The last time
Donna Livingston watched her Workman Junior High students participate in the
annual Cardboard Boat Regatta, they were mighty close to winning an award they
didn’t particularly want to win.
It’s called the
Titanic Award, and judging from that name, it honors pretty much what you think
it does: the most spectacular sinking.
Her students’
boat was on its way to the finish line when it simply tore apart, dumping its
inhabitants into the pool.
Hoping to avoid
such a disaster for the 24th Cardboard Boat Regatta slated for April 27 at Six
Flags Hurricane Harbor, Livingston and about a dozen of her newly recruited
sailors sat in on a two-hour Boat Building School Saturday in the City Hall
Council Chamber.
“We’re here because,
well, we need to be here,” said Livingston. “We need to figure out exactly what
we did wrong and what can we do better.”
The Workman crew
wasn’t alone. More than100 people came to hear construction tips on how to
build strong boats, what makes a good design, which boat-building supplies are
best, and even catch a short engineering course on what makes boats go fast and
what makes them, well, sink.
“The biggest mistake
most people make is picking one aspect and going overboard with it,” said Ryan
Hague, the engineer who addressed the crowd on how to think like an engineer
when building your boat.
“It’s all about
balance. You have to be able to balance stability with speed and turning
ability. You can have the fastest boat out there but if you can’t turn, you’ll
get mired in those turns, and you will lose time.”
Gary Daley and Bob
Sherwood might have had the most popular presentation – how to actually build a
boat. Starting with a large piece of cardboard, they went step-by-step in
gluing, taping, cutting, measuring. By the time they finished, they had a
small, functioning boat.
“What we try to do
most is let folks know what they shouldn’t be doing,” said Daley, a legend of
sorts when it comes to the Regatta, since he’s used the same boat for 16 years.
“You can build a
really good-looking boat and never make it off the starting line. You can build
the walls of the boat so high thinking it will keep water out only to learn
your paddles can’t reach the water.”
Activities outside
racing include Hook’s Lagoon: a Children’s Area featuring hula-hoop contests
and mini-boat regatta, water rides. New this year: a 3-Point Hoops contest and
horseshoe tournament. Proceeds help fund the River Legacy Science Foundation.
“It’s such a neat
event,” Daley said of the races that began in 1990 with 17 boat entries. Well
over 100 are expected this year.
“I really get
excited about the school kids. They will be the ones carrying on. Once you get
that foothold in the schools, it sort of self-perpetuates.”
(Article written by Ken Perkins)
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