Once again Madera took part in the Commencement Bay Maritime Festival Quick and Dirty Boat Building competition.  It was a beautiful day for a boat race!  But first we had to build our boat.  The rules are fairly simple: teams are supplied with 4 sheets of 1/4″ plywood, 6 2x4s, 100 screws, some zip ties, a small can of an unknown color of paint and a couple tubes of caulk plus a “mystery” material.  We have 6 hours to build a boat and then we race them in the bay.  After a moderate success last year, a few modifications were made and, well, unfortunately we didn’t fair as well.  Don’t mess with a good thing…Actually it wasn’t all that bad.  We did receive the award for the “best looking” boat!  But alas she was all show and no go – at least we finished the race, uh somewhere around 10th (out of 14).

Along with the fun of making and racing the Bench Dog 4, much of what made the day special was simply participating in this wonderful community event.  Tacoma throws some of the best parties around and each one has a unique flavor to set it apart.  The Maritime Fest is all about showcasing Tacoma’s historical working waterfront.  There are boats (real ones) to climb aboard, boat tours of the port, dragon boat races, music, food, vendors and loads of fun activities for the kiddos.  Having only 6 hours to build our boat made partaking in these offerings impossible.  However seeing all of the smiling faces through the day as they came along to offer all of the teams encouragement and lots of luck showed us that we were part of a big party that was cruising along in high gear.

Thank you to the Maritime Festival and all of the volunteers and sponsors and thanks to the city of Tacoma for helping to bring our community together.  We’ll see you next year!