1st Annual Boat Races:: 2013

A few months back a group of friends and I were together when someone had the wonderful idea of a card board boat race in my friend, Lauren's backyard pond. We all gathered on a sunny Sunday morning to start constructing our boats, the only materials we were allowed were pieces of cardboard and a roll of duck tape. A few gathered massive amounts of cardboard from numerous sources and the building began! One thing that was noticed right away was the quality of the duck tape. If you are ever going to have your own card board boat  be sure to use the real deal and extra strength tape. It makes all the difference in the world!

Each team had their own idea/ plan of what would be the best design to transport their two person boat across the pond and back. Others, like Lauren and myself designed as we went with no set plan. We set a time limit and all the teams went to work. Originally we weren't sure if we were going to build a boat, as Lauren was hosting the event and I was still recovering from my back injury. With lots of teamwork and rest we were able to get a boat together.

Muka guarding her territory while Riley took to the seas to prove he really was a water dog. He must have been in the water for over half the day, catching balls, entertaining himself by splashing and trying to catch the splash or by wading in the lily pads.

Each team had a little different design:

Matt & Jenna went with a banana shaped boat with higher walls

Brian used a wide boat with shorter walls and support bars

Scott & Amandine had a similar idea as Brian but a slimmer boat shape

Lauren & I had a completely different strategy: We angled the front of our boat and placed a rudder under the boat for support and had higher walls. We ran out of time (motivation) to complete the rear portion of our boat and settled with a flat panel.

We had our doubts on Matt & Jenna's boat being successful because it seemed their card board was not secure. As a side note: This race was Matt's idea and he had participated in a boat race before.

On your mark, get set,....... GO!!!!!!!!!

Lauren and I were certain our boat would be the best and make it to the other side of the pond before returning to the starting line. We were very mistaken. As soon as we set foot into our boat we started taking on water and never actually made it off shore. Our downfall was carelessly finishing the end of the boat. As quickly as we started taking water, we started taking in dogs too. We may not have left shore but we did laughs our heads off and the whole experience was completely worth it! I'm glad we shot for the stars and thought we had the winning boat! Maybe next time we will get some float time!

Two of the teams made it half way across the lake before their boats sank.

The winning boat on their way to shore!!!

Brian is Sexy and he knows it!!

The winning boat had an escort back to shore!

We had all had lots of laughs and plan on this being a regular summer event! Having a race under our belt, Lauren and I have plans to tweak our model to challenge the Jenna & Matt next year!