A&M Youth
It's coming August 24. A boat race like no other... Because, the boats are homemade, and the main ingredient used to make each boat is cardboard. Yeah, it's going to be great.
A&M Youth Cardboard
Boat Race Night
It's the 5th annual and always awesome
Here are the big details:
Who: All 7th-12th grade students and their families.
When: Sunday evening, August 24
Hamburgers served around 7:00
Race begins around 7:45
Where: Lake Bryan park
Supper will be at the Pavilion (we have it reserved)
The race will be in the water
Cost: $5 per person. This covers your entrance fee to the park. We're planning to use the money earned at the Jason's Deli spirit night on August 17 to cover food costs.
What: A boat race. Yep. Boats, made by students, racing against other boats made by students. See boat guidelines below.
Why: Because racing real boats is too easy. And making a boat out of cardboard just makes for a good story. All students and families are invited to come and join the fun.
RSVP: https://amchurch.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/1035/responses/new
Volunteer to help: https://amchurch.ccbchurch.com/need_detail.php?need_id=941
...well, we can't imagine how bad it would be. Horrific. Appalling. Nightmarish. But you can help the boat race night to not be bad.
How can you help, you say? Make a boat. Simple enough, right? Yep. Take some cardboard, go online and search for some ideas/plans or come up with your own, and make a boat or a something that can be raced. We're counting on you. We're cheering for you. And we're excited to see what you come up with.
A boat race night without boats is like...
The boats and races:
Boats should be constructed by students. Adults can provide guidance and ideas and a little help, but students have to do most of the building of boats.
Each family can make a boat. Or each student can make a boat. Or you can make multiple boats and then let other students race them for you. Or hire someone to make a boat for you. Oh, now, you wouldn't really do that would you? We didn't think so. So start working on some plans and get after it!
- Boats must be constructed of cardboard.
- Glue and duct tape can be used to hold them together.
- No water sealer paint.
- Duct tape, paint, or markers can be used for decorating the boat - as long as the paint doesn't also double as water sealer in a significant way. The duct tape is a pretty good way to waterproof your cardboard if you are needing to do that.
- Each boat is allowed to have 4 standard size pool noodles attached. The pool noodles can be cut into pieces. (but from experience in previous years, the pool noodles do not seem to matter at all when it came to the boats floating or sinking.)
- There aren't too many rules about the boat as long as the main ingredient is cardboard.
- Students can paddle with their hands or with homemade cardboard and duct tape paddles. Regular paddles are not allowed to be used.
Homemade paddles (of cardboard and duct tape) can be no longer than 2 ft in length and 1 foot in width.
Paddles which cover the hand seem to have worked the best in previous years.
Paddles must be flat, not scooped.
Ping-pong paddles are also allowed.
In past years we have gathered a lot of cardboard and had it available in the Refinery for students. We are not doing that this year. It seems like our cardboard has not been used in recent years. And if you go out on the bulk trash night in your neighborhood, you'll likely find cardboard you can use. If you need help finding cardboard, let us know.
If you need help transporting your boat to Lake Bryan, we might can help. We're taking the youth trailer so we can take the grill to grill burgers. If you can transport your boat in your family's vehicle, great. If not, let us know and we'll try to help.
Some construction tips:
1) You can use multiple layers of cardboard, alternating the direction of the corrugations for more strength.
2) Score your cardboard along the line of folds for the straightest bends.
3) Seal the edges of your cardboard with duct tape to prevent water from getting in.
4) Don't make the sides of your boat too tall for the crew to be able to reach over and paddle.
5) Look at youtube or other websites for info on how to make a cardboard boat.
6) Make it fun. Paint it up. Have a theme or something funny or goofy.
A few additional bits of info:
1) Bring a towel. Whether you have a boat or not, bring a towel. A lot of students (and parents) have gotten in the water in years past, but not all of them had a towel to dry off with before they got in their car to go home.
2) The entrance fee for Lake Bryan has gone up. It is now $5 per person. They have also changed when you pay - you now pay upon exiting the park, if we understand correctly.
3) Transportation is on your own...so get to Lake Bryan the same way you get to other places you go to. If you can not get to the lake, talk to us and we'll see what we can do to help.
4) For info on Lake Bryan or how to get there (or where to go once you're there) go to lakebryan.com
5) We are planning to grill burgers for everyone. Dinner will be served at least by 7:00. The meal is free. The race will likely begin around 7:45ish or shortly after. We have learned in previous years that sunset was a pretty good time to race because other people were leaving the swim beach at that time.
6) If you want to come early or stay late and hang out at the lake, you're more than welcome to do so. There are plenty of places to swim. It might be a fun night for families to get to hang out together. Or just a fun night for your family to have some lake time before the hot weather goes away.If you want to bring floats, boats, canoes, kayaks, etc., that's great. In the past there have been stand-up paddleboards and kayaks available for rent at the lake. The Lake Bryan webpage usually has info on this. In the past the paddleboards and kayaks rentals were $18 per hour each and are on a self-service basis.
7) And...if you have not already done so, you can RSVP for supper by clicking here:
(coming soon)
