Posted by: oldsalt1942 | November 29, 2009

No Group Has More Fun

Anyone who reads my blogs knows I absolutely love the PUddle Duck Racers.  PDRacer.com After all, thier motto is “cheap, creative, and having fun on the water.”

What other sailboat class has a “land speed record” category? So far no one has submitted an entry to this record but I’m sure someone is working on it.

Here are the rules for the land speed record:

1 – Boat does NOT have to be setup in class legal configuration
2 – May use any vertical or horizontal fins, or wheels & attached apparatus such as frame, structures etc. Also the hull may end up only being a cockpit for the land sailor carridge, but that is OK for this challenge.
3 – Skipper must remain in the boat for the entire distance, however all crew may be changed without limitation.
4 – Boat must be propelled by mother nature or human, no motors. Towing with a bicycle is OK, coasting down hill is OK.
5 – For distance record, you may make laps, if you have a GPS that logs distance traveled, you may use that for calculating distance traveled (does not have to be point to point).
6 – For speed record, you can use peak GPS or submit other means that used to calculate speed.
7 – Water must go, or be under the hull at some point in the record attempt. This might be as simple as duct taping a bottle of water under the hull, going over a puddle, or having the final stretch run into the lake.
This record shall be reset at the end of each year.

Rules 4 and 7 are my favorites.


Posted by: oldsalt1942 | November 24, 2009

In The Shantyboat Tradition

Pumpkins aren’t just for pie anymore…

 

 

I’m pretty sure these people are genetically linked to Puddle Duck Racers.

Read all about the Pumpkin Regatta here:

http://www.amusingplanet.com/2009/11/windsor-pumpkin-regatta.html

Posted by: oldsalt1942 | November 23, 2009

New New Orleans?

New Orleans, as everyone knows after Katrina, is a city sitting below sea level. I lived there for 10 years from the mid ’70s to mid ’80s and always found it a bit disconcerting during the Spring flood season that as you sat eating begnets and drinking coffee at the Cafe du Monde in the French Quarter ocean-going tankers and freighters were passing, unseen, 20 feet above your head in the Mississippi River on the other side of the levee.

While the city still struggles to rebuild itself some people have ideas on how to cope with the threat of future flooding. Architect E. Kevin Shopfer is proposing the building of a floating habitat for some 40,000 residents.

Named NOAH (New Orleans Arcology Habitat) it would be “a self-contained community including residential units, public gardens, offices and commercial space, hotels, schools, a public health office, and even three casinos. The finished structure will contain an estimated 30 million square feet of space.”

You can read about the proposed project here:

http://gajitz.com/floating-city-may-be-housing-solution-for-new-orleans/

I guess I was a little ahead of the curve when I spent the last two years of my tenure in the suburb of Chalmette living on my own floating answer to the flooding problem…

I can never write or talk about the Katrina catastrophe without reminding people that it wasn’t JUST New Orleans that was devastated by the storm. In adjacent St. Bernard Parish the destruction was nearly total. Depending on which report you wish to believe, only between 3 and 15 buildings remained untouched by the storm.

The area that was demolished by Katrina’s winds boggles the mind. If you were to get into your car at the western edge of the New Orleans area, Kenner, and got on to Interstate 10 and zipped along at 70 mph it would take you over 3 hours to get to the eastern edge of the pile of damaged buildings east of Mobile, Alabama!

Posted by: oldsalt1942 | November 12, 2009

Vanboat?

Ya gotta love the inventiveness of some people.

imageshouseboat_small

At least he’s out on the water.

Posted by: oldsalt1942 | November 12, 2009

Puddle Duck on Steroids

super puddle duck

Posted by: oldsalt1942 | November 9, 2009

British Houseboat

Posted by: oldsalt1942 | November 9, 2009

Small boats

Not shantyboats, but anyone interested in small boats should find this interesting:

http://bills-log.blogspot.com/

Posted by: oldsalt1942 | November 4, 2009

As Basic As It Gets

Built by Jack Kern, this is as basic as a shanty boat can be.

image052-s

image054

The window flower boxes are a nice touch.

Posted by: oldsalt1942 | October 30, 2009

PDRacer World Championships

It’s hard to believe that any sanctioned group of sailors have more fun with their boats than a bunch of Puddleduck Racers.

The Puddleduckracer 2009 World Championships were held recently in Altoona, Georgia, with participants from 11 states and one foreign country entered.

One of the great parts of the fun is that everyone entered must bring a homemade trophy if they are going to participate. This is the championship trophy:

PDR Worlds 146-wr

David (Shorty) Rouse, the creater of the class captured 5th place and copped this trophy:

Shorty with 5th place trophy

Read a complete account of the Championships here:

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/09/columns/jackie/03/index.htm

 

Why athletes can’t have regular jobs

1. Chicago Cubs outfielder Andre Dawson on being a role model: “I wan’ all dem kids to do what I do, to look up to me. I wan’ all the kids to copulate me.”

2. New Orleans Saint RB George Rogers when asked about the upcoming season: “I want to rush for 1,000 or 1,500 yards, whichever comes first.”

3. And, upon hearing Joe Jacobi of the ‘Skins say: “I’d run over my own mother to win the Super Bowl,” Matt Millen of the Raiders said: “To win, I’d run over Joe’s Mom, too.”

4. Torrin Polk, University of Houston receiver, on his coach, John Jenkins: “He treats us like men. He lets us wear earrings.”

5. Football commentator and former player Joe Theismann, 1996: “Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.”

6. Senior basketball player at the University of Pittsburgh : “I’m going to graduate on time, no matter how long it takes.” (now that is beautiful)

7. Bill Peterson, a Florida State football coach: “You guys line up alphabetically by height.” And, “You guys pair up in groups of three, and then line up in a circle.”

8. Boxing promoter Dan Duva on Mike Tyson going to prison: “Why would anyone expect him to come out smarter? He went to prison for three years, not Princeton ..”

9. Stu Grimson, Chicago Blackhawks left wing, explaining why he keeps a color photo of himself above his locker: “That’s so when I forget how to spell my name, I can still find my clothes.”

10. Lou Duva, veteran boxing trainer, on the Spartan training regime of heavyweight Andrew Golota: “He’s a guy who gets up at six o’clock in the morning, regardless of what time it is.”

11. Chuck Nevitt , North Carolina State basketball player, explaining to Coach Jim Valvano why he appeared nervous at practice: “My sister’s expecting a baby, and I don’t know if I’m going to be an uncle or an aunt.” (I wonder if his IQ ever hit room temperature in January)

12. Frank Layden , Utah Jazz president, on a former player: “I told him, ‘Son, what is it with you? Is it ignorance or apathy?’ He said, ‘Coach, I don’t know and I don’t care.’”

13. Shelby Metcalf, basketball coach at Texas A&M, recounting what he told a player who received four F’s and one D: “Son, looks to me like you’re spending too much time on one subject.”

14. Amarillo High School and Oiler coach Bum Phillips when asked by Bob Costas why he takes his wife on all the road trips, Phillips responded: “Because she is too damn ugly to kiss good-bye.”

15. These are right in the ballpark with Mike Tyson’s answer to what he will do when he retires….”I guess I’ll just fade into   Bolivia .”

Posted by: oldsalt1942 | October 28, 2009

PDRacer’s Texas 200

As I’ve said before, the PDRacer is well within the spirit of shantyboating and I love them. In fact I’ve decided to build one myself and will be boring everyone who reads this blog with how it comes together.

pdRacer

Not only are these actually an international racing class with nearly 400 registered hulls, the people who build and sail in them seem to have at least as much, if not more fun than people who sink mega-thousands into getting out on the water. One of the biggest challenges for small boaters is the Texas 200, a five day expidition (I fear to call it a race though it is, sorta) and there’s a dedicated group of Puddle Duckers who enter each year.

Here’s a story of one of the participants:

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/09/gatherings/ranger/index.htm

And anyone looking for just a good read about small boats should go to duckworks magazine anyway.

Older Posts »

Categories