The Great Pumpkin doesn’t sit around idly waiting for Halloween any more. You may have read about the pumpkin boat races in Damariscotta a few weeks back. Apparently these races in which people paddle hollowed-out 600 pound pumpkins or afix outboard motors to them are sprouting up all over. Goffstown New Hampshire, Nekoosa Wisconsin, Sacramento, and Germany are just a few of the other sites of recent pumpkin boat races.
On land, pumpkins are not generally known for their speed. One might guess that the same would be true once they are placed in the water. I checked out several news stories as well as a few Youtube videos of Pumpkin Boat Races. I am happy to report that my research supported my supposition.
The would-be boat designer in me wants to know if a pumpkin can be encouraged to grow into a more hydrodynamic shape. A quick perusal of MentalFloss archives suggests that maybe this is true. The writer there experimented with using various containers as molds for her pumpkins. Hmmm . . . the first kayak of entirely compostable materials may not be far off.
. . . Which got me thinking: if you can paddle a pumpkin, is there any material you cannot make a boat from? Back to Google where I had already found 2.4 million hits for “pumpkin boat.” I tried “cement boat” (2.8 million hits), and “cardboard boat” (151, 000 hits). Other web sites went into the intricacies of cork boats, steel boats, trash boats, and boats made of plastic bottles.
On a somewhat bigger scale, the Plastiki, a 60-foot catamaran built from 20,000 re-claimed plastic bottles, is in its final months of construction out in San Francisco. The Plastiki is set to launch in April for its 12,000 mile journey across the Pacific. The stated goal of the journey: “The Plastiki Expedition is a bold adventure that aims to capture the world’s imagination and draw our attention to the state of our oceans.” In particular, the 6 member crew will study ocean acidification, marine debris, overfishing, and coral bleaching.
Anyone else feel inspired? A pumpkin boat race across Belfast Harbor would be great fun. Keep that in mind as you start to go over seed catalogs a few months from now. That’s one thing about pumpkin boat racing: it teaches you to plan ahead.