I mentioned in the last post that I had received a good number of new submissions of photos and memories for the archive over the last few weeks, but I have also had quite a few emails from people who have contacted me to provide further information about images which are already on the website. I’ve got several captions in the photo galleries which now need updating!
Amanda Water Scooter at Potter Heigham in 1959 - by courtesy of the Aylott Family
I recently uploaded a set of 1950s photographs from the Aylott Family Collection that included the image on the right which shows Joan Aylott sitting on a rather strange looking water craft at Potter Heigham in 1959. Not the sort of vessel you would normally see on the Broads, I asked whether these were actually available to hire at this time. Earlier in the week I received an email from Chris Booth who remembered them being on hire at Potter Heigham in the late 1950s and he told me that it may well have been one of the water scooters which were produced by the Vincent Motorcycle Company at Stevenage. I did a little research and believe that this was almost certainly one of the Amanda Water Scooters which were introduced by Vincent c1956. The invention of the Personal Watercraft is often credited to one Clayton Jacobson of Arizona in the mid 1960s, but this example from Vincent predates that by a decade and was possibly the first ever PWC to go into production. Early models of the Amanda were fitted with 75cc and 100cc single cylinder 2-stroke engines of the sort that were often found in lawnmowers and they had a top speed of between 5-7 mph. It seems that they did export quite a number to the States and Europe and a 200cc model was introduced. Despite exhaustive testing which proved the Amanda to be a very stable craft, a tragic incident in which one of the company’s test drivers drowned during a trial resulted in a massive loss of confidence in the craft, the orders dried up and production ceased.
A gallery of further photographs of the Amanda Water Scooter can be found on the myvincent.co.uk website and this British Pathe film from 1956 shows the Windmill Theatre Girls putting some water scooters to the test at Ruislip. Many thanks to Chris Booth for solving the mystery!
