As part of the Bristol Harbourside Festival 2017 BART Project Officers, Harriet and Claire, decided to enter the annual Cardboard Boat Race! The event was organised by the charity My Future My Choice and their programme Bristol Loves Tides. The charity run interactive workshops for children to pratice teamwork skills, inspire them to develop their future careers and to teach them about water pollution and the importance of rivers to Bristol’s past and future.
HMS Eel!
It’s safe to say that with only a few evenings to build our boat, it wasn’t the most impressive looking vessel in the competition. The other boats were built by engineers and a boating club who took 6 weeks to build theirs, so we crossed our fingers and hoped that our boat would stay afloat and not disintegrate straight away!
After a fantastic start to the race, we were in the lead until we lost our paddles and were overtaken halfway. We paddled with our hands as fast as we could to get back to the dock, but HMS Eel finally gave up and started to sink. Determined not to give up, we each grabbed a corner of cardboard and swam dragging our boat behind us!
To our surprise two of the other boats had capsized and fallen apart, so BART secured 2nd place and the Team Spirit Award!
Go Team BART!
Thanks to those who donated their spare cardboard, and to everyone who came to support the event on the day! Click here to see a video of the race on our Facebook page.
