Chippenham River Festival-Raft Race 27/28 August

I have mentioned this before but they now have lots of entries for it so should be great fun.
Did we fancy entering a men's raft and a ladies raft? £10 per raft 4-6 people on each
Can enter as many rafts as we want but remember we need to build them (lots people needed) and race them (4-6)! So need some engineers to design them, construction workers to build them and some paddlers on the day.


Rafts should not be any higher than 6 feet tall and no longer than 10 feet. The teams must be
able to carry their raft themselves, a considerable distance without any further assistance. All
rafts should be sat on, not in.

They have also asked me if we would like to have a stall advertising our club. They have the White Helmets’ motor-cycle display team from the British Army arranged for public to watch on Sunday.
Also
Sailing dinghy exhibition – Sailing & Canoeing Club
Guided walks along the river - Riverscapes
Fun Water-walking
Bungee trampoline
Punch & Judy
Climbing Wall
Falconry display
Quad Bikes
Street artists
Picnic area
History and eco-zone centre
3-par, crazy golf, and putting competitions
Craft and local produce stalls
Hog-roast and other refreshments
Face painting, hair braiding


http://www.chippenhamriverfestival.co.uk/

Ladies Paddlers builder
1. bubblylittleme 1. Loops
2. jacde 2. Jacde
3. 3. Bubblylittleme
4.
5.
6.

Mens Paddlers builder

1. squashed-fly 1.
2. geo 2.
3. 3.
4.
5.
6.

Me me me me ;D
Could someone add me as on phone at the mo, ta

Ladies Paddlers

1. bubblylittleme
2. Jacde
3.
4.
5.
6.

Mens Paddlers

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Thank you Sue :-*

Ladies Paddlers

1. bubblylittleme
2. Jacde
3.
4.
5.
6.

Mens Paddlers

1. Squashed Fly (although I have not the first clue about building a raft so should be interesting!)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

I'm in to help design and build :) but I'm afraid I have to bow out of paddling.

Sue you can put my name down as a builder too.

I can lay my hands on alot of 50 gallon plastic barrels get in touch if you want some, very light and very uh good at floating

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rossio

I can lay my hands on alot of 50 gallon plastic barrels get in touch if you want some, very light and very uh good at floating

---

This is the only tip i'll give you lot as i'm planning on winning this year. Don't use 50 gallon drums. They're too heavy, not streamline and you'll sit too high out of the water to be able to paddle. Also if one springs a leak you'll never get it out of the water which will lead to disqualification.

not sure if i will be available on the day but happy to help with disign maybe with build too

I disagree, but hey was inky offering.

watched last year and noticed big barrels were slower but better than nothing.

One raft used coke and lemonade bottles that worked great so maybe need to look at design first so get going Essex lol

Ok first need to work out how many people are going to be on it, need o work out payload then go from there

Ok first need to work out how many people are going to be on it, need o work out payload then go from there

Payload!!! I'd rather tell you my age than my weight!!! ;D :-[ ;D

21 again aren't you Jacde?

No SF I'm 43 :P

Age is only a number ;D ;D

You're only as old as the person you feel.... ;)

mmmm ;D

so back to it, just need an idea of how many people on each raft, then i can work out some idea's

Count me in for paddleing but last time I built a raft it all fell apart after about 20 yards so probably best for me to stay away on that front! :p
Geo

looks like we might be entering a mixed race now with 4 of us unless u r coming on too essex

medical conditions wont let me get on sorry but will help as much as i can

http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/o...t-building.jpg

This looks like strongest option.
Anyone got some long lengths of wood, some rope and 4 big barrels?
And of course some paddles!

other option is milkbottles etc like these...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGD6KVbDSHM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j1grzlCxBA

I thought about getting some old canoes and using them as the floats. We could get them dirt cheap with holes in, then just patch the holes up and fibreglass over. Would be fine for a short term fix. They would be long and slim, so would be quite quick, plus fairly lightweight. We just use planks of wood between them to sit on and paddle.

Don't know if it would work?

Well I get through about 20 bottles of coke a week so bottles aren't a problem xD

SF canoes are a great idea, however I got a feeling they might not be allowed!
Think the coke bottles might be a good idea and we could ask Smelly and Basil to keep their empties as well as other WB'ers, we could duct tape bottles together might be better than rope/string?
Wood wise I can get pallets from work.

Coke bottles are a good idea but going to need around 60 2ltr bottles per person on the raft plus maybe 40 to cover the wood, a lot of coke :-)

Are there an official set of rules or is it a loose sort of "anything goes apart from modded water craft"?

http://www.chippenhamriverfestival.c...ting-2011a.pdf

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mick_benson

Coke bottles are a good idea but going to need around 60 2ltr bottles per person on the raft plus maybe 40 to cover the wood, a lot of coke :-)

---

Rope in neighbours and work colleagues, I'm sure many bottles could be collected!

I think that while barrels are a good base and nice and floaty, they're too flat on the front and hard to paddle - need adjustments to make the front pointy for faster speeds!

EDIT: Just read the rules! No streamlining allowed and floats must be cylindrical - coke bottles it is! ;D

More videos with ideas:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZxp0...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c52cg...eature=related

You think that would count - the floats haven't been streamlined, it just happens that the bottles can make it that shape ;)

I think 300 or so coke bottles would be good idea wire or tie onto a simple frame,

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mick_benson

going to need a lot of coke :-)

---

Have you asked Kate Moss? ;D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mick_benson

I think 300 or so coke bottles would be good idea wire or tie onto a simple frame,

---

think so too...we'd better get collecting

HELP EVERYONE!!!!

So are we going with 2-litre drink bottles then? I shall get asking 8-)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bubblelittleme

[quote author=mick_benson link=1305305626/33#33 date=1306953107]I think 300 or so coke bottles would be good idea wire or tie onto a simple frame,

---

HELP EVERYONE!!!!

[/quote]
I'll collect all mine!!..

I'm just on the phone now to coca-cola uk....

Edit - what a useless bunch of fools!

Pepsi Market Dept are trying to find out if they can help us out with 350 of the 500ml bottles from their recycling centre!

Awaiting a call back later today. Now we have to think about how we are going to do it!