A boat seemingly constructed from old newspaper and paddled by schoolboys might not strike fear into Monday’s Australia Day bridge to bridge regatta competitors, but Wirrinya farmer Patrick O’Brien says the unlikely looking raft is not all it seems.
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What at first appearance resembles a papier mache barge is actually surprisingly sleek in the water, says Mr O’Brien, who has entered the craft in Monday’s ‘home made’ race category.
The annual Australia Day race is open to any human powered water craft, with prizes for the fastest manufactured and home made boats to finish the Lake Forbes course.
The race will start near Johnny Woods Crossing about 6.30pm on Monday and finish near Camp Street bridge.
The Forbes Advocate-sponsored vessel will be crewed by Matt Todd, Zak Mangelsdorf and Patrick and Amanda O’Brien’s sons Mitch and Dan.
The boys tested their boat on Thursday and intend to have a few more practice runs before the big race.
“Our crew is pretty motley, but if they all work together they should go OK. The boat’s actually pretty buoyant and it’s water tight,” Patrick said. “It’s a home-made raft basically. We had a practice run yesterday on a farm dam. It was a little back-heavy but they still got it to go all right,” he said. “It’s not streamlined, but it’s small, compact and we will have four people rowing.”
The crew will be carrying water pistols to distract their rivals, and if this strategy doesn’t work, will have fun trying.
“It’s all about participating on Australia Day,” Patrick said.
