Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1916-01-13
sPEEplEsT WATER CRAFT
SHOOTS ALONG THE RIVER
onsinkable Life Raft That Draws But
One Inch in Action-Air-
Driven Boat


A glider is something new in boats
OIL the hydroplane variety. Imagine
driving high powered automobile ov.
er the surface of the water at so miles
an hour and you have fair idea of
what riding in glider is like. You
are not flying, but you are doing some-
thing much more fascinating that mo-
toring-and quite as safe.
The Yolanda H., the first glider ey-
er built in America, made its trial
trip down the Hudson the other morn
ing and covered the twenty-five miles.
| from Nyack to West Ninety-first street
in a few seconds more than half an
hour and it ran so smoothly that the.
eight passengers sat round in easy
chairs inside the big limousine body.
as comfortable as if they had been
riding in private car over the best
laid roadbed in the United States.
Nothing could be more simple in
construction. Take an unsuitable life
raft, made of six cork filled pontoons,
Ill II with a front rudder geared to an
ordinary automobile steering wheel
and at the stern mount two big re-
tractors, like those used on the new
battle planes of the Allies, and YOU
h; ye machine that skins over the
surface of the water at almost any
speed.
When not in motion the Yolanda III.
draws five inches of water, but as
soon as the motors are running she
glides over the surface with an inch
or less of draught, just like QUOT
thrown along ice. AS the Yolanda ii.
came down the river, passing fast mo-
tor boats as if they had been standing
still, the idea of propelling boat by
tiny screy under water seemed abb
surd.
The air driven boat it is predicted
will revolutionize river navigation. No
matter how shallow. every stretch Of
calm water is, it is a potential high
way open for the most rapid kind of
transit Every river is a road-a road
that will never wear and will never
need repair.
The Yolanda II. is the idea Of q
"Soi'hs OtHOT uOnEdlC
Mejia, who, some years ago, determin-
ed to supply a quick river service
down the Magdalena River, between
Bogota and the coast, about 600 miles.
He came TO the United States, but the
ship builders he saw told him his de-
mand for boat making 80 knots an
hour and drawing only few inches
OF water was impracticable.
One day he saw dispatch saying
that in test of hydroaeroplane in
France the machine had skinned
along the surface of the water at high
speed several hundred yards before
rising in the air. He at once wrote
and asked him II the boat could hs
built on the idea Of aeroplane Dropul-
?ion, but to glide on the water. Sleriot
said, he thought it could and MeJia
took the next steamship for Paris.
Bleriot built boat to meet MT.
Mejia's specifications, and although it
made forty six miles an hour it was
lot commercially practical. 1t was a
enc passenger affair and too light to
bear packing and transportation to
Columbia. He had another built on
stronger lines which he took with him
to South America and tested on the
Magdalena. But the French construc-
tors had insisted upon submerged
screw in addition TO the air propell-
ers and the boat drew too much wa
ter and was too small for his purpose.
Hearing that the Comte de Lambert
who had seen his Bleriot speed boat
was making experiments with a pom
toon glider and had formed COM
pany to manufacture the "bateaux glis-
seurs de Lambert" Mr.. Mejia went
back to Paris to see the new boat and
get model for his use in Columbia,
but the war broke out and the motors
ordered were taken by the French
government.
Mr.. Mejia then came to New York
and met d. Lachapelle, boat builder
and engineer of Nyack, who designed
and built the Yolanda H.
On board besides the owner and de-
signer were Don Julie Betancourt, the
Columbian minister; his secretary, l.
Montejo, and +. Escobar, ex-consui
general of Columbia and two engin-
eers.
Within, a few days the boat will De
shipped to Columbia and used to car
ry the mails and government officials
from the capital to the coast. 1t will
make the trip easily in two days in
stead of eleven days that the rear pad
die wheel boats now take.