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Weekly RAA E-lert>
Cardboard Boat Building/Race at Deep Cove Days
August 28, 2007
The story posted below is featured on my blog complete with
pictures. Use this URL to view the text WITH photos.
http://rediscoveradventure.blogspot.com/
Here is the tale of the day
Enjoy.
Kerry
They have a cardboard boat building contest at Deep Cove
Days, which is a yearly event in a small community nearby.
Indigo and I went to check it out and grabbed one of the 15
entries.
We are given a roll of packing tape, two pieces of
cardboard about about 4 x 7 feet big and an exacto knife.
We have an hour to build whatever we can.
There are some people who enter every year with pretty
complex designs that look impressive. There are teams of
people who get together and turn out some killer stuff.
A kid has to pilot the boat. The course is about a hundred
meters out around a swim platform and back. LeMans start
from the beach. Kids get a kayak paddle and a lifejacket.
Took every second of the time to put something together
working alone with Indigo acting as my tape dispenser.
Indigo does not have a lot of paddling experience - several
ringers in the field - including the daughter of the kayak
store contest sponsor and a couple other veterans.
Was a damn fun hour and a half of adventure.
Didn't know what to expect. Just told my daughter to enjoy
herself and have a good time.
At the start, I'm still taping up bits and pieces of my
master design. Indigo asks what a LeMans start is. I rush
into the water with the boat set it into the seawater and
lift her into it. Off she goes.
I'll be damned; she paddles off relatively straight and is
in front of the pack. Thanks to her good balance, she
maintains a good course - though I note that the CG is
about 3-4 inches too high for easy stability (next year!)
The favorite 3-time winner, daughter of the owner sinks
(her mom told me she was glad because victory was taken for
granted).
I'm not sure Indigo knows where to go exactly, I see her
heading to the outer edge of the rope instead of the swim
step. She is at the far right. Several of the boats have
sunken quickly.
I see her then turn to go around the swim platform. The boy
next to her in a very slick design is nearby. His boat was
built by a large group with a good design.
As they go around the platform, I see Indigo and the boy
get quite close. I pray that they don't make contact as
Indigo is less stable. But they do connect. The boy knocks
her into the water and the boat capsizes. She is the far
left boat. The boy is next to her.
I see the boat upside down and my daughter dog paddling to
stay afloat as she struggles to get into the boat again.
After a couple minutes, one of the support boats goes over
and pulls our cardboard boat out. Amazingly, it holds
together. He drains it and manges to get her back into it.
They are in the background next to the red boat here. Boy
who dunked her is in the foreground coming to shore in
first place. (He had just returned from a three day
paddling trip with the sponsor's family so he was good with
paddling. Nice boat, too.)
In the backgroun above, the boat behind the lead boy is
just sinking after having passed Indigo while she treaded
water. He eventually makes it to shore, too.
Indigo paddles towards the shore in solid second place
after passing the sunken 50 feet off shore, she begins to
pull left. I'm yelling to her to put extra left side
strokes to straighten out. She doesn't quite get it and
begins going parallel to shore - almost even heading BACK
out to sea. Eventually, she brings it in for a second place
finish and I am thrilled.
Several things stood out for me.
First, Indigo had a phenomenal start and even traveling
extra distance with confusion on where to go, lead the
whole first half. She got bumped into the water and still
managed to get in again to complete the race. I was very
proud.
Second, I am very happy my design worked and was tough
enough to capsize, fill with water and STILL have the
strength to complete the course even in its sodden form.
Third, silly contests like this can be a blast and really
test design and innovation.
Fourth, I'm glad that second prize was 6 hours of Kayak
classes for Indigo next month. Next year, we'll have that
part mastered, I think.
Here are a couple shots of the design after the battle of
the bay.
I started with a long box form with carefully creased seams
that I taped inside and out. I made triangular spars for
strength and rigidity that I taped in the bottom length
ways from front to back on either side.
On top of those spars I made three triangular braces for
Indigo to sit on. I taped them to flat pieces on each end
to spread the load and add strength. I also placed a
triangular form in the bow for her to put her feet on to
brace and keep load from pressing directly through the wet
cardboard. This seating system worked well and provided
valuable rigidity, I think. Next time, I will lower her
seat height, however, for added stability. With help, I
could make a more curved design that bulged in the middle
like a canoe. (Several entries were amazingly built
versions of canoes, but folded like a house of cards.)
I also formed a triangular nose to cut through the water as
my time wound down. It was not pretty, but worked well. The
key was keeping seams to a minimum and taping seams well.
We were only allowed to tape seams so covering the bottom
completely with tape for waterproof-ness was not allowed.
I was so pleased that the boat was actually able to go
underwater, yet still finish floating strong.
Notes for next year: Make sure Indigo takes paddling
lessons. Take one handy partner to help with build. Lower
CG just a tad. Widen base at sitting point. Keep away from
other boats if possible. Run far into water before putting
Indigo in boat to get out of starting fracas. Tape ridge to
boat bottom to keep boat from moving laterally.
Any other design tips you can think of? Strategies?
http://rediscoveradventure.blogspot.com/ © Kerry Ward 2007-2008
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