Winds bring extra challenges for Tata’s intrepid cardboard boaties
The Eiffel Tower valiantly paddles toward the finish line. Photo: Ina Holst
A flotilla of 21 cardboard boats struggled against an unfavourable cold wind to complete the annual Tata Cardboard Boat Race last Sunday. The event had already been rescheduled due to strong winds the week before.
Among the entries were a Top Gear racing Jaguar, propelled by a flippered parent, a canopied platform carrying beautiful maidens, a tall, floating Eiffel Tower with a Frenched-up crew, “c’owyaks” paddling a milk carton, a fire extinguisher (which made the most dramatic sinking), a massive Spongebob and a fierce-looking tank that sailed on and on.
For the 14th year in a row the event has kept cardboard shipwrights young and old well occupied over the summer, with long hours spent gluing, taping and painting unforgiving cardboard. Wendy Hardwick said that her son Chris Steer and his friend Phalen Hopley spent all summer making their tank.
“There was no paint left after putting on layer after layer, and they used $25 worth of tape, but it was a good way of keeping them busy”.
Twelve-year-olds Calvin Wilkinson and Tom Shaw named their taped cardboard contraption, completed without any adult input, simply “Ugly Boat” and carried a bag of smokebombs “for revenge”, said Calvin, getting into the spirit of the event. The French crew were fired up to celebrate the “non-anniversary of the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior”, said garlic-adorned skipper Peter Blasdale. Their iconic tower ultimately fell to sabotage during a collision with the Jaguar.
Due to superb construction skills and evident prior experience, more boats than in previous years stayed upright and, at the starting gun, sailed serenely off towards the course markers. For others it was just a short, soggy sinking, and for some boaties it became a tricky rodeo right from the start, with the boats bucking and turning like wild mustangs, defeating the crews’ attempts to take charge.
At the finish line, organiser Dave Myall acknowledged the day’s challenges.
“Because of the wind it was extremely difficult to complete the course, so people are going for the Most Dramatic Sinking this year. There were 21 entries gone out on the water, but I am not sure how many have come back.”
Dave praised his strong team for helping with the smooth running of the event. Various trophies and prizes were presented for, among other categories, Creativity and Seaworthiness, and the TAG Trophy was awarded for the Most Dramatic Sinking. A new category was created for Flattery and Bribery. This was won for the attempt to bribe the judges with “$5 million each and some chocolate” by one of the young Spongebob crew members, though one judge almost buckled under the stormy kiss of the red-nosed captain of the Titanic.
Ultimately the day’s most successful craft were low and compact, as the larger constructions with higher wind resistance were swept off course. The last home, the St John Ambulance cardboard rescue craft, was itself rescued by real rescue boats, winding up the fun for the large and well-entertained crowd.
Ina Holst
