Cardboard boat regatta 2022

 

Cardboard regatta

The famous Bideford Water Festival and Cardboard Boat Regatta returns to the River Torridge on 24th July. It is time to hoist the Jolly Roger and get involved if you fancy creating a pirate themed cardboard boat.

All the action starts at 12 midday on Sunday July 24th so potential pirates need to start building their boats now to plunder the prizes and try not sink to the bottom of Davy Jones’ Locker!

Pirate theme for 2022

 

Organisers, the Rotary Club of Bideford, are delighted the event is to return after they had to cancel the previous two years due to COVID. But, as publicity officer Jacquie Willoughby explains, they are planning for the biggest Water Festival yet:

“Last year we had to cancel the whole Bideford Water Festival after people had begun making their cardboard boats because of changes to the easing of lockdown restrictions so we’d like those people to re-enter this year and we’re encouraging many more ‘Landlubbers’ to build a boat and join in the fun. We are also hoping everyone with a pirate eye-patch, a parrot or a wooden leg will come and enjoy the entertainment too!”

Ahoy there!

The rules and all the entry details are available on the Bideford Rotary website. Only un-waxed cardboard can be used for the construction of the boats with no additional materials to create extra buoyancy incorporated into the structure; joints and seams can be taped or glued and the cardboard painted for decoration.

 

Water Festival sponsors Atlas Packaging in Barnstaple have kindly offered to donate cardboard, with participants encouraged to say ‘Ahoy There’ when they call the cardboard box makers. Water Festival Co-Ordinator, Morris Poole, says:

“We’re delighted that Atlas Packaging are continuing to sponsor Bideford Water Festival and Cardboard Boat Regatta. They’ve generously donated cardboard to participants in previous years and will do so again this year. Call their reception on 01271 344055 and Supply Chain Manager Phil Sweetland will do his best to accommodate.”