2012-04-28 Boat Building

Notes from the Bodega Bay Fisherman's Festival 2012 Boat Building Competition.

3 hours. 2 sheets of plywood, 10 1x2s, 2 2x2s, a sheet of plastic, 2 tubes of caulk, a bunch of deck screws, a few nails, some rope, some ductape, a few other details. Hand tools only, except for battery powered drill/drivers. And then you race.

And it is an amazingly fun day.

Their own page

2012-04-28 Boat Building Student Team - 3 students, Joey and Tyler from Rancho Cotate High School, and Dante, from elsewhere. Tom and I (Dan) trained with this team, and were quite proud that they completed the race on their own.
2012-04-28 Boat Building Flat Bottom Boaters - Tom Segura, Dan Lyke, Andy Lyke (my dad), and Bill Hartman (woodshop teacher at Rancho Cotate). Tom, my dad, another Rancho Cotate student and I (Dan) won last year, and were trying a boat twice as long this year.
2012-04-28 Boat Building Races - Pictures from the races. See especially the sailboat in action.

Rollable Kayak

These guys managed to roll this kayak in competition. Hats. Off.

Craig's Sailboat

Craig, whose last name I forget but who with his wife Sharon owns West County Design in Valley Ford, headed a team that upped the building technology factor by milling in score lines somehow (I didn't see this part of the process), and then folding the boat up like origami. Had they not been dismasted in a downwind jibe around the buoy, he would have flattened the field.

Long Outrigger

Our toughest competition came from this big-ass outrigger. We thought we'd have it easy because they'd never turn it around the buoy, they solved the problem by just turning the humans around. This is probably the apex of human powered capabilities:

Misc: Not yet sorted

Not only was the competition for the race way stronger than last year, the quality of boat build and the decoration were also taken up a notch. The number of really nice kayaks was impressive, team Flying Monkey Claw (the paddle wheel boat) represented again, and the Wasabi team stepped back from last year's accomplishment of getting all of them around the course in the same boat to build a surfboard that has me thinking of a sunfish or sailboard design.

Kudos and appreciation to everyone who came out and built a boat, it's a really fun day.

Here are a bunch more pictures.