Third Year Raft Race

Gentlemen,

I hope this email finds you well. We as a staff have been trying hard this Y Guides season to find a suitable location to conduct the Third Year Raft Race in the Triangle area. Unfortunately, the process has moved considerably slower than I would prefer. We have also run into issues with logistics and budget. With that said, we will conduct the Third Year Raft Races at Camp Sea Gull and Camp Seafarer during your Spring Outing weekend. I know many of you were excited about the prospect of having the race in the Triangle area, but I guarantee you that conducting the races at Camp will be just as fun!

I will be in touch before your Spring Outing weekend with more race logistics. I have included all of the race rules below. Your raft must be 100% complete by the time you arrive at camp on Friday afternoon. To ensure that the rafts are completed before arriving at camp, the race will be held in the morning right after breakfast. The raft race course will be down, around a buoy, and back to the start line. You will need to plan to have some type of rudder system, or you will have to use one of your eight allotted paddles as a rudder.

The Full Moon Tribe (former Raft Race Winners) would like to offer up their winning raft to any tribe that can come pick it up. If you are interested in helping to recycle an old raft please contact Eddie Casanave at Eddie@DistinctiveRemodeling.com.

Once again, thank you in advance for your time, cooperation, and understanding. Please let me know if you have any questions in regards to raft race rules, raft designs, and logistics. Have a great week and I look forward to seeing you at the Spring Outing.


Raft Race Rules

• Winning is not the only objective—we are looking to have fun!
• Rafts must be brought to camp completed
• The raft needs at least 4 father/child pairs. Try your best to include ALL the kids
• We will divide the rafts up into racing brackets based upon the design of each craft (hard, medium, & soft)
• Rafts will race in heats in each of the brackets to find three winners, and the final three winners will race for the Grand Championship
• Rafts will need to be designed to race down a course, around a buoy, and back to land
• No power motors
• No ropes to pull the raft across the lake
• No projectiles allowed (i.e. water balloons)
• Rafts will begin from a “dead start”
• Raft race participants are not allowed to be in the water kicking as a means of propulsion
• Lifejackets (mandatory) and eight paddles will be supplied by the YMCA (if you have more than eight people on a raft, we cannot guarantee paddles for those extra participants)
• Lifeguards will be on land and in the water for safety
• You cannot use existing/manufactured water craft to build your raft platform (i.e. no attaching plywood to canoes and/or kayaks)
• You may not build a canoe
• You must take home everything that you bring to the race including; people, trash, and your rafts


Best Regards,

Matt “Moose” Strickland