Recycle Regatta

[Fehler]

Bad fundraising year this year, so I'm looking to cut some costs.  Raingutter Regatta kits have gone from $3 to $6 (catamaran style), so that looks like something I'm cutting.  I've seen "Recycle Regattas", which is the same idea except for using a water bottle or something else that fits in the raingutter.

 

But I'm thinking bigger.

 

We live near the Minnehaha Creek in Minneapolis, with a bunch of walking bridges over the creek.  I want to get boys to build boats out of milk jugs or 2-liter bottles, drop them into the creek from a bridge (2-3 at a time), and have an adult leader recover them downstream.

 

So, any thoughts?  Anyone tried this before?  Safety issues?

[CalicoPenn]

This sounds like a lot of fun - and a great solution to a funding dilemma.

 

I'd suggest that you choose either milk jugs or two-liter bottles so everyone starts from the same point - if folks create "open deck" boats (cut out a portion of the side of a bottle), they might sink instead of float if dropped from a bridge and land wrong - something to keep in mind as you talk about designs.

 

I'd be really interested to see if anyone comes up with a Winnie the Pooh design - this sounds like a big version of "Pooh Sticks" to me (know anyone in the area that has a Winnie the Pooh costume?).

 

You could also add a service project component - clean up the creek between bridges perhaps?

 

Please do this race - and let us know how it went!!!

[SSScout]

Yep,  "Pooh Sticks".  Just the thing for Cubbies.

 

Check with the Park people.  

 

Back when my daughter was small (4?  5?)  we took a vacation trip down along the Blue Ridge Parkway.   There is a site, I think Mabry Mill, that had a working water driven grist mill. It had a Loooooong  mill race to feed the wheel.    When we arrived, we decided to have a little picnic.  The race had a bulge in it, creating a small pool.  We took our shoes and socks off and cooled our tootsies in the water there.   Daughter discovers, much to her joy, that her sneakers float!   And just then, the mill called for more water to push the wheel 'round!  Off go the shoes!  Daddy had to ask the nice Park Ranger to help him retrieve the shoes from the downstream side of the mill wheel!   Daughter didn't mind being barefooted a while.....