Cardboard boat races: Sinking is part of the fun

by Andy Dygert

News reporter

Some things are just not meant to be used as boat material.

Cardboard and tape would probably be high on that list.

But the participants in Winfield's Cardboard Boat Race at the Twin Lakes Country Club, during Crooked Creek Days this past weekend, boldly ignored this issue - and most wound up wet.

The boat race consists of a youth category and an adult category. The participants build boats out of cardboard, duct tape and paint, which shores up the bottom of the boats for a certain amount of time before the cardboard gets soaked.

Waterproof coatings of paint are prohibited, as are waterproof types of cardboard. The crafts are inspected before they are allowed to race.

Some of the sailors quickly found out that the paint was very important to the success of the crafts.

"We didn't get enough paint, so the bottom just went out," said Clinton Fletcher, 10, of the "Four" craft. "So we wound up in the water."

This, however, as his co-sailor Brennan Haymond, 11, said, was not too big a disaster.

"The best part about it was sinking and ripping in half," he said. "We were really surprised that the boat went more than five feet anyway."

The designs can be of any shape or size and can seat anywhere from one person to however many people can sit in the craft without sinking it immediately. For instance, the winner of the youth race, "Pretty in Purple," had six girls in it. The only requirement is that participants must wear life jackets and bring their own paddles.

Both races were marked by upsets. "Pretty in Purple" defeated the Boy Scout craft handily by making their way around the lake's goose buoys and reaching the finish line in 3:27.

You can read the entire story in our Aug. 7 issue.