Cardboard cruising: Kids race in homemade boats at Clark County pool
Elmer Lopez wore a pirate costume complete with a red bandanna, hooked hand and Jolly Roger hat while his three children raced across the pool in cardboard boats Friday night at Desert Breeze Aquatic Center.
In addition to building the kids’ vessels, which resembled kayaks striped with colorful duct tape, Lopez also helped organize the cardboard boat race as recreation program supervisor. It was his first time participating in the annual competition.
“I let them, you know, pick the colors, but the engineering part of it, I kind of took a little bit,” Lopez said. “You know, I want their boats to succeed.”
“I think my neighbors were a little upset from all the sound of it,” he added.
A total of 14 boats participated the competition. One vessel was covered with Spider-Man iconography; another resembled a pirate ship covered in skulls. There was also “The Boat Plane,” which had red and gray plane wings coming off both sides.
The rules for each boat were as follows: They could only be made out of cardboard and duct tape, must be less than 8 feet long and needed a captain no older than 17. Non-cardboard decorations were allowed so long as they weren’t part of the vessel’s structure.
Children raced their boats across the pool starting at 6:30 p.m. Awards were given to three boats: the fastest, most-creative and a secret “Cruise Ship” award. Attendees voted for the most-creative boat at a tent next to the pool.
The cruise ship award was less structured though. Recreation specialist Ayrianna Disney said the award’s meaning wasn’t decided before the event. It was instead treated as a “buffer.”
“Maybe there’s a kid who sank within two seconds of getting in,” Disney explained. “We feel kind of bad and want to make sure that they feel involved and supported.”
That award went to “The Queen” for sinking the fastest. The fastest boat was the “Fulton Floater,” crossing in about 29 seconds. The second- and third-fastest boats were only one second behind.
The most-creative vessel went to nine-year-old Raymond James Duensing, captain of “The Pirate Ship.” Raymond competed against his six-year-old brother Maverick Duensing in the Spider-Man ship.
Raymond uniquely didn’t use traditional paddles. Instead, two large cogs were attached to each side of the boat, and he rotated them to move along in the water. However, there was a problem just before launch.
“We realized they were too heavy and the holes that the paddle went through was too big,” Raymond said. “So like the water was pouring through the holes and it’s just all wet inside.”
None of Lopez’s kids won any of the three awards, but they jumped right into the pool afterward to play during open swim with the other children. The pool stayed open until 8 p.m. for the event.
“I think novelty experiences are super memorable,” Lopez said. “So I think even just participating one year and putting a boat in, it’s something that you wouldn’t normally experience in your day to day. So doing something like this just gives the community an opportunity to do something that’s memorable.”
Contact Finnegan Belleau at fbelleau@reviewjournal.com
