Well, the inner harbor didn’t sink the Titanic last Saturday…or anybody else’s cardboard vessel hand-crafted for the inaugural Rock the Boat Cardboard Boat Races. Mother Nature, however, did. Torrential rains throughout the course of Saturday morning first postponed the race by an hour or better, but then the soggy sailors threw in the towel when lightning strikes added to the weather threat and forced a complete re-do.
That rescheduled race is now slated to take place after work on Thursday evening, September 1st at the Inn at Harbor Shores. The event, designed to benefit the United Way of Southwest Michigan, will pit several cardboard sailors who have been busy assembling their watercraft over the past several weeks against one another.
Spectators are not only allowed, they are strongly encouraged because they will have a chance to vote for their favorite boat in the People’s Choice as well as to compete for prizes of their own, independent of the prizes up for grabs by the hearty sailors ready to put their cardboard boat-building skills to the test. The Grand Prize is a pass for a full day of real-life boating courtesy of the Freedom Boat Club of St. Joseph which is anchored at marina alongside the Inn at Harbor Shores.
Boat Registration for the Thursday evening events will get underway at 5:45pm followed by a Safety and Judges Briefing at 6pm and then the sailors will launch their boats at 6:30pm in the inner harbor in front of the Inn at Harbor Shores.
The Rock the Boat competition is the brainchild of campaign coordinators at Whirlpool Corporation who are making it a part of their corporate employee campaign, and a number of other companies and organizations have registered to put their own cardboard creations into the smackdown. Make plans to be there Thursday night to cheer on your favorite, help sink the competition, or just enjoy some fun on the St. Joe waterfront as we put a wrap on the summer season while helping boost a record campaign attempt for the United Way of Southwest Michigan.
Cardboard craftsmen create the North Pier Brewing Company entry…
