Raingutter Regatta

Last night was the Raingutter Regatta for Bradley's Scout troup. He and Jeff spent many hours this past weekend getting his boat ready. He did all of the artwork himself, and was so proud of his boat. It really looked cool. I loved the sea serpent he put on the sail.

In the school cafeteria, there were five tables set up with raingutters so the boys could race their boats. In the past, they've used straws to blow their boats, but apparently someone forgot them last night so they had to just blow right on the sails. Brad was all prepared for the straw technique, but he figured it out pretty well.

Bradley lost his first race, but won the next one because his opponent got disqualified for helping his boat along a little too much. It's amazing how the mother bear persona rises so quickly in me. It's a boy scout boat race, for Pete's sake, and I'm watching this, yelling (in my head, of course) "He's cheating!" Fortunately, the Boy Scout leader noticed without my pointing it out and they disqualified him. Winning by disqualification didn't bother Bradley a bit. A win is a win.

They even let Bailey give it a try.

The boy that won the overall race had designed a special aerodynamic sail. (I'm sure his dad had nothing to do with that.) Nobody even had a chance to beat him. Seemed to go a little against the spirit of the competition to me, but since the kids didn't seem to be bothered by it, I certainly wasn't going to point it out. That's what my blog is for. :) I bet there will be a whole lot of aerodynamic sails next year, though!

Trophy or not, I'm so proud of what Bradley accomplished. He worked so very hard on his boat. It looked cool. It stayed afloat. He had great sportmanship. What more could you ask for?

I'm just glad I'm not the one who had to clean up.