A sea of people milled around the Lake Anne plaza, lining up by the edge of the water, filled with anticipation. Excited captains stood close to their boats, the duct tape on their carefully crafted surfaces shining in the midday sun. Two boats had been carried into the water, their crews starting to climb into the boats. A few minutes later the two boats started rowing out into the lake, each trying to edge the other out as the crowd cheered. The 2023 Cardboard Boat Regatta was in full swing.
The Reston Museum’s Cardboard Boat Regatta is an annual event where both kids and adults work to create and race boats made fully out of cardboard and duct tape. The final result is a wide variety of cardboard creations that fill the plaza with vibrant colors. The event fell on August 19th this year and was undoubtedly the biggest it has ever been. The races happen in heats, with two boats each. The three boats with the fastest recorded times out of all the heats each win an award. There is also a “Titanic” award, presented to a boat which sank during the race. Finally, there is a contest for the look of the boats, which people who attended the regatta could vote for while walking around before the races began.
Noah DeGurse, a sophomore at South Lakes who participated in the regatta this year talks about his experience participating in the event. “I’ve done [the regatta] for 3 years. [This year] My boat was called the alien invaders, and it was a spaceship with sidecars for us to sit in.” When talking about how he created his boat, he described how, “The process is just gluing cardboard together into a boat shape, and then you duct tape the outside. My favorite part is the end where you got to duct tape it and really see it come together.” He gave advice to newcomers to the regatta saying, “It’s a lot of work, so be forewarned. Also, you need a lot of cardboard, so if you don’t have that, maybe don’t participate.” He also added, “My favorite part of the regatta is getting to see all the boats go and seeing who wins.”
Via Fairfax County Times
Next year the event is set to take place on August 10, 2024. If someone is interested in joining, they should head over to the Reston Museum’s website to pre-register for next year and look at the requirements to create their very own boat for this exciting community event.
