Cardboard boat races set for July 25

Madison Duff, left, and Jena Kelley race during last year’s World Championship Cardboard Boat Races at Sandy Beach in Heber Springs. Registration is underway for this year’s event, which will be held July 25 at Sandy Beach, unless high water forces the event to be moved to Dam Site Park, said Julie Murray, executive director of the Heber Springs Area Chamber of Commerce.
Madison Duff, left, and Jena Kelley race during last year’s World Championship Cardboard Boat Races at Sandy Beach in Heber Springs. Registration is underway for this year’s event, which will be held July 25 at Sandy Beach, unless high water forces the event to be moved to Dam Site Park, said Julie Murray, executive director of the Heber Springs Area Chamber of Commerce.

HEBER SPRINGS — Julie Murray, executive director of the Heber Springs Area Chamber of Commerce, said “the most exciting part” of the 29th annual World Championship Cardboard Boat Races is the theme: Flip-flops and Pop Tops.

It’s a tribute to laid-back longtime singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett. Participants don’t have to be Parrotheads to compete, but his fans might have the edge.

“You can copy his island style; you can use lyrics to one of his songs to help design your boat. It’s wide open,” Murray said. She paused, then had an idea: “You could have a boat shaped like a giant cheeseburger.”

The races will begin at 10 a.m. July 25 on Sandy Beach, unless the water is too high; then the event will be moved to Dam Site Park. If there is a change in location, Murray said, it will be announced on the chamber’s Facebook page.

The cardboard boat races pit teams against each other. Prizes are given, including the Pride of the Fleet for the “engineering marvel design,” Murray said. The Captain’s Award is for the most creative team and boat, and The Titanic Award is given to the boat that sinks despite a valiant effort to keep it afloat.

Longtime volunteer Joe Tournear said he has worked the starting line at the cardboard boat races for 20 years.

“The starting line is the most exciting part of the job,” he said.

Some boats are built to intentionally fall apart, Tournear said, just to win The Titanic Award. He said it’s for “the most dynamic sinking.”

“They have to get off the starting line,” he said.

“The boats that survive, they’re grouped together by time. The second heat is far more exciting. We get them in the water, and hopefully, they’re still floating. A lot of boats are not able to compete the second time; they’re 60 feet under the water. You can only use duct tape, cardboard and paint — and sometimes that just isn’t enough,” he said.

Tournear said it’s fun to see the creative boat designs. “You’ve got some that are made for speed; you’ve got some that are made for show that are just really pretty, with fake engines and different things. We’ve seen a Batmobile; we’ve seen a space shuttle and the USS Missouri.”

The third heat is what’s called a Demolition Derby, designed to sink the boats. He said 70 to 75 percent of the boats are entered in the heat because people don’t try to save their boats to race another day.

“They can hit each other; they can launch themselves into other boats, but they can’t return. They sort of make themselves torpedoes and launch themselves,” he said. “The kids and adults really enjoy trying to sink each other.”

Tournear said he’s raced before, and his nephew won the event a couple of years ago. Tournear said his relatives from Joplin, Missouri, sometimes come to Heber Springs to participate in the race.

“My brother went back, and they started a cardboard boat race up there on Shoal Creek,” he said. “It’s not nearly as dynamic and fun as ours, but we’ve been doing it a long time.”

Murray said there’s still time to register for the cardboard boat races by going to the chamber’s website, www.heber-springs.com.

“We had about 50 boats last year, and every year, we want more boats to come. Registration has changed a little bit; we’re giving a discount for preregistration before July 17,” she said.

Preregistration for a one-to-two-person team is $45; after July 17, it’s $65. Preregistration for three-to-eight-people teams is $50; after July 17, it’s $70.

The Lucky Duck Regatta is a new event this year, Murray said. The rubber-duck race for kids ages 2-12 will be held between the first two heats of the boat races.

Rubber ducks will be available for $1 each for the first 50 children who register. They can register as soon as the gates open at 8 a.m., Murray said. Children will compete in two age categories, 2-6 and 7-12.

“We’ve got kind of an inflatable lap pool with two lanes. They’ll pick up their rubber duckies; some have leis on — they’re very islandy,” she said. “The way they make their duck go, they shoot them with their water gun.”

Murray said the “all-time favorites” of the event are back: the Treasure Dig at 10 a.m., in which children may dig for “fun little prizes”; the World Championship Watermelon-eating Contest at 11; and the Ron Carmack Memorial Volleyball Tournament, for which six-person teams can register online.

Senior Writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.

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