If you missed last night's wacky cardboard boat race in St. Joseph's freshly-dredged inner harbor, rest assured the inaugural run of the Whirlpool Corporation-sponsored Rock the Boat festival will likely be back with a vengeance next summer. Several things will likely assure an encore — the nearly 10-grand that was made on the race chief among them.
The laughter, the adventure, the perfect weather, the artistic and seaworthy talent, and the great spirit of competition all combined to make for a terrific night on the waterfront in the shadows of The Inn at Harbor Shores. Dozens of supporters, spectators and curious onlookers got plenty of laughs as one-by-one the cardboard creations were hauled to the water's edge and then unceremoniously shoved into the channel to run the gauntlet of the 200-yard course marked by buoys and supervised by Berrien County Sheriff's Marine Patrol agents and volunteers in kayaks and on paddleboards.
Prior to each team's two-man chase through a slight chop in the channel, the decked-out craft were on display for inspection by both the team of judges and spectators eager for a close-up view. Half a dozen of the cardboard creations took to the water, while a seventh entry from a team at Whirlpool was nearly destroyed in the torrential rains of the original race date of last Saturday morning when it was inadvertently left unprotected from the elements before post time.
Judges deemed the United Way of Southwest Michigan entry, The Titanic, to be both the strongest in keeping with the theme they chose, winning both the Best Theme and the Most Creative award trophies. That likely will be another reason why you can expect an encore. First of all, they loved the whole event, but others will be gunning for them next year for sweeping everything but the speed portion of the race.
The United Way domination did not carry over to the water where their epic replica of the Titanic, replete with Barbie Doll cruise passengers recreating images from the movie, flailed but did not sink. Oarsmen Ryan Cheevers and Josh Kirshman came dangerously close to flipping over several times and came inches from ramming not an iceberg but a kayaker along the race route. They managed to hold it together to complete the run.
The fastest performer of the night was no surprise when you consider it was nuclear powered. It was the USS Sub-Critical, a sleek black submarine-style craft paddled to victory by two yellow jump-suited engineers who were accompanied by The Beatles rendition of "Yellow Submarine" over loudspeakers on shore.
Other entries included a Boy Scout Troop 624 boat sponsored by B&Z Construction of Benton Harbor, a rocket-like, black and red creation from North Pier Brewing Company sporting the taunt, "This is what Winning looks like," and the GSS Minnow, a silver flatbed pontoon style craft inspired by TV's "Gilligan Island."
A collapsing rendition of a VW Mini-Bus with all sorts of retro hippie decor sat forlornly on the tarmac, still sagging and damp from Saturday's downpour. While it may not have performed in the race, it was one of the key producers in the all-important donation arena which was the purpose of the entire event. They helped raise a big chunk of the nearly $10,000 raised by the Rock the Boat fundraiser.
United Way of SW Michigan President Anna Murphy was having a great time and proudly proclaimed that the event will most assuredly make a triumphant return in the 2017 campaign. Keep that in mind as you start plotting your own company's strategy for a winning design. You've got a year to get ready, so start planning now.
AEP's Indiana Michigan Power submarine proved to be fastest in the race…
Kyle Russell and Cody Thomas pilot the GSS Minnow through the buoys…
