stroke ‘Meteor’ to run in the vintage class.

Mike still has the original drawings and as you can see from the pictures is still in possession of the patterns.  If anyone was interested in building this engine then they could borrow the drawings and patterns.

Run concurrently, either at area championships or the International are the Collier Cup and Mears Trophy for a run of 1000yds. John, and later his son Mike, were almost to make these trophies their personal property.

In 1981 John was awarded the prestigious Windermere Trophy for adding nearly 8mph to his existing record with a run of 86.04mph at his home water, South Cerney. Away from the water 1982 would see the  family celebrating the wedding of Mike Rose to Karen Atwill. By the early 80s, the number of competitors running the 15cc home built engines was diminishing and while Jim Williams could never quite match the top speeds that John was producing, he was never far behind and would often pick up wins when John was not competing or not quite up to his best. The two of them also started to look seriously at the 10cc Class and for the 83 season, both had joined the ranks of A3 competitors. With the arrival of NAVIGA classes the 'C' and 'C/Restricted' classes had ceased to exist as such, so rather than a homebuilt motor, John had opted for an Italian commercial engine, as they were the ones ruling the roost in that class. While the OPS was making the running, John chose to go with a PICCO. Designed primarily for tethered cars, the motor was not sufficiently tractable for boat work so John modified the porting with a new stepped piston to give a less aggressive exhaust timing.

In 1987, Peter Hill wrote in Model Boats that “He would like to make special reference to John Rose, who brought three boats to the International, giving six starts, six speeds, and each boat took first place in its allotted class, the first time this has ever been achieved. This was due to the fact that John is not only a very good engineer and has long experience of both full size and model hydroplanes, but his boats are always immaculate in design, finish and preparation; a lesson not only to hydroplanists but to all that run power boats”. This followed a clean sweep at the International where John won the ‘B’ Class at 95.6mph, A3 at 116mph with the PICCO and the Vintage class at 65.78mph with ‘Meteor’, which would also win him the Lambert Trophy for the first time.

John being despatched to find out the depth of the new lake at Cerney!

John's younger son Mike was now becoming equally involved with racing tethered hydroplanes with the arrival of the ‘Novice’ class, which prompted him to join his dad in the sport. Mike was soon to make his mark as well, adding his name to the record books with his Novice class boats. Mike and Karen also presented John and Marion Rose with a grandson Antony in 1987, to be followed  by a granddaughter Kayleigh in 1989. Antony has embraced tethered hydroplanes most enthusiastically, while Kayleigh's views on the sport are less clear.

The wins with the new boats continued through the following seasons until the 22^nd of May 94 at Kingfisher, where John put in a run of 110.42mph in round one to set a new record and the first run over 110 by a 15cc boat. In round two the boat went even quicker to set yet another new record, and by quite a margin, with a speed of 115.91mph. This record still stands today, 15 years on!

Cerney in 1991 with the newly built hulls.	John Assisted by Jim Williams	Watching a run at St Albans

In Sept 92 a large contingent from the UK travelled to Amiens, France for an International regatta.
Jim Free provides this panel of photos of John Rose at that meeting.

John Whelan, Jim Williams and John Rose of the Cotswold Club with Jacques Perrier of the host club. John preparing to put his A3 OPS on the line, launching and collecting 3rd in A3 at 118.34mph.

Throughout the 1980s, Bob Kirtley had been working tirelessly on developing his ‘A’ Class flash steamer, upping the class record regularly. In 1988 Ian Berne joined the fray, and from then on the pair of them pushed the record up, almost on a run by run basis at times. By the end of 1989 the magic 100 mph had been well and truly smashed which persuaded Stan Poyser to have another go with a flash steamer. This competition carried on through the 90s, which obviously appealed to John who set about building himself a flash steam outfit. While the ‘A’ Class record was regularly being broken, the ‘B’ Class mark had stood for years, until Stan Poyser turned his attentions to the smaller class. With the weight constraints the 'B' class presented a very challenging design and engineering exercise, which John took on enthusiastically with this superbly engineered, single cylinder flash steam engine that he started building in 1995.

Poppet valve, hairpin valve springs, adjustable throw pump eccentric and uniquely, twin rams on fuel and water pump.

As well as continuing to work on the flash steamer, the 95 and 96 seasons produced the usual crop of race wins and trophies for John, including the Miniature Speed and Collier double at the International each year.

Unfortunately 1996 would be the last season that would see John Rose competing around the country and dominating ‘B’ Class racing. The steam project would also remain unfinished, as John was taken seriously ill during the winter and after a six month battle with cancer, died on the 19^th of June 1997.
 

The ‘Rose’ Legacy

Just 10 days after the death of his father, Mike Rose attended the Cotswold Club meeting with a view to running his late father’s 15cc boat. During the winter John had made further modifications and it was these and a box of props that faced Mike on this first outing. With help from Dave Whelan, Mike did get the boat going but did not record any official times. At the Southern Area Championships at Farnborough in July Mike managed 68 in the first round, but a second round speed of 95.68mph would give him his first of many wins with his late father’s boat.     Right: The 'Record Holder'

By Kingsbury in August, Mike had the boat back to its best with runs of 104 and 105mph to add the Midland Area Championship. Mike did not contest the ‘B’ Class at the International for that year, so for the first time for a long while, the miniature Speed Trophy and Collier Cup did not return to Bristol. While John DeMott won the class, no one completed the 1,000 yards to qualify for the Collier.

Mike loaned one of his father’s A3 boats, the OPS powered version, to fellow Cotswold members Dave and John Whelan, who took it over to Poitiers in France in September of that year for the International meeting. While the runs in the competition were most disappointing the final afternoon produced something of a highlight. The organisers had asked competitors to do some demonstration runs for the many visitors to the park and this time the speed was around 116mph.

With the engine rebuilt it was back to normal at Old Ford in July with two runs at over 100mph. Mike followed this up with speeds of 107 and 105mph back at Farnborough in September, reflecting the performance that he has managed to maintain for the rest of the decade with the remarkable engine. The Lambert Vintage Trophy resided in the Rose household for five consecutive years from 1998 to 2003 with three wins for Antony and two for Mike, while Mike has been a record holder on numerous occasions with his novice boat. Water conditions at the 2004 International at St Albans were far from good, yet Mike achieved the Speed Trophy/Collier double yet again. The year was to end on a sad note for the family though, with the sudden death of Marion Rose, just seven years after losing her husband.

10cc powered by a gold top OPS 60, best speed 122 mph	10cc powered by a Picco 60

When first built, the PICCO was the fastest boat of that year at just over 125mph. This is Mike's current A3 boat, but he is not sure when he will find the time to run it.