GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — Get out your oars and your old Amazon boxes, it's time to race!
The crowd-favorite Cardboard Boat Race is returning to the Coast Guard Festival in 2024. The competition, which is free to enter, will take place on Saturday, July 27.
Competitors are challenged to design and build a human-powered corrugated cardboard boat capable of racing a 200-yard course by the Lake Michigan Credit Union Waterfront Stage up to three times.
Line-up and registration begins at noon on Saturday. A captain's meeting will take place at 1:15 p.m., and the race kicks off at 1:30 p.m.
Below are the race categories you can enter:
- Buoy Class: 10 - 15 years old • Pair (2-person team)
- Crew (3 - 8 person team)
- Cutter Class: 16 years - adult • Pair (2-person team)
- Crew (3 - 8 person team)
Children under 10 years old may be accompanied by adults in the Cutter Class only.
As in any contentious race, there will be awards. First place will be awarded to the fastest boat in the Buoy Class Pair, Buoy Class Crew, Cutter Class Pair and Cutter Class Crew.
But speed isn't everything. There will be a Boatswain Award given to the most spectacular-looking boat, an Iceberg Award for the most dramatic sinking, a People's Choice Award for the favorite boat (voted on by the public) and the Pride of the Fleet, the most creative design that honors the Coast Guard.
Here are the rules all boats must abide by, according to festival organizers:
- Entire hull, superstructure and seating must be made entirely out of cardboard. No surfboard or paddleboard style allowed.
- Only corrugated cardboard is allowed.
- Absolutely no use of the following items will be permitted: tar-based substances, fiberglass resin, carpet tubes or barrels, epoxy glue, two-part varnish or any other two-part substance
- It may be waterproofed, but no use of the above items. The hull must not be wrapped in plastic, duct tapes, shrink wrap or any thing else.
- Only seams and joints may be taped or glued (waterproofing), but not the whole boat.
- Use of canoe paddles, oars or kayak paddles are allowed.
- Boat must be free of sharp objects, pointy objects or anything else that could cause injuries to other boaters.
- Boat passenger area must not be permanently enclosed above the occupants shoulders (as a precaution in the event of a tip-over).
- All boats are subject to an inspection for compliance of the rules. A boat must pass inspection to be eligible to race. You will have the opportunity to fix a violation and be re-inspected. All boats must be approved prior to the captain meeting at 1:15 p.m.
For more guidelines, visit the Coast Guard's website here.
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