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By Deb Patterson
InkFreeNews

WINONA LAKE — The grassy area along the canal between Administration and Auditorium boulevards was packed with spectators for the ninth annual Canal Days Cardboard Boat Regatta, Saturday, Aug. 23. It didn’t matter what team was participating cheers of encouragement and accomplishment was evident for all participants.

While the regatta is for any age, the kids gravitated to the event more than adults. In fact a large number of the youth participants were seventh and eighth graders from Edgewood Middle School S.T.E.M. Program.

The SS Blackbeard with Jarvish Sriram and Lincoln Rik was 13 seconds short of setting the event record.

While preregistration had three kid entries 14 youth, six adult and one corporate entries. Not all showed up. In total 18 entries participated, with the youth division taking the lead in the number of entries.

“Good. The whole time both sides were lined with people, even with a little of rain, a mist that came through,” said Eric Lane, co-founder and executive director, following the event.

Proceeds from the event went to Fellowship Missions and its programs.

“Being a part of the community, seeing the community come together and have fun. That’s really what it is,” said Lane and what it means for Fellowship Mission to be a part of the event. “Does it raise awareness for us? Yea, we get to interact with some people, but its seeing everybody get together. That’s fun. Love this community. Love what it’s about.”

Lane smiled as he continued talking about the event. “It”s also fun seeing all these kids and just have fun. These kids worked their tails off on some of these boats. I think one was 30 hours, one was 15 and somebody spent 40 some hours on their boat. Just to spend six-seven minutes in the water and a lot of them have done it multiple years so they keep coming back. It’s great.”

Next year will be the 10th year for Fellowship Missions hosting the event. “I hope we will have some, I don’t know about surprises, I just hope we can get more corporations involved. We’ll market it hard and get some more people out next year. I’d love to see the boats double, I’d love so see us have 40-50 boats out here. That would be a blast.”

Lane made the awards, which were handed out. Each one was engraved with the event name and award. It also included a boat with sale and a white ribbon with blue and red trim, stairs and the year.

Prior to the start of the event, Lane stated when they began the event, they had around seven boats that first year.

Boats Displayed, Voting Gets Underway

Prior to the start of the regatta, every spectator was given an opportunity to get one free ticket and vote for the “People’s Choice/Best of Show.” Additional tickets could be purchased as well.

While the boats were on display several of the participants were putting on finishing touches, such as the boat’s name, adding decorations, adding a little more tape, or just enjoying the atmosphere.

The pirates of the SS Winkleton tied as winners for the best costume. From left are Nora Bean, Cora DeMange and Ellie Macke.

This was also the time for participating in the costume judging.

One of the entries SS Winkleton with Nora Bean, Cora DeMange and Ellie Macke, were eager to talk about their entry. It was their first year to enter the regatta.

So how did it all start. Macke said they came up with the idea and it involved pirates, but they didn’t want a pirate ship. “A lot of people have already done that, so we decided to be pirates on a deserted island.” DeMange chimed in that they decided to add palm trees and turtles to make it more like an island “vibe and make it more creative than just like boat shaped like an island.” Bean added they did go though a couple different scenarios.

The girls said they met for 2 ½ days to work on their boat and used 20-25 rolls of duct tape.

Another entry “Up” was created by three girls. “We were doing a doughnut box, but it ended up looking like a house,” said Brielle Patterson. “We could put balloons on it and I was like oh yea the movie Up,” she said. Alina Cullers and Shannelle Brown chimed in that’s how it came about. Although it was Cullers’ idea. Cullers kept track of their hours and noted it took them 18 hours to work on it and they used at least 20 rolls of duct tape.

The Regatta Begins

“Up” tied for the best costume award. From left are Alina Cullers, Brielle Patterson and Shanelle Brown.

Once the regatta started, spectators were on edge to see if the boats would hold up.

While there were a few where the crew tipped over but climbed back in to complete the race, several gave up. There were a few boats which sank. One entry, Banoe, was in the regatta twice. Once by the young gal who originally entered the boat, and again by her brother, who though it looked fun and wanted to give it a try. It did survive both heats.

The regatta started at the pier near the bridge at Administration boulevard, continued down to Auditorium Boulevard, looped around a banner and continued back to the pier. The course was approximately one-eighth a mile for all contestants except the two kids entries which just went between the two bridges.

When it was all said and done, the record wasn’t broken, set last year at 3:05, but best overall time was within 13 seconds of breaking it.

Top awards presented went to:

Fastest Overall — SS Blackbeard, with a time of 3:18, maned by Jarvish Sriran and Lincoln Rik.

Best Titanic — Titanic manned by Jacob Brumfield and Keaton Helmkamp.

People’s Choice — SS Blackbeard.

Best Costume — A tie between “Up” with Brielle Patterson, Shanelle Brown and Alina Cullers; and the SS Winkleton with Ellie Macke and Cora Demange.

Fastest time winners by age group were:

Kids, ages 10 and under — SS Papa 2 with Landon and Colton Reep.

Youth Single, ages 11-17 — Banoe, with Luke Hill with a time of 5:16.

Youth team — SS. Blackbeard.

Adult team — Awe Shucks, with Ellis Hernandez and Deborah Kerr with a time of 8:48.

Corporate — The Terminator, with Sumanth Kodandaram and Jonathon Rojas with a time of 6:16.