Puddle Duck Racer Sailboat Class - Newsletter 14

Picture of the month: John McGough #667

Event News

2012 World Championship
30 Days Left !!

Are you excited? I certainly am !! This year has left me awestruck, the effort that John Bridges, Ken Sherwood and their entire team have put into building their local fleet is un-matched to date. They have gone to lengthy effort to providing a venue to host the race and handle what is going to be the largest duck event to date. With all that work they have to do, and since they already have so many local ducks built, they probably could have let off the pressure of recruiting new duckers a few months back and coasted into the big race.

But they kept going anyway! Every month they have been adding in new duckers to their fleet, and this month is no different, they added 6 more !! Way to go !!!

If you are planning to attend, please sign up with their website ahead of time, it sure will help make their work a bit easier.

Signup for World Championship Race
PDRacer World Championship Page

Indiana Gazzette Newspaper

Helping to get the word out about the upcoming championship, the Indiana Gazzette did a couple of great articles about the wonderful things they are doing with their local fleet including being the entire first page of the entertianment section of the Sunday paper.

Not only is it a great boost for our club, but also the type of human interest stories that newspapers are continually looking for. There is only so much war and politics that people can read about, so it is great that we can help fill in the other parts because what we do really is a positive community activity.

If you are interested in boosting your local fleet, I suggest you contact your local paper too. Am sure they would love to run a story about what you guys are doing, and together we can all help make the world a better place.

Championship Race Blog - Entry about newspaper articles
Indiana Gazzette - PDRs to meet at world championships
Indiana Gazzette - PUDDLE DUCK RACERS: Boats growing in popularity

Alberni PDRacer Events

Every Saturday in June was "Build a Duck Day" at Boston Pizza (a sponsor of the Alberni PDRacer Club). One of the ducks was built (from their kit) in only FOUR hours !!! It still needed caulk and paint, but hey, thats an amazingly quick build! Their 19th duck was registered just before this newsletter went to print.

Additionally this month, four new ducks just got started being built by others locally that are planning to attend the upcoming regatta.

David has a newsletter you can subscribe to for direct updates on all their activities.
David Whitworth #623, Alberni PDRacer Club Organizer
Alberni PDRacer Club Website - Photos - Blog

Port Alberni Crazyness !!!

Oh my gosh! Just when I think I have seen it all, this picture comes in from David Whitworth. A local college pricipal was retiring and they were holding an assembly which had about 500 people attend. As part of the celebrations, they loaded the principal into puddle duck 650, the wrestling team picked it up and they paraded him around the hockey arena !!

So I printed out the picture and have been carrying it around in my pocket, showing all of my local friends that are into sailing. One of them told me that Canadians are known for their beer and donuts. Those are two of the most fun foods, no wonder they are at the pinnacle of having a great time!

Sewell Mountain Sailing Club - West Virginia USA

For a number of years, Soapy has been running a local free volunteer organization in West Virginia to introduce people to sailing and get them on the water. His organization has been collecting various used boats and fixing them up for members to use, plus recruiting volunteers to help teach the new members how to sail.

Just this past month Soapy stumbled upon our club with help by being mentioned from Dave Gray and sent me an email, instantly the two of us recognized how we are both working towards the same goals and how great it would be to work together! Being a man of action, Soapy got right to it and is forming a local puddle duck fleet. To start with, they are going to build 15 ducks and have already registered their first 2, and have enough parts cut and framed to make an additional 3 hulls as of the date of this newsletter.

One of the things their club does is host an annual charity regatta to support Hospice. It is free to enter, and donations help support more than 600 patients and families which are cared for every year. This year's regatta is planned for September 8th and 9th and will have a division for puddle duck racers.

Contact Bob Richards aka Soapy, #701 "la mia anatra"
Mountain Momma Regatta Information
Sewell Mountain Sailing Association Website
SMSA at Facebook

Brookville Lake Sailing Assn. - Indiana USA

The BLSA is family oriented group, and you gotta love their mission statment, right on the home page of their website they lay it out in plain english: Above all, we�re not a �snotty yachty� organization. And to that I say YEAAAA!!!!!!!

Members of their club have recently completed 3 ducks and working on more. They have a hatch event coming up and are planning to build a couple extra just incase someone can't make it to the hatch, they will still be able to get their hands on a duck.

They have a Puddle Duck Regatta and Kids Fun day planned for August 18th.

For more information, contact Paul Hemker #686

Brookville Lake Sailing Association website
BLSA Racing Calendar

Scott Widmier #104 ECDuck Featured in Small Craft Advisor Magazine

Scott Widmier was the first ducker to attempt running in the Everglades Challenge. He is featured in this month's issue of Small Craft Advisor Magazine. Reading the article, I am still amazed at how far he made it during the challenge. Way to go Scott !!

Issue 76 Jul/Aug 2012, page 28
Available at newstands & bookstores, and directly from their website: SmallCraftAdvisor.com
Scott Widmier #104 ECDuck