Amazingly, this will be the 20th year the Pender Harbour Living Heritage Society presents the April Tools Wooden Boat Challenge when it rolls out on April 29 at Millennium Park in Madeira Park!
This family-friendly spring event draws teams from the Sunshine Coast and the Lower Mainland and beyond. Teams of four must create a boat in three hours from the materials they are given with only one hour to figure out how to do it. The type of craft and the constraints of the race change each year, and therein lies the fun! That and the fact that this must all be accomplished using only hand tools and battery-powered screw guns.
The boatbuilding is followed by races that may or may not end with all participants still afloat! But it’s worth the risk since the prizes are significant: 1st $700, 2nd $400, 3rd $250. Not to mention it’s a lot of fun!
The cost to enter this mayhem is $200 for a team of four, but the rate is reduced to $180 if we receive your entry before April 1.
And it’s not all about the adults! Our organizing team goes to the Pender Harbour high school and builds boats with the teenagers that they too race at April Tools. Getting their names on the revolving trophy and the chance to dunk their friends’ boats is a big draw for the youth teams.
The little kids are not left out. Many spend the better part of the day hammering away on small boat hulls and house materials, then painting their prizes and floating them in our little pool. They then take them to a place of pride at home. Various other craft activities also keep kids entertained.
All kids’ activities are free and the high school boatbuilding materials are donated so they can participate at no cost.
To sign up an adult team for a chance to win the big bucks, go to www.apriltools.ca to enter.
You can fill out an entry form online and send your fee by etransfer, or download an entry form, fill it out and mail it in with your fee by cheque.
In either case, mark your calendar and come up to Pender for a great day!
