First off, Thanks everyone for yoru guidance. I received numorous
complements about how good the boat looked. One guy with a camera for
a local access show, said I must have been doing this a long time, as
the boat looked so good.

No, I didn't finish the race. Basically what happened, is one of
my seams directly under me fell apart because I was running low on
duct tape. boat folded a bit, and with only 6" of freeboard, there
isn't much room for the sides to flair out before you take on water.
lots of it. I did the best of any of the first year guys, and the
boat looked great.

In retrospect, I needed the boat to be a bit wider, so it was less
tipsy, and better stabilized. I also think coming up with more folds,
and less joints would assist in the future.

There were some rather interesting boats there. Most of them had the
same basic design. about 18-24" wide, sides coming strieght up about
18", and the nose, still flat bottom, was about 30-45 degrees each
side to a point. The deciding factor in which of those boats made it,
and which didn't was the mass of the passenger.

A few of the "neater" boats: One fanily took that same basic design,
but a bit wider, and built a swans head in the front, and then made
some wings for the sides. Then, after looking at it a minute, they
cut this wings off and moved them forward so they could actually
paddle the thing.

A couple of guys made a pirate ship. about 30" wide, 8 feet long,
created a mast, took some cardbaord and colored it to look like
rigging, added a basket at the top (with a stuffed parrot) a plastic
sail, a pirates flag, and a skull on a stick in the front. They
rigged up a cannon pointing out the back, and rigged a firecracker in
it so they could shoot the competition. Unfortunaly, it didn't make
it off the shore.

One guy free-bent the cardboard into a kiyak style thing, fully
enclosed, but there just wasn't enough boat to support him. He sank
right away as well.

Anyway, I've got pictures, and will post here. (this is a binary
group right?) I can email them, along with a narative, if someone is
willing to host them. let me know.

If you are willing to host, please send email to:
d-filez (shift two) mchsi period com

Thanks!!!

dave



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