The Bodega Bay Fisherman's Festival Wooden Boat Challenge (now there's a mouthful, but we can shorten it to just Wooden Boat Challenge, as the offical website does) is an annual boat building and racing event at the Bodega Bay Fisherman's Festival.
Materials are:
- 2 sheets of ⅜" x 4' x 8' plywood (the cheapest construction grade stuff you can imagine)
- 12 pieces of 1" x 2" x 8' lumber (sometimes it's a flexible wood, sometimes it's a relatively stiff doug fir)
- 2 pieces of 2" x 2" x 8' lumber
- 2 pounds of 1" or 1 ¼" sheet rock screws
- 1 pound of 1" nails
- 1 roll of duct tape
- 3 tubes of caulking
- 25' of poly rope
- 1 piece of poly sheeting (9' x 10')
And one bit of mystery material, to be incorporated into your craft and judged on creativity.
3 hours to build, using hand tools and battery powered drill/drivers. An hour off for lunch and to let the caulk cure a little bit, and then we race.
And it is so amazingly much fun. There is incredible craftsmanship and impressive paddling prowess. There is drama and capsizing and crowds cheering for the disasters. It's a great spectator event, and an even better participation one.