Duct tape saved the day for some at the Cardboard Boat Race, Sunday, June 1, at Lake Accotink.
The Fiji Brouhaha, a creation of Jessica Martin and Natalia Aguirre, both 16, was a double pontoon craft that made it around the buoy and back, leaving the girls dry the whole trip. Natalia divulged their secret.
"Fourteen roles of duct tape," she said.
The Wolverine, with Joseph Pack, 7 and 8-year-olds Patrick Whitehouse and Nicholas Jones, with camouflaged faces, relied on the tape, as well.
"The taping was probably the hardest part," Nicholas said.
For Brian Ho and Amogh Sivarapatna, the duct tape on their C Hawk looked good on the shore, but right after pushing off, their boat soaked up water like a sponge.
"It was a chemistry project," Amogh said. "Experimental design to test different designs. We put duct tape all around it."
After their heat, they dragged the soggy mess, tape and all, back to the beach.
For Das Boot, the sailing team of Aaron Brown, Albert Dwan and Matt Fuller, the event was all about attitude until their cardboard soaked up water and sprang a leak.
"Aaron's knee poked a hole in the bottom of it," said Matt.
Annandale residents Lizzy Waxler and Diana Hollingsworth had a boat named Lucky Duck, complete with a trail of rubber duckies on a string behind the boat. They weren't lucky enough, though. When they tried to jump in, there were a couple of things they didn't plan for, mainly that it was top-heavy. Instead of staying dry in their boat, they ended up pushing it around while they swam.
"It's too tall and too skinny," Lizzy said.
Diana was shivering from her swim.
"Freezing," was all she could say.
On the final day of the Springfield Days celebration, the Cardboard Boat Race was a hit at Lake Accotink. Friends and family lined the shore by the docks to see what the boats could do. Many had witnessed weeks of boat creation leading up to the big day.
Uma Sivarapatna watched her son Amogh and his friend Brian Ho turn their garage into a dry dock, creating the C Hawk.
"They built it together for three weeks in my garage. They had everything organized," she said.
There's always next year for the C Hawk II.