Boat World news
You would think that a shark or an orca could easily outswim a bunch of butterflies but the 12th annual Tata’s Titanic Cardboard Boat Race sank that theory, literally.
Twelve teams rocked up to the Golden Bay event on Sunday, 14 January with home-made boats made of cardboard, tape, paint and creativity. Judges inspected the boats before they got wet, noting crafty use of longitudinal cylinders, taped boxes within boxes, pontoons and even ring frames that would hopefully provide sufficient strength, water-tight integrity, buoyancy and stability for long enough to finish.
The women-dominated team of the Community Hospital brought Like a Butterfly, a large platform decorated with about 100 paper butterflies made by the hospital’s elderly residents. The 12 paddlers were the noisiest crew with the highest power-to-weight ratio. They looked set to be clear winners, but headed back to the wing mark instead of the finish line in the final leg. That mistake cost them line honours.
Thor’s Dinghy, a small but feisty craft, took its chance and revealed a surprising turn of speed for its blunt bow. Paddled by Lilly and Noah Fitzsimmons, Thor’s Dinghy also picked up the Best Bribery and Flattery Award with some delicious home-made Viking cakes for judges Alan Kilgour, Bob Butts and Kevin Winter.
Ultimately the on-water event had the final say. The mighty dorsal fin of Orcastraited, crewed by Robert, Oscar, Alex and Ruben Chubb, rode with poise but lacked speed and took a nose-dive for the bottom, shortly after being lapped
by the Butterflies. But Robert Chubb did collect his third Tag Trophy for the Most Dramatic Sinking Award and Most Artistic in the Senior category.
The Tin Tin-inspired shark also looked devilishly sleek on the beach but preferred to swim, as sharks do, with just its fins above water. Its determined skipper paddled to the end, despite being mostly submerged, and still picked up the Best-dressed Senior Award, thanks to his black suit from the op shop.
The Fast Guys team of Paul Fisher, his son-in-law Vinny Astill and grandson Archie, aged five, were a slick operation. Uk-based Paul saw the event while holidaying in Golden Bay last year and promised Archie he would come back to enter this year.
He flew in a week before the competition to build the boat, which had pontoons for stability and a spoiler to keep the transom down at high speeds. It was superbly presented and won the Seaworthiness prize in the Senior category.
Jimmy Mackay, deputy harbour master for Tasman, was on hand to keep other boats clear of the course.