In cardboard boat race, the names have it
Jeffrey Butrick and Elijah Richards-Auld speed away in their boat, Shiip Happens. Along with teammates Jacob Spark, Eddie Espejo and Owen Patnaude, the team tied for second place. BY GEORGIA SPARLING
The Zipping Zebras team – Paige Sommers, Madison Tavares, Rachel Foye and Tessa DeMaggio – won first place. BY GEORGIA SPARLING
Maggie Berry and Bridget Farias make it back to the finish line. BY GEORGIA SPARLING
Morgan Ducharme and Audrey Blanchard coordinated their outfits. The two rowed in the S.S. Catbug, named after a favorite cartoon character. BY GEORGIA SPARLING
The luxury liner, the S.S. Paradise, sets sail with Bianca Frzier and Jaeda Lopes. BY GEORGIA SPARLING
One of two boats named Funky Pasta, the less successful of the two, makes a splash at the starting line. BY GEORGIA SPARLING
MacKenzie Dugas and Devon Miranda took a different approach with their boat, facing opposite directions. BY GEORGIA SPARLING
A boating disaster! BY GEORGIA SPARLING
Maggie Berry and Bridget Farias make it back to the finish line. BY GEORGIA SPARLING
Nate Burger lays down in his boat, Shark Bait. "I just want to get in the shade," he said. BY GEORGIA SPARLING
The Zipping Zebras row quickly for the win! BY GEORGIA SPARLING
Jeffrey Butrick and Elijah Richards-Auld speed away in their boat, Shiip Happens. Along with teammates Jacob Spark, Eddie Espejo and Owen Patnaude, the team tied for second place. BY GEORGIA SPARLING
The Zipping Zebras team – Paige Sommers, Madison Tavares, Rachel Foye and Tessa DeMaggio – won first place. BY GEORGIA SPARLING
Maggie Berry and Bridget Farias make it back to the finish line. BY GEORGIA SPARLING
Morgan Ducharme and Audrey Blanchard coordinated their outfits. The two rowed in the S.S. Catbug, named after a favorite cartoon character. BY GEORGIA SPARLING
The luxury liner, the S.S. Paradise, sets sail with Bianca Frzier and Jaeda Lopes. BY GEORGIA SPARLING
One of two boats named Funky Pasta, the less successful of the two, makes a splash at the starting line. BY GEORGIA SPARLING
MacKenzie Dugas and Devon Miranda took a different approach with their boat, facing opposite directions. BY GEORGIA SPARLING
A boating disaster! BY GEORGIA SPARLING
Maggie Berry and Bridget Farias make it back to the finish line. BY GEORGIA SPARLING
Nate Burger lays down in his boat, Shark Bait. "I just want to get in the shade," he said. BY GEORGIA SPARLING
The Zipping Zebras row quickly for the win! BY GEORGIA SPARLING
There's no prize for the best named boat in the Old Rochester Regional seventh grade cardboard boat race, but maybe there should be.
Held on Thursday, June 16, the annual event is for students who opt not to go on the week-long Survival camping trip. Instead, they try their hand at surviving in the harbor in a homemade boat engineered with cardboard and duct tape.
There are at least as many clever names as there are boats that stay afloat on the relatively short race route, just off Reservation Beach.
Puns are rampant. This year there was the Vitamin Sea, A Boat Time, Rated RRR and a yearly favorite (this time with an extra letter), Shiip Happens.
There was the tropically themed S.S. Paradise, which was decorated with leis; two boats named Funky Pasta "because we like pasta and we're funky," said Rachel Zutaut; and the S.S. Catbug, named for Morgan Ducharme and Audrey Blanchard's favorite cartoon character.
Everyone had a different goal for their boat.
"We're gonna try not to flip. We're gonna try not to sink," said Ducharme.
The ill-fated Titanic Take 2, complete with mini lifeboats attached to the sides, seemed destined for the bottom of the ocean, however.
"We have lifeboats, but like the real Titanic there's not enough boats," said Claire Berry.
The team didn't seem surprised when the boat quickly folded in the middle and sank in the shallow water at the starting point.
Shark Bait, however, did much better than its name might imply.
The engineers behind it, Nate Burger and Robert DaCosta, said their cardboard creation was in the style of a johnboat, a flat-bottomed boat with a square end. The boys designed their boat to tilt up in front so the water would go under it, and they had a contingency plan.
"If it goes wrong, we have a bailer," said Burger.
The boys didn't place, but did make a strong finish.
Thirty-six boats participated overall in the race against the clock, with the Zipping Zebras taking first with a time of 1:26.
Paige Sommers, Madison Tavares, Rachel Foye and Tessa DeMaggio, who each wore zebra stripes, were surprised they had the fastest time.
"We weren't expecting it at all," said Foye.
Two teams tied for second place with 1:28 times: Shiip Happens, made by Jeffrey Butrick, Elijah Richards-Auld, Jacob Spark, Eddie Espejo and Owen Patnaude, and one of two boats christened Funky Pasta by Jill Langlais, Margot Appleton, Rachel Zutaut and Cassidy Yeomans.
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