Bottle Boat Regatta April 17, 2011
Posted by nrhatch in Travel & Leisure.trackback
Yesterday, we attended the Bottle Boat Regatta on the Palma Sola Causeway.
The event is wet, wild, and full of surprising twists, turns, and bottle-necks.
Teams builds boats that float on plastic bottles with paddles for propulsion.
The good-natured crowd cheers their favorite teams from the “sidelines.”
The top two teams tied . . . and donated the $500 prize to Shriner’s Hospital.
That’s the spirit!
Comments
Sorry comments are closed for this entry
Spirit Lights The Way 
Yay for them donating to Shriner’s Hospital!
It wasn’t really a tie . . . but they pretended it was so they could debate who should get the money and the trophy.
The money went to the Hospital and the trophy to the 3rd place finisher to entice them back next year. Good sportsmanship all around.
What fun, Nancy, thanks for sharing.
Lovely day for a FUN event. We also went to De Soto National Memorial for a re-creation of Hernando De Soto’s landing in Florida . . . with guns, horses, and massive mastiffs!
Those dogs would make Lulubelle look like a Chihuahua.
Re Shriners Hospital: I exchange with a few far right conspiracy prone guys. The are convinced that the masons,shriners and 32 degree are part of a world cabal for the New Age of world government. I am mason and knight templar and the only sinister thing we ever did was decide if the chapter room would have walnut or cherry paneling and if the rug should be white or blue. The rest was building and supporting hospitals and services for crippled children. Real diabolical,huh?
Now I’m discouraged. 😦
I had high hopes that the Masons, Shriners, Elks, and Meeses (from the Moose Lodge) had plans to overthrow the US government and return the world to an even kilter . . .
A New Age in which lobbyists and corporations had far less power and control, and sanity reigned.
What a wonderful, playful idea and that the boats rest on bottles was a huge surprise! Now I know to never dispute the existence of such a regatta. 🙂
Eliz
Yes, Virginia, there IS a Bottle Boat Brigade. 😀
Sounds like lots of fun!
Not sure that we’ll spend hours building a bottle boat to enter next year, but we enjoyed spectating. 😎
Seeing that expanse of deep blue water reminded me of taking the bridge across Barnegat Bay here in NJ. It makes me want to forget life and just jump in for a swim.
Barnegat Bay and the Jersey Shore ~ lovely places to spend a summer’s day. 😀
Though I wouldn’t mind if our water were as warm as yours.
It’s almost 80 degrees at the moment, I believe. Splish-Splash . . . I was taking a bath.
Sounds like a fun way to spend the day. We used to go to milk carton races when I was growing up. Very fun to see them launch and race. Some never made it past the launching and sank.
We missed the beginning of the races yesterday, but I’ve heard that many of the boats bust apart and sink . . . causing paddlers to become swimmers. 🙂
love these, what fun!!
Very good-natured event with winners sharing prizes and trophies with the less fortunate.
Our Island has a twist to that. Each boat building team is given a kit – all filled with exactly the same materials. The one that stays afloat is the winner. Believe me, if you saw the flotsam in the water where they launch, you’d definitely make sure your craft floated!
We use the plastic bottles for the “Walk on Water” contest.
Great fun, n’est pas?
Ooh, I’d love to see some photos of people Walking on Water! Sounds like FUN!