$50 Sailboat Race
When the average person thinks of sailboats, they think of holes in the water into which money is thrown.
When introduced to building "instant" boats from materials like BC plywood, one becomes aware of how inexpensive it can be to travel across the surface of the water.
Going even further, common materials could be put together to form something that floats and could be used to go downwind.
This race has been created to explore that lower end of reality, so look around you and see what you can put together that would keep you afloat and make a boat.
The boats are to be constructed with a maximum of $50 worth of materials.
The boat can then be raced as down wind only, or the boats can be paddled upwind around a bouy, then sail back down wind.
If sailing down wind only, the boats are towed or carried to the starting line, teathered to a boat anchored there, and all tethers are released at the same time to start the race.
First one back to the beach wins, however other prized are awarded like artistic expression, cheapest boat, first to sink etc.
For pictures of previous $50 sailboat races, see the fleets page and look for $50 boat race.
Rules -- Materials and Accounting:
1. The total value of all materials used in each boat must be less than or equal to $50. You won't be required to provide a bill of materials or receipts, just your honest word is good enough.
2. The materials are valued in their "current market value" so that if you had to purchase the materials today, what would they cost.
3. Any item or material that was obviously thrown away or recovered from the garbage or a a junk yard is considered free.
4. Paint only counts as $2 in the bill of materials, no matter how much you use.
5. You may pro-rate portions of materials used, so if you only used part of what you purchased, you don't have to count the scraps left over.
Items considered FREE
Containers like buckets, bottles and barrels -- They typically get discarded after contents are consumed, and when originally purchased it was the contents that was bought.
Existing sailboat mast OK and considered free -- I would hate for someone to cut down a small tree to make a mast just for this race.
Umbrellas (even large patio umbrella) -- After the race, the umbrella will probably go back into service for it's intended purpose.
Prohibited Materials
Factory produced boat hulls - even if you dug it out of the trash and received it for free. The point of this race is to build something that floats.
Dacron sails - you must make your own sails.
Safety
Dangerous maneuvers such as intentional ramming will disqualify the boat.
All participants shall be in a physical condition as to safely operate their craft, therefore water fights are not generally considered dangerous.
Life jackets must be worn by participants.
Trophies
When hosting your race, you should come up with as many trophies as possible so that everyone who raced could get one.
They can be homemade, just glue some stuff together and spray paint it gold.
Here are some ideas for trophies:
first one back to the beach
tug boat award - for the person who towed everyone out
looks most like a sailboat
best piloting skills
best artistic expression
most colorful boat
most creative use of alternative materials
best loophole in rules found
first to sink
last to sink
most likely to end up in davey jones's locker (most likely to sink)
boat to sink closest to the beach
Floatsom and Jetsom award (first one to break apart)
most spectacular destruction
cheapest boat award
most likely to have cheated on the accounting
most obnoxious cheater
Origin of this race
This race was the birth of the Puddle Duck Racer.
I belong to a local group of guys who build sailboats and get together at messabouts.
I have heard about a number of other cheap disposable boat contests like the Great Cardboard Boat Race
and the Quick And Dirty Boat Building Contest.
Those and others were interesting, but a little limiting of what you can build in both time and materials.
So I floated around the idea of this race concept with the guys, and it received a lot of interest.
9 of us built boats for the race and we had a great time.
After the prizes were passed out, we talked about racing more often in a boat with an open devlopmental rule structure to allow each builder a great amount of flexibility in what they built.
So the PDRacer was created, which is the easiest sailboat in the world to build.
Organize YOUR Race
If you are interested in organizing a $50 boat race, you are more than welcome to use the rules above.
Also you should post your intentions of organizing a race to the PDRacer Discussion Group, you might find others in your area that would like to participate, and get ideas on boats to build etc.
For pictures of previous $50 sailboat races, see the fleets page and look for $50 boat race.
$50 Sailboat Race
Rules -- Materials and Accounting:
Origin of this race