2012 Bodega Bay Fish Fest Wooden Boat Challenge

3 hours. 2 sheets of cheap CDX 3/8” plywood, 10 1×2s, 2 2×2s, a sheet of plastic, 2 tubes of caulk, a bunch of deck screws, a few nails, some rope, some ductape, a few other details. Hand tools only, except for battery powered drill/drivers. And then you race.

An amazing day out at the end of April in Bodega Bay here in Sonoma County in Northern California, I highly recommend coming out for it, either as a contestant (and this two-year winner is thinking about ways to approach the competition with more whimsy and attempt to wow the crowd, which will probably lead to a schism in our team, if anyone’s interested in going my way, or anyone wants to work with our other team mainstay who’s a long-time yacht and furniture builder and who has a lot to teach on going for more speed) or as a spectator. A few of my favorites:

In order: A kayak whose paddler rolled in competition, Craig’s origami folded sailboat (pushing cheap plywood construction to new levels), a long outrigger boat that was serious competition in the speed category, the high school student team we trained with, that didn’t manage to build what we’d hoped they would, but still made it around the course, and our boat.

More pictures at my personal site of this year's competition, and last year's competition.

-- Dan Lyke, Petaluma California, http://www.flutterby.net/User:DanLyke