I met up with Brian Millington at 12:00, and he signed up for the 14:00 kayak build / race. I'm really glad that he showed up. He had a far better ability to visualize the flat patterns of a stitch and glue type of boat, which is what we decided to build.

We were given a piece of double thickness corrugated cardboard approximately 6x12 foot. (correct me if I'm wrong Brian, on any of this stuff), a roll of 2" wide clear plastic packaging tape, a box cutting knife (holds a single edge razorblade), and a Magic Marker (black). My experience in shipping and handling (about 20 yrs ago) came in handy.

We decided to fold the cardboard at the sheerlines after cutting notches out of the flat pattern. We reasoned that folding rather than cutting would be stronger. We tried to build something that looked like a real kayak, about ten feet long. The folds gave us a great deal of grief. It was difficult to bend the cardboard along curves, and so the bottom would not stay flat. We installed two tubular crossbraces (I think canoes call them stalwarts?) and a multi layer floor about 2 foot square. The supports went in fine, but the floor was a problem. The tape works well when the adhesive is in shear loads, but peeled up when the loads pulled away from the surface. I decided that I would kneel on the floor stiffener pad as low as I could, using my weight to hold in the floor stiffener pad, as we agreed that there didn't appear to be any good way to hold it in. This, combined with the folding rather than cut and assemble, was our fatal flaw.

The bottom was round, and there was no flare to give a righting moment as the boat leaned. Try as we may, we couldn't get the bottom to remain flat.

We had been promised that we would have an unlimited supply of tape. One of the other teams, in what in hindsight was a moment of precognition, asked that the guy handing out tape not take a coffee break. More than once screams of "TAPE!" could be heard. The tape was slow in coming, until we needed our third roll, at which time it came to a halt. Being my normal calm, collected self, I began continuous screaming of "TAPE! TAPE! TAPE!" about five minutes later the tape dispensor returned with two more rolls. Five minutes later time was called, and we had done all we could. Five more minutes would not have helped, but the frustration got my adrenaline pumping.

We lined up the boats for the race. A buoy was placed about 75 yds? (? help me here Brian ?) from shore, and the race was out around the buoy and back. We started on shore, and carried the boat to the water, and got me in as quickly as possible. I then got out (my first wet exit of the day) as quickly as possible (involuntarily). The bottom was too curved, and we lacked initial stability. Luckily we were consistent, and the boat also lacked secondary stability. I got back in, and back out, in one motion. I saw the other teams were still within reach, so I abandoned the paddle and began swimming, with the boat in tow, out to the buoy. The further I swam, the more soaked the cardboard became, until I had a kayak filled with water dragging behind me. The drag of the boat in the water, my PFD, and my tee shirt tucked into my belt and hanging behind me (I knew I forgot something when I gave my keys to my wife) slowed me down horribly. The 150 yd round trip felt much longer, and I was breathing heavily. I managed to salvage third place, since one team was blown out to sea and never rounded the buoy.

I can only give the race from my perspective. I was too busy (being in over my head) to watch how the other teams were faring. I did look up occasionally to see the two young kids being blown off course, but the leaders were too far ahead for me to watch.

Lesson learned: I ain't gonna disclose that information, because I intend to try again next year, and to win. I hope Brian will join me next year. He was my most valuable team mate, and I couldn't have done it without him.

A few days earlier I suggested to Southwind Kayaks that five man teams would be fun because of the increased pandemonium that would result, and they agreed, even though it was too late to implement this year. As it was, this year they had difficulty filling three man teams, and two of the teams (ours included) only had two members. Hopefully next year some of you folks will get out there and show the rest of us how it should be done. And, bring your boats with you. I want to see more homebuilt kayaks out there. The world needs to see that plastic is not the only material kayaks are made from.