After seeing the space station links on your web page and your cardboard boat (how many times can you roll that in an hour?), the connection is now clear:

Did you change your name from Markov Kanzlerski and are you the former chief designer of the Mir space station? (I think they used old pop bottles for oxygen tanks.)

If you get the Canoe & Kayak Magazine show (Outdoor Life Network), look for a piece on a cardboard kayak race in Sausalito just like the one you were in. It looked like big fun - the Berkeley engineers showed up with CAD blueprints and ran away with it.