Split Rock event features homemade watercraft in racing competition

The rules were very clear, and so was the fun.

The second annual Float Your Boat event was held at the Split Rock Resort lagoon last Saturday.

Twelve entries paid $35 each to race their handmade boats though a designated lane made out of foam swimming noodles. The event was held to help raise money for the construction of a Kidder Hike and Bike Trail that will begin in Lake Harmony and end in Hickory Run State Forest.

“Last year we only had four entries,” said Beth Hurley, a volunteer who helped organize the event.

“This is great to have so many more this year.”

Race officials Margi and Rich Slomiany checked the construction of each contestant’s boat before the races began. Rules specified that the nonpowered boats can be made from cork, toothpicks, straws, bamboo skewers and Popsicle sticks only and must be between 6 and 12 inches in length. Paper and cloth sails were also permissible.

Teams can be one or two people who enter the water and direct their boats to the finish line by splashing water in the rear and at the front. Touching or pushing a boat would cause disqualification by the officials.

Before the races, the boats were on display, and each was a fine example of craftsmanship and creative design. One that especially caught the eye was “Wind and a Prayer,” built by Mary and Bob Dobosh of Albrightsville.

“I built kayaks, so making this boat was easy for me,” Bob Dobosh said. He and his wife used wine corks and Popsicle sticks and hot glued the assembly in the style of a catamaran. The white cloth sail was adorned with the neatly written letters of the boat’s name.

David Hunter of Split Rock built the USS Monitor that closely resembled the Civil War ship of the same name.

When Hunter was asked if he had to drink a lot of wine to get the corks to build his boat, he replied with a laugh, “Well, isn’t that the purpose of it?”

Seth and Ruth Isenberg competed, but not together as a husband-and-wife team. Seth represented the Lake Harmony Lake News while Ruth raced for the Blakeslee Rotary Club. Other float your boaters included Vince and Jen Giannone from Telford and Pocono Walk and Wine, the Environmental Action Committee of Lake Harmony, Ben and Jacob Saxon from Split Rock, and Greg and Max Meyers from Newtown Square and Big Boulder.

Two pirates, Bing LaFond and Greta Martocci were on hand to cheer the racers.

“The Bike and Hike Trail construction will begin after Labor Day,” LaFond said. The first 5 miles alone will cost $200,000.

“We are counting on grants and donors to come through to help pay for the expense.”

The racing was an exciting spectacle for the many who ventured to the edge of the lagoon. Some boats were difficult to keep on a straight path, others turned completely over and crossed the finish line upside down. A few broke apart, but their determined team was still able to move the integrity of the body to the end.

After head-to-head racing in the first and second heats, the final three raced individually and were timed to determine the two boats to move into the finals. In the second heat, Vince Giannone and Matt Landis’ entry won by a cork and the Meyerses’ floater, named Suck My Wake, from the movie “The Great Outdoors,” won by a nautical mile.

In the timed elimination round, the Giannone boat was a half-second faster than Suck My Wake, but in the head-to-head finals, Team Meyers never looked back and won the championship going away.

“I never thought we’d win,” said Greg Meyers, who returned the $100 grand prize as a contribution to the trail project.

“In fact, I didn’t even know we had to get in the water to move the boat along.”

His foot-long craft was painted black and made from 22 old red wine corks, several coffee stirrers, some Popsicle sticks and was manned by a toy Army figure. Meyers harbored the boat in the sink in his house.

“I cut a few corks at angles to give the boat an upward bend in the front. The whole thing took about six hours to build.”

Meyers, who owns an internet marketing business, added that he remembers when he was a child, his father building model boats.

Based upon this year’s success, event organizer Barbara Franzosa hopes that Float Your Boat will attract even more entries for next year’s race.