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Gina
Campbell lost her father at the age of just
17, when
he was killed on Lake Coniston as he tried to set yet
another world speed record. In her prop-driven
catamaran, also called Bluebird, (Agfa Bluebird) she
raised the Ladies' Water Speed Record to 166 mph on
Lake Taupo in New Zealand on 1st April 1990. Gina has
strong links with New Zealand - a country almost
synonymous with water sports and also the home of
Dorothy, Donald Campbell's second wife.
Gina
Campbell 2001
When
in New Zealand in 1986, she was navigating for Glenn
Urquhart when their powerboat touched the top of a
wave, flipped over and then went onto its side,
continuing underwater at full power. Later in
1987 Gina was involved in a campaign run by the New
Zealand Water Safety Council to promote public
awareness of the dangers inherent in water sport and
leisure
Gina's
father, Donald Campbell CBE was the obsessive holder
of world land and water speed records and died in
Coniston lake on January 4 1967 while trying to break
his own record. Possibly striking a log the jet
powered Bluebird had disintegrated at around 300 miles
an hour. He is said to have yearned to emulate
his father Sir Malcolm Campbell, in setting speed
records on land and on water.
Gina
too was bitten by the racing bug and competed in
offshore powerboat racing, before setting a world
water speed record of her own in 1984. It is not
so well known that Gina had a serious accident,
flipping her boat at close to 160 mph. Se
survived to tell the tale and one can only marvel at
her resolve, knowing how her father had lost his life.
Donald had broken the world water speed record seven
times in 10 years when the accident happened. Having
hit 202.32mph on Ullswater in July 1955, he bettered
it on December 31, 1964, at Dumbleyung Lake, Australia
when he reached 276.33mph. His penchant for
record breaking brought him back to Coniston for a
final time. His last reported words heard over
the intercom were: “She’s going, she’s going.”
In December 2000 divers testing underwater
cameras came on the wreckage. Underwater surveyor,
Bill Smith found the wreck at 150 feet half buried in
silt. Donald Campbell’s body was never found at the
time of the tragedy. In March 2001 Bluebird was
recovered from the lake bed . Campbell's widow Tonie
Bern Campbell, 64 watched it emerge from the lake. The
tail was undamaged but the front cockpit area was
completely crushed.
The
K7 first run 4 January 1967
The Coniston Institute and Ruskin Museum Charitable
Trust now want to provide a permanent home for the
remains of Bluebird and are seeking permission for a
10m by 10m extension to the Museum to house it. The
application is supported by a letter from the Curator
of the museum stating that Bluebird is part of
Coniston’s heritage and the people of Coniston
"believe most strongly" that the craft
belongs in the town as a "permanent memorial to a
great British hero".
In August 2001 the Barrow in Furness coroner decided
that based on DNA evidence the remains found near the
wreck of Bluebird were those of the late Donald
Campbell. His daughter, Gina Campbell, 51, from Leeds,
can at last officially hold an official service
following the loss of her father, who died when she
was just 17. DNA
tests taken from her and compared with the remains
found in the water were confirmed as matching.
The
funeral service at Coniston Parish Churchyard took
place in September 2001. Donald Campbell has finally
been given a permanent headstone on the edge of
Coniston Water 35 years after his death. Family,
friends and those involved in the salvage of the
record-breaking Bluebird, were present at the moving
service in St Andrew's Church, Coniston.
The headstone features a carved bluebird and replaces
the temporary stone, which has been moved to the
Bluebird Cafe. The salvage team is to bring back a
fully working and faithfully
restored Bluebird and house it in Cumbria but lacks
the funding.
The restoration project could take up to three years.
“Bluebird”
has been in storage in the northeast since she was
raised from the bed of Coniston Water in March 2001 by
a team of divers led by Bill Smith of Newcastle. Now
Lake District planners have approved plans to extend
the village’s Ruskin Museum to house the boat in a
permanent exhibition celebrating the record-breaking
achievements of Donald Campbell and his father,
Malcolm. Applicants the Coniston Institute and Ruskin
Museum Charitable Trust have been granted permission
to build a 33ft by 33ft extension to the museum
Bluebird
K7 taking off
One
of the most controversial acts to have taken place at
Coniston in recent years was the raising of Bluebird
from the lake bed during the spring of 2001. It is
probably fair to say that the majority of those born
and bred in the village were against any form of
salvage. The general opinion was that the wreck should
be left where it had been lying for the previous 34
years.
Nevertheless, the project continued despite local
misgivings. The position of Bluebird had been
accurately located the previous August. This had
created quite a significant risk which was that
souvenir hunters would systematically start to strip
the wreck. There was also a feeling within the
Campbell family that the wreck should be
raised, restored and put on permanent display in the
village. As a result, the salvage operation commenced
in February 2001, unfortunately without any
consultation with the community of Coniston for their
opinion or approval.
Despite this initial unsympathetic approach it has to
be said that the project to locate the boat and the
subsequent salvage, which was carried out by Bill
Smith of Newcastle, was a triumph of skill, stamina
and technology. To the lay person a project to raise a
wreck, which was only 150 feet below the surface,
might seem easy. In reality the difficulties were
immense. It is impossible for us to understand the
extremely hostile conditions existing below the
familiar surface of our lake.
Salvage
operations started with the assembly of two large
barges on the car park of the Bluebird Café at the
lake shore. Once completed the barges became a
floating platform which could hold the lifting crane
and the mass of underwater equipment needed for the
salvage operation to proceed. The platform was
launched on March 2nd, towed out to a point
above the wreck and secured with ropes to concrete
blocks which had been placed on the lake bed.
Next
day, with the assistance of a remote operating vessel,
divers started to secure lifting lines to the wreck.
Once complete the delicate operation was started to
lift the craft clear of the thick glutinous mud on the
lake bed, without causing any further damage. This
took several days and was completed on March 7th
with the help of hydraulic lifting bags. By the close
of play that day Bluebird had been raised from the
lake bed and was hanging from the floating platform,
just below the lake surface, by its lifting lines.
Agfa
Bluebird offshore power boat
The following day the salvage was completed. The team
arrived at the Bluebird Café at 4:30 am, to be met by
TV crews who were already in position. Once out on the
platform Bluebird was checked and found not to have
suffered any harm after a night suspended from the
lifting lines. When all was ready the securing lines
holding the platform to the blocks on the lake bed
were released and the platform, with Bluebird hanging
underneath, slowly moved up the lake towards the
Bluebird Café.
A large crowd had assembled by this time to watch the
operation. When close to the shore the lifting bags
were deflated and Bluebird was allowed to settle back
onto the bed of the lake while the recovery trailer
was brought into position. The team knew that lifting
Bluebird onto the trailer was never going to be an
easy job, but eventually all was secure and the
recovery trailer was slowly winched towards the shore.
First the tail fin and then the bulk of Bluebird
herself cleared the surface of the lake. At this point
a degree of apprehension ran through the watching
crowd. It was an especially poignant moment for those
who had been involved in the record attempt
thirty-four years earlier and for the few present who
had actually witnessed the disaster. Understandably
many Coniston people had decided to stay away.
Two days later Bluebird was load ed onto a lorry,
covered with a tarpaulin and by 4 pm the same day was
safely delivered to a factory building on Tyneside
where stabilisation and some degree of restoration was
to be carried out.
Since the salvage operation, the team returned to the
crash site several times to look for additional
sections of Bluebird. Inevitably, during one of these
visits, the body of Donald Campbell was located, a
short distance away from where the wreck had been
found. Gina Campbell, Donald's only daughter, had
especially requested then to look out for him.
"Find my dad" she had asked, "I want to
put him somewhere warm".
Gina
Campbell in the ABB II 1984 Womans World Water Speed
Record boat 'Agfa Bluebird II'
Soon after the body was located it was recovered with
great dignity and with the full co-operation of the
coroner and police. A casket was lowered onto the lake
bed and the remains were placed in it. On Bank Holiday
Monday the casket was lifted onto the team's boat and
covered with the union flag. It was then brought to
Pier Cottage. While still out on the lake a short
impromptu service was carried out by the salvage team
as they waited for the coroner to arrive.
News of the location and recovery of the body again
shattered the village. However most people quickly
came round to the opinion that, whereas recovery of
the boat was questionable, recovery of the body was a
legitimate act which would allow a proper burial to
take place in Coniston at a later date.
There was one final act of recovery that was carried
out by the team. Gina Campbell was aware that her
father would have been wearing a small gold medallion
round his neck during the record attempt. It had been
given to him many years earlier by his father. The
team was asked to see if they could find it. The
outcome of this is best left to the writings of Bill
Smith, on the project web site:
Tonia Berne
Bill Smith raises the K7
Donald
Campbells body
On
the 28th May 2001 A body was recoverd from Coniston
Water by the Bluebird Project Team. Gina Campbell,
Donalds Daughter asked if the team could locate and
recover her fathers body. There seems no doubt that
the body is that of Donald Campbell. DNA tests are
being carried out to confirm this.
The team recovered from the body a St Christopher,
which Sir Malcolm gave to Donald, and which has now
been passed on to Gina.
Body
in lake is Campbell Friday,
10 August, 2001
A
coroner has confirmed that human remains found in
Coniston Water are those of powerboating legend Donald
Campbell. An inquest heard tests on DNA samples
taken from the body and from members of Campbell's
family proved the remains were 1.9 million times more
likely to be those of the speed hero's than anyone
else.
Campbell
was trying to break his own water speed record of
276mph when his boat somersaulted before crashing.
Divers found the remains in May - 34 years after
Campbell's attempt ended in his death. Furness
coroner Ian Smith said there was "absolutely no
doubt" the body was that of Donald Campbell.
After the hearing in Barrow Town Hall, Cumbria,
Campbell's daughter Gina, 51, said she felt
"totally relieved". She said:
"There was always a little bit of doubt. Now
there is no doubt.
"The
mystery of the lake now becomes a reality."
Cumbria
Police scenes-of-crime officer Carl Langhorn told the
hearing that DNA expert Dr Tim Clayton carried out
tests on the remains and on samples from Ms Campbell
and Donald Campbell's sister Jean Wales. Mr
Langhorn said: "Dr Clayton holds a strong view
that the remains are from a person related to Gina and
Jean. "He believes it is 1.9 million times
more likely that they have originated from the father
of Gina than anyone else." Ms Campbell
confirmed to Mr Smith her father's name, date of birth
and that he was born in Kingston, Surrey
MARINE
INSURANCE:
FOR
YOUR NO OBLIGATION QUOTE:
Email:
Nelson
Kruschandl
ENCLOSING
DETAILS OF YOUR VESSEL AND ANY PLANNED JOURNEY, CARGO,
ETC. YOU WILL THEN BE CONTACTED BY A SPECIALIST.
LINKS
:
News
Reports of the confirmation of Donald being recovered.
IC
Newcastle BBC
good article this one ANANOVA
good site
News
Report of the discovery of Donalds body.
BBC
report.
Link
to News Websites after Bluebird had been raised:
BBC
Video News Report of the raise.
Pictures
from the BBC news site
CNN
News site
Guardian
website
Link
to News Websites after it was disclosed that it had
been located:
BBC
News Report on the find Guardian
News Report
Gina
with a model of her racing catamaran
"Of
records and record breakers, I would remind you that speed
is relative to time. What we consider slow now, was
unthinkable in years gone by. However, each time a
contender goes out onto the field of battle, he or she faces
the same hurdles, the same fears and financial challenges as
those before us, and most importantly of all, has to muster
themselves to boiling point make it all happen. In the
end, players will either triumph or fail, but in doing so,
show others where to, and where not to tread. All too
often players pay the ultimate price. Whether they
raise Man's technical mastery up another notch or not,
history should remember every last one of them - for they
were players." (Nelson
Kruschandl December 2005)
Nelson
Kruschandl
LINKS
:
Hydroplanes
and Racing:
Hydrofest
Hyrdroplane
& Raceboat Musuem
World
Water Speed Records
Hydros
Seattle
Outboard Association
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