LAKEPORT — The 14th annual Lakeport Yacht Club cardboard and duct tape regatta, took place Thursday at Library Park among a crowd of hundreds of hooting and hollering onlookers.
Announcer Bert Hutt, who has been announcing the event since 2003, brought some order to the crowd, using his deep voice and microphone, clearing the way for boats of the three classes; youngsters six to 12 year olds, teenagers 13 to 19 years old, and adults 20 years old and up.
Organizing an event is a requirement of being the director of the Yacht Club. Eileen Meo, director since 2016, has chosen to organize the cardboard and duct tape races, which was sponsored by the Lake County Arts Council.
Registering racers, Meo stood on the dock with a clipboard nearby the table of trophies and medallions. She spoke about the event. “The 4th of July is a great family, fun celebration. It brings everybody out and everybody has a sense of community. It’s fun just to watch these kids and how innovative everybody is in their designs. It’s a great hoot. The docks become filled with lots and lots of people and it’s just a great sense of support for these little boaters, cheering everybody on.”
Meo later said that there were roughly 14 boats in the races, some used by racers in several of the classes, such as the Phantom. The Phantom is famous amongst the cardboard yachting crowd as it has been used in four yearly races and never once been destroyed. “It gets a new decorated look each year,” Meo said, “and a few minor repairs have been made after each race, but nothing major.”
While the crowd gathered on the dock closest to the start of the race, a portion of the dock began to sink. People began shouting for others to move, while a traffic jam held up their exiting the sinking dock. Hutt instructed people to get off in an orderly manner. It didn’t take long for the crowd to thin. Once the load lightened, the dock rose back to the surface and all was calm.
The races began with youngsters crewing in three boats; SS Carp Camp, Phantom [Captain Matisyn Nateer, 11, Co-pilot Cadence Wilson], Lady Liberty, and one kayak, Ariel.
Phantom won, for the first time in four years. Lady Liberty came in second, SS Carp Camp in third and Ariel, who struggled with an oar that appeared to be too big, came in fourth, to a rousing, encouraging cheer of the crowd.
As soon as the boats were out of the water, the second class, consisting of six boats and kayaks, took to the starting line by the steps near the dock.
Youth Pastor of the Clearlake Baptist Church, Brent Smith, couldn’t stop laughing as his crew of six teenaged boys [Jared Wilcox, 16, captain, Hunter Lewis, 13, Zac Wilcox, 18, Caleb Wilcox, 15, Alex Karp, 13, and Irish Ely, 17] piled into their boat, the Viking. “I vote they’re going to sink!”
Nicole Mesita, 14, in Tie Dye Kayak shot off from the starting line like a rocket. She said she and her uncle, Alvin Mesita, spent the entire day before the races making her kayak.
The Viking and the boat Taco, bunched up at the first buoy, while James I, SS Carp Camp and Phantom skirted around them. Tie Dye Kayak was in the lead the entire time, to come in first, and according to Meo, Taco second and Phantom third.
“I was right,” shouted Pastor Smith, as his boys’ boat, the Viking, sank coming into the finish line. The crowd laughed and cheered as the members of the crew paddled, swam and dragged the Viking’s wreckage to shore.
The craziness continued with the third class of racers; Dave Culver, 39, in James I, Katy Myers, 24, and Ashley Gonzales, 23, in Shark Attack, Matt Petrini 37 [substituting for Paul Pageiuso, who was too heavy and sank the SS Carp Camp at the starting line] in the SS Carp Camp and in TinTanic, Tim Brennan, 44 from San Francisco and Jason Hodge, a firefighter from Clearlake.
Both men, Brennan and Hodge, at 6 feet, 5 inches tall, with a combined weight of 500 pounds, fell off the box-shaped TinTanic soon after the starter horn blasted. It took them several unsuccessful tries of splashing in the water, trying to get back on top of the big box, until they retuned to shore and successfully climbed on and took off, albeit slowly.
The hundreds of people lining the docks surrounding the race area sat and stood silhouetted against the bright blue sky. They cheered each of the boats and the crews.
Culver in James I, came in first. Gonzales and Myers in Shark Attack, came in second. TinTanic surprised the crowd by coming in third. Petrini, thrilled the crowd in having sunk up to his shoulders in the blue water, still paddling, with his cowboy hat still atop his head to come in last on the SS Carp Camp.
On land, while holding their trophy next to Hutt, Gonzales and Myers, still in their life vests, said proudly, “We were the only girls in our category. We’re just really excited to be able to compete this year. It’s our first time ever racing so we’re having a lot of fun!”
Gonzales said, “It was really fun and we thought we were going to sink, but we did really well, better than we thought we would.” Their boat, Shark Attack, was sponsored and built with a team from the Disney Boat Rental family.
Mesita, winner of the second category, with her medal hanging from her neck, showed off her first place trophy, “It was super fun. I will definitely be back next year!”
