Sporting Memories

The driving forces behind Tru-Jen, from left, Harold Bungard, Peter Hill, Bill Ruffell and Harry Rutledge.

Iconic speedboat captured Marlborough hearts

WORDS: PETER JONES SUPPLIED

During the 1960s she was one of this province’s most famous sporting identities.

Her deafening roar could send shivers down your spine and the ground would shake as she passed by. Capable of drawing thousands of spectators, her exploits became legendary. Her name was Tru-Jen and her story is one of courage, ingenuity and a bloody-minded pursuit of excellence. Tru-Jen was an unlimited hydroplane speedboat, powered by an Allison aircraft engine. She was constructed in a Blenheim backyard by local enthusiasts Harry Rutledge and Bill Ruffell, with the sole purpose of claiming the Masport Cup, the long-standing national symbol of speedboat supremacy. Standing in her way was Redhead, piloted by the legendary Len Southward, a boat who had won the cup almost every year since 1948.

In 1959, Tru-Jen - at that stage named Susan Leigh II - and Redhead met on Picton Harbour, in front of 14,000 spectators, Expectations were high, but were quickly dashed when a broken propellor sent the local boat to the bottom of the harbour. Ironically, Redhead also sank on the same day but, unlike the craft that would later resurface as Tru-Jen, it was not re-floated.

The Picton setback merely strengthened Harry and Bill’s resolve and, over the next decade, their resilience was well rewarded.

First came the New Zealand water speed record, which family labelled the craft’s finest achievement and earned them a most-welcome fuel sponsorship. In March 1967, Tru-Jen streaked across a measured 1km course in Picton Harbour at an average speed of 126.74mph (202kph). It was estimated that she reached around 140mph (225kph) at one point, leaving a Piper Cub aircraft, which was sent to film her feat, in her wake.

The following year Harry and Bill finally got their hands on the Masport Cup, TruJen winning comfortably in Auckland. She repeated the dose a year later in front of an adoring home crowd, before bowing out of racing in 1970. Just as Tru-Jen forged a special relationship with Marlborough, it also helped create a life-long connection for the Rutledge and Ruffell families when Harry’s son Tim and Bill’s daughter Ann met and eventually married, the couple still residing in Marlborough. Tru-Jen started life under a different name – Susan Leigh. In 1956 Harry and Bill bought her, mainly for the formidable Allison engine and gearbox, and to get some racing experience against Redhead. They quickly established that a new hull was required to fully harness the motor’s potential. The Allison V-1710 motor was produced by General Motors in Indianapolis, for use in WW2 fighter planes. It reached 3800rpm, producing well over 2000hp. Fuel consumption was voracious, the Allison gulping down around three gallons each minute. With a new hull measuring 30 foot long and 12 foot wide, Susan Leigh II was launched by Harry and Bill’s wives, Trudy Ruffell and Jen Rutledge, in Picton during 1959.

After their unfortunate sinking at the 1959 Masport Cup, Harry and Bill, perhaps hoping a name change would prompt better fortune, decided to adopt the name Tru-Jen, in honour of their wives.

The boat’s saltwater immersion meant much work was needed, along with another Allison motor, a new gearbox, main shaft, propellor shaft, a new propellor and hull repairs. But hard work was no problem for Harry and Bill, their lengthy mechanical input truly a labour of love. As Tim, Ann, and her brother Tony Ruffell point out, the pair weren’t qualified speedboat mechanics, Harry a contract sharecropper and Bill running a wood and coal business. “They were self-taught … and had help from a lot of very skilled local guys such as Arthur Baker, Harold Bungard, Bob Highet and Peter Hill,” said Tony. Ultimately though, it was the drive and tenacity of Harry and Bill, who shared the driving, that got Tru-Jen to the start line.

Harry Rutledge delivers the Masport Cup to Bill Ruffell in his hospital bed at Wairau Hospital. At right, are Jen Rutledge and Trudy Ruffell after whom the boat was named.

“I am really proud of the boys and what they achieved,” said Ann. “They were very stoic on some occasions because they had some mountains to climb to get the project completed … but they got there”. Both Tim and Tony drove Tru-Jen, an experience Tony describes as “fantastic”. “I can still feel it … I was a bit nervous, but when it got going, I just didn’t want to stop.” “It was a special time for us all,” added Tim, who recalled sitting alongside Tony on the boat’s tappet covers, with Bob Highet holding onto the tail fin, as Tru-Jen sped back into Picton at 60mph after her record-breaking run.

The early 1960s brought a period of trial and error, multiple setbacks plus a succession of new engines, as the owners fine-tuned their craft.

In 1965 they headed for Lake Rotoiti and the Pelorus Jack Cup regatta. Immediately a problem loomed. Dotted along the road from Blenheim to the lake were six bridges too narrow to accommodate Tru-Jen’s 12’ beam. With typical ingenuity Harry and Bill tipped the craft on its side to allow one sponson to clear the edge of the bridge. However, the 75km trip still took two days to complete. It was worth it however, as Tru-Jen racked up her first win after six years of trials and tribulations.

They repeated the dose in both the following years, her consistency setting up the successful speed record attempt and, in 1968, a shot at the big one, the Masport Cup, with optimism rising. But, as usual, it was not all plain sailing. Tru-Jen suffered damage at the preceding Pelorus Jack regatta, necessitating her propellor being sent to Nadler and Biddle in Nelson for urgent repairs. The boat was immediately shipped to Auckland while Harry flew north and Bill picked up the propellor and set off by car. Unfortunately, he fell ill on the trip and was rushed to hospital. Typical of the camaraderie that marked the sport, rival Len Southward came to the rescue, picking up the new propellor and delivering it to Auckland so Harry could drive it in a practice run before the big race. The new prop was an immediate success, giving the three-and-a-half ton boat a new lease of life.

In Tony Rutledge and Merv Sowden’s comprehensive account of the event it was noted that “the spectators were treated to one of the most exciting displays of high-powered speedboat racing ever seen in New Zealand … the bank was a natural grandstand and every time Tru-Jen thundered past only 30 yards out the ground vibrated”. Upon Harry’s return to Marlborough, and a joyous reunion with Bill at Wairau Hospital, the pair were treated to a mayoral reception, underlining the lofty regard they and their boat were held in by the community. It was said that the deafening thunder of the Allison at full throttle was not easily forgotten – the same could be said of the incomparable Tru-Jen and her intrepid owners.

Tim Rutledge, left, Anne Rutledge (nee Ruffell) and Tony Ruffell hold a mis-shapen propellor shaft, reclaimed after the boat sank in 1959.