Poolesville Seniors rose to the challenge announced by the MoCo Rec Department for teams 55+ to build a boat and paddle entirely out of only cardboard, duct tape and trash bags. The boat would need to make its way 25 meters down the pool and back again.
Given two months to complete the boat and paddle, the all-volunteer Poolesville team met every week to design, engineer and construct our entry in the basement of a local farmhouse.
Sourcing the materials, designing by committee and honing our taping and burnishing skills was a great bonding experience for our 12-member team. Our farmhouse hosts graciously provided snacks to sustain us through the work sessions.
The week before the regatta we loaded our boat and paddle confidently in a truck, and hauled them to a private indoor pool for a flotation test. Our boat stayed waterproof, and the paddle worked perfectly as our boat captain, Lori Kocur, made several passes up and down the pool. We were sure that our entry would finish in the top.
As we packed up our paddle, we discovered it had a leak and water was pouring out of one end. The one waterlogged end of the paddle was remade, and we thought we would be back in the winner’s circle.
Our boat was christened “The Nomeds”, a play on the name of Nomad Farm where it was constructed.
On Regatta Day, our team and supporters gathered at the MLK Swim Center in Springbrook with our team shirts, pom poms and Team song. Eight teams entered the race, double the number of entries in last year’s inaugural race. The boats came in all shapes and sizes with single paddles, double paddles, and hand paddles.
The Poolesville Seniors were excited by the run of each team’s boat and cheered on every team. When our boat made its attempt, it got about 1/3 the length of the pool when there was an epic failure and the paddle folded in half. Lori made a valiant attempt to recover and paddled a few strokes with ½ a paddle until that broke again.
Thinking quickly, Lori threw the useless paddle overboard, and furiously began to paddle with her hands. “The Nomeds” came in fifth out of eight boats. We thoroughly enjoyed the races and were happy to have finished above last place. The enthusiastic Poolesville Team won the award for the ‘Most Team Spirit’.
We look forward to competing next year and representing Poolesville Seniors in this and other county events.
