At the Cabin: The Third Annual Build a Boat Race

Perhaps the most exciting and most hilarious part of our annual family cabin weekend with aunts, uncles and cousins is the tradition of dividing into teams to construct boats out of cardboard and garbage bags.  Every team gets a stack of cardboard, eight plastic garbage bags  a roll of duct tape and “thirty” minutes to build a boat that needs to carry one team member from our dock to the neighbor’s dock.  Some years the boxes are big, and some years they are small.  This year there were many small boxes.

Team Grown Up did a lot of discussing and theorizing about how to engineer their watercraft.    

Auntie Dot was elected to paddle. 

After contemplating a lot of different ideas, they decided to build the great Octopus Boat, which consisted of bags with boxes inside and bags with air inside that were all joined together in one large knot reinforced with duct tape. 

They even built their own paddle. 

Introducing Team Kids A:  they decided to build a flat platform with a cushy air filled seat and two large wings out to the side for stability.

Cousin Katherine may have spent a great portion of the allotted building time energetically rolling around in cardboard.  

The face of Mr. SP in the image below is the face of a child taking his mother’s special kayak paddle.  When detected, he asked so sweetly, “How would “Mom’s Photography”  like to sponsor our boat?”   I let him use the paddle.  Such a clever child  . . .  

Team Kids B was buzzing.  What a hardworking group of young engineers!  Their watercraft was a platform covered in garbage bags and reinforced by several inflated bags on all sides and corners.  It was a wonderful use of trapped air.  

Auntie Dot may have made a spectator sign for her biggest fans. 

Ready to race!  The boats were ceremoniously carried down to the starting dock.  

Get Ready!  Get set!  Go!

Team Grown Up burst into celebration after the successful launch of Auntie Dot onto the boat without the boat tipping over.  (This is often the trickiest part, boarding the boat from the dock.)

Team Kids B had a little trouble keeping a rider on their boat, but Team Grown Up and Team Kids A were nose to nose in the closest speed competition ever. 

Auntie Dot may have tried to hit her nephew on the head with her paddle.  

Mr. SP fell out of the boat, but Auntie Dot!  Auntie Dot kept going !  Team Grown Up for their first ever win in the speed department.  Actually, it could have been the first time a boat actually made it to the finish with a rider still attached.

Team Kids B tried a few different ways to get a rider on their boat without slipping off.  Success!  Cousin Alex kept his balance. 

He’s off!  Zipping right across the water with a stunning paddle stroke.

Team Kids B made it all the way to the finish line without tipping over one bit!

The Results (according to me):

Speed:  Team Grown Up

Resilience:  Team Kids A (their captain was hit in the head with a paddle, after all . . . drat those testy grown ups!).

Flotation:  Team Kids B