that when it gets up to speed, the twin hulls,

or sponsons, are designed to rise up out of

the water, hydroplaning until only about 5

centimetres (2 inches) of the boat are actually

in contact with the water. The catamaran-style

twin hulls trap air beneath them, riding on

an air cushion that minimises drag to let the

Dragon accelerate like a bullet and hit that

remarkable top speed of 160 mph plus. What

we were hoping to do with the motorbike was

to hydroplane and keep it on the surface. The

Dragon boat takes it a step further, with the

sponsons then using air pressure to stay out of

the water. Having seen the effect that slamming

through the open air could have when I was

pedalling Britain’s Fastest Bike and trying to

get the SUHPA off the ground, it was easy to

see how the Dragon boat could use the air keep

it out of the water. Clearly, if the driver got a

bit carried away and let the front of the boat

rise too far, the whole thing would flip over

Above: Jonathan Jones perched on the Dragon as I
got to grips with the controls, but he abandoned ship
before I started to give it some welly.

backwards, which was something to be avoided

– again, balance was the key. Since Donald

Campbell, everyone involved in hydroplaning

boats has known how this works. Although

Campbell was using an engine from a fighter

jet and, ultimately his hydroplane, the Bluebird

did flip over, resulting in a devastating crash in

which he was killed.

At Chasewater we weren’t aiming for anything

like the speeds that Campbell had achieved,

but still the Dragon would be going so fast that,

if you were driving along the M6 motorway

at the legal limit of 70 mph and the central

reservation was a canal, it would come past

you like you were going backwards. I could

flying across the water   173