2015-04-11 Wooden Boat Challenge

Event Recap

The Bodega Bay Wooden Boat Challenge is in my blood now. In various incarnations, although we've now settled on "Team Dog Slobber", Tom Segura and I, and two other team members who've changed over the years, have won it in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. So I was totally open to the idea that it might be time to give someone else a chance. This year, as we were contemplating who to invite, two high schoolers, Brendan and Denny, were suggested to us. Although Tom and I are still pretty competitive, we decided to let them race. We built the boat we've evolved to build, quickly and smoothly, with Tom and me doing most of the cutting...

One of the introductions last year was the "mystery material". Incorporate it into your boat. Best incorporation wins a prize. I suggested a half-hearted figurehead, but the kids started going with the dog theme, and then... and then they went over the top. Using screws for teeth totally sold it, turned it from "cool" to amazing. And we won that category.

The kids were powerful paddlers, but had no control, so although they were quite fast they weren't much in the velocity department, and came in 4th overall. But we had fun, and super congratulations to team Totally Screwed, who deserved their hard fought win.

And a huge thank-you to everyone who made this year amazing yet again. From the organizers to our fellow competitors to the wonderful people who came by to see us play, we enjoyed all of you, and had a blast.

A few random pics