Tigger and a giant alligator, a pirate's ship and a giant pencil wait patiently on the lawn at Tempe Town Lake. Crowds of people stare, take pictures and laugh as they walk by. Hundreds have come out to see the boats. But this isn't your typical boat race.
As a rule, cardboard and water don't mix, unless you're at The Great Cardboard Boat Rotary.
For five years, this annual event combines creativity, charity and fun. Anyone can enter if they can pay the entrance fee and come up with a good idea for a boat made up of only cardboard and glue.
"This one's going down," Steve Campbell says as he examines a small boat. A bunch of the boats and their creators have come out the night before the big race to show off their creativity to the public. Campbell entered the race the last two years but sat this year out.
"We won the whole thing two years ago. It was the greatest moment of my life," he says seriously.
The bodies of the boats must be made out of cardboard. There are two types of boats to race: Class one, where oars and people propel them, and class two, where boats can include propellers and other structures. Propellers don't have to be cardboard but they do have to be what keeps the boat afloat.
The boats pass inspection by judges, and then wait to be raced. More than 50 boats have entered. Heats are set up so four boats will race at a time. The boats with the top time, no matter what place they come in their heat, go onto the semi-finals and then finals, making the race an all-day event. But that's nothing compared to the hours Rusty Guthrie and Ryan Murray, two ASU students, spent making their boat.
"Combined, we probably spent over a hundred hours on it," Guthrie says, but assures it was just as fun making the boat as it's will be to race it.
Guthrie says he heard about the race last year, and it was, "super fun," so this year, he rounded up Murray and the two decided to make their own boat.
A patriotic boat stands in front of the two students. Blue and red with stars painted on it. The two wear matching flag helmets, and they round up a lot of attention. But the attention isn't geared at their cool helmets; it is geared toward the giant air propeller on the back of their boat. The two students are the only team using one. The announcer even points them out: "We even have one great, big airboat," he says.
"Yup, here we are," Guthrie says. Although he worries that he may hit another boat and "possibly decapitate someone with the propeller."
Using his engineering knowledge, Guthrie tried to calculate the amount of weight the boat could handle and how to make it all work together. However, in the end, he just had to wing it.
"We literally winged it. We went to the airport and looked at planes and things," he says.
"Is this your boat?" an older kid asks excitedly. "It's so freaking bad."
Boats range in size from seating 10 grown men, to two little girls. Bright pink ones sit aside plain grey ones. One looks like a giant racecar, another, an old steamboat. Other racers just painted cardboard boxes. Every color, size, and design can be seen on the river lawn.
Some boats have corporate sponsors, others have been made by Boy Scouts, and some are just random ideas from creative people. They have all braved the expense, time and sun of this hot Saturday morning for a good cause. All the proceeds go to the Thomas J. Pappas School, a school for homeless children.
"We wanted to get the kids involved," says Kerri Humleker, a physical education teacher at Ishikawa Elementary School. She also wanted to get her fifth and sixth graders to use their math and science skills. The kids spent hours for the last eight weeks building the boat and learning how to race.
Today the kids sport pencil head hats to match their pencil shaped boat. They also share an enthusiasm; finally they will see their hard work will pay off.
It's time to race.
Reach the reporter at samantha.xanthos@asu.edu.
