Arkansas, what is it famous for? Perhaps it’s natural beauty and numerous state parks. Perhaps it’s famous for a certain president who like to “mess around.” Perhaps it’s for the World Championship Cardboard Boat Races.
Wait… what? Yes, you heard me right folks, Arkansas is home to the World Championships of the sport of racing boats carefully crafted of cardboard, duct tape, silicon, and deck and patio sealer. Hang on, you’re thinking. Cardboard boats? Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, cardboard boats.
Why would I know this, you’re thinking. It’s because they were held yesterday, and I actually went.
Yes, in the quaint little town of Heber Springs, Arkansas, on the shores of Greer’s Ferry Lake, a competition the likes of which would probably make you think, “Why?” is held annually at Sandy Beaches State Park. And this is not something new. This competition was in it’s twentieth year this year. Twenty years, people!
You may also ask, “Why were you at this thing?” Well, Will’s family has been building cardboard boats for the past three years and he invited me to go with them.
While I had been over to his house, one could find random people from their neighborhood in their gameroom (if you haven’t seen it, it’s a seperate bulding from their house that contains a small area with a basketball goal downstairs, and a “nook” area that has a TV and his game consoles), carefully crafting these strange creations at just about anytime you would be over there. And it’s not as though these boats are built in a day or two, or even a weekend or two. No, this is a very detailed process from start to finish that took them (about seven people) nearly two months to complete. Granted, they didn’t work on this nonstop. Most time on these boats was spent during the weekends up until the race.
Now, what, you may ask, goes into a carboard boat? First, obivously, is carboard. Lots and lots of cardboard. Dr. Lyon had a friend who works at International Paper, so he was able to obtain quite a supply of cardboard for free (two truckbeds full of sheets of cardboard, if I recall correctly). To begin, you create thick layers of cardboard for the shell of the boat. After the shell is complete, you must waterproof the cardboard. There are two main methods to do this. First, and most importantly, you surround the exposed edges of cardboard with duct tape. Now you may not believe me, but cardboard is actually pretty waterproof. The main problem with carboard is that if
water is allowed to get between the two “outside” laters of the sheet of cardboard, it causes the cardboard to absorb the water much faster. If you cover the edges with duct tape, however, the rate of waterabsorption is quite lower. However, duct tape alone is not enough. To fully water proof it, you must apply some sort of water-proofing sealer (much like you use for a deck or patio) to the areas not protected by the duct tape.
After the edges are sealed, and the surface coated with as many as four coats of sealer, you can begin to assemble your boat in the desired design. Most people use silicone to attach the pieces together and then cover all the corners with more duct tape. After the pieces are finally assembled into the desired shape, you may then apply a last coat of sealer.
Also needed is some means of propelling the boat in the water. For this, there are two divisions of races (both of which are further divided into two categories: youth and adult). The first is the mechanincal division. In this division, you are not allowed to use any paddles. You must have some mechanism to propel your boat, such as paddlewheels, propellers, etc. However, you may not use some sort of motor to power your boat. It must be all human-powered. In the non-mechanical division, you must use paddles to propel your boat.
And this is not some willy-nilly hobbyist competition. This is governed by strict rules in regards to weight, propulsion system, and even the amount of duct tape allowed in the first heat (after the first heat, the judges do not care if you make repairs using duct tape, in fact, you can use as much duct tape as needed to keep your boat afloat for the second heat).
I was surprised at how many people actually showed up at this. I can honestly say that there were the most people I have seen on a beach at one time, anywhere. Not only that, they held a competition to see who had come the farthest to see the farthest to attend this competition. They announced people from Mississippi (not too far), California (a little farther), Japan (umm… why?), and Korea (again, why… if they come to the States, is there not anything more exciting you can come
see than the World Championships of Cardboard Boat racing?). And this just wasn’t Will’s family that went. There were probably at least five other families (including the DePriest family and Catharine Horita) that were on our “team.” Our group entered five boats in four different categories (there is also a “demolition derby” at the end of the competition to give the entrants a good reason to just go out and tear up some cardboard boats). [As a side note, the World Championship Watermelon Eating contest is held at this beach on the same day.]
The actual races are arranged in two heats, with you facing one (possibly two) other boat in the channel with you. For the race, a line of buoys are arranged into a small arc from one part of the harbor to the another, reaching about a quarter of a mile. While you do have another boat in the channel with you, your real opponent is the clock, as the tornament placement is based on your average time from both heats.
We did well in the children’s mechanized and the adult demolition derby, each getting a first place trophy. One of our three adult mechanized boats placed second in the tournament, and another of those boats was the one that won the demolition derby. Our adult non-mechanized entrant placed fourth. Our group won the “Team Spirit” award, as we made team t-shirts for everybody who came with us, and we created all sorts of cheers for our team (most of the girls that were there were in cheerleading), and we yelled for all of our boats in competition. However, the crowning acheivement was that Will’s boat won the “Pride of the Fleet” award, a monstrous trophy given to the most original boat design.
In the end, we won one award for each boat we entered, which was quite nice. After the competition, we all went over to the DePriest house, and enjoyed our vistory with pizza. It was great.
I really didn’t think that I would have all that much fun at a Cardboard boat race tournament, but it actually turned out quite nice. The demolition derby was definitely the best part of the whole tourney.
I wish I had a digital camera (or any kind of camera, for that matter)to capture this event on film, but alas, I don’t, so I will leave it up to your imagination to dream up what these boats looked like.