Run by the Otago Jet-boat Association, the annual event attracted 13 entries. Derry and co-driver Phil Brent Hefford, both from Blenheim, proved fastest overall of 13 entries on the two legs in their jet turbine-powered NZ1.
The event was also expected to attract another jet turbine boat, recently developed and driven by Duncan Storrier (Ashburton). This would have made history as the first time two jet turbine jet-boats had competed in New Zealand, but Storrier did not come to the event because he felt his boat and he were not fully prepared to race.
Derry had it all his own way on the up-river leg from Ferry Rd to Kurow, completing it in 25min 5sec. He also won the criterium - three laps around the Kurow island - in 8min 30sec.
That was enough to hold off the challenge by Regan Williamson (Queenstown) and Peter Reid in 777, who surprisingly proved the fastest on the down-river leg by the narrowest of margins.
Williamson powered down the river in 25min 43sec, marginally quicker than Derry, who did it in 25min 58sec.
Derry's overall time for the three events was 51min 3sec. Williamson was second in 51min 55sec and Garth McMaster and Phil Stirling (Winton) in NZ2 third in 53min 41sec.
The criterium - held for the first time as part of the race - attracted a large number of spectators who stood on the twin bridges to watch the boats in groups of four complete three laps with the fastest away first.
On the down-river run, they had to contend with the narrow space between the wooden piers on the north bridge, a spectacular sight as they charged underneath where earlier in the year debris had had to be cleared after extensive flooding in January and February.
