Vikings, vampires and weathered boaties compete in Tata’s cardboard boat race
Mayor Richard Kempthorne opened the 13th Tata Cardboard Boat Race last Sunday morning, saying he was looking forward to witnessing the most dramatic sinking, and wished all cardboard boaties a good time. The annual race is part of the TDC-sponsored summer festival and always draws an enthusiastic crowd.
Although this year’s race saw many regular boatbuilders return with designs that have proved seaworthy in the past, there was no shortage of innovative and funky ideas. Among the 20 entries were a pink fairy castle, including adorable fairies, intrepid Viking paddlers from the Hangdog campground, an iceberg with penguins, a floating coffin, a range of sea creatures, a submarine, and a meringue cake paddled by cats and a toaster, all struggling with varying degrees of sogginess and disintegration.
Before the starting gun was fired, a large, very real eagle ray majestically patrolled the beach, reminding everybody of how effortless it can be to float, and temporarily quieting the crowd. It posed quite a contrast to the massive cardboard shark entry that took some effort to steer and “three weeks, most nights, to make” according to creator Robert Chubb. After slowly wobbling out to sea propelled by its crew members Reuben and Alex Chubb, the shark finally succumbed to fierce firecracker explosions in its formidable belly.
Tui Kraal and her mum Helen Young had a cruisy morning walking their bottomless boat along the beach to show off their instant creation and minimalist version of boat design.
“We got to the beach and made our boat right here on the beach – it took us 10 minutes. It is environmentally friendly, without using any tape or paint, and it’s got a real Tui on board and we brought a beer bottle to bribe the judges,” said Helen.
The tip of a R18 giant courgette, which consisted of three large rolled up cardboard tubes, paddled by a crew of “dirty women,” rose monumentally out of the water as its lower end slowly folded itself into the sea.
The best craft proved to be those with solid or double bottoms or those shaped like kayaks, such as the “Nightmare Coffin” with crew Kanako Suzuki from Pohara, and Shiho Kawaharo, a kayaking guide from Okinawa. The two Japanese boaties completed the course first, chased by Vikings, finishing just before their boat had soaked through.
“It was starting to collapse in the middle and we could not go very fast. We had to be very careful and we were trying to stay calm and paddle steadily. It was an exciting race and fun,” said Kanako.
Judge Kevin Winter, who has never missed a race, was very pleased with the event but wished for more boaties dressed up for the occasion and “more bribery for the judges”.
A final cheer goes to all those who cleaned up the debris from the shore, for the judges and organisers, the St John Ambulance volunteers, who had their very own St John cardboard boat on the water just in case, and the captains and crews who made this a seriously entertaining event.
Ina Holst
