SUNBURY — Cardboard boats built as a yellow submarine with The Beatles as crew members in tie-dyed T-shirts, The shark from “Jaws” a Batmobile, a melon and others raced around orange buoys during Saturday’s Third Boat Regatta at the Maria State Park.
Some of the other 19 boats registered were a purple Crayola, Stingers resembling a yellow and black bumble bee with three stuffed bumbles attached to the side, a yellow duckie, a Paddle for Life craft and a tank-shaped boat in black and green.
The duckie boat didn’t fare well in the first kids’ heat. It sank. A boat, appropriately named Unsinkable, won that heat, paddled by Alexander Smith, 8, and Max Charles, 9, both of Selinsgrove.
The Batmobile boat won the second kids’ heat, beating Stinger and DeMinimus.
Cousins from Connecticut built the yellow submarine in the garage of Michaela Orwig, of Selinsgrove, since Wednesday. Caleb Thomas, 13, a/k/a “Paul” of The Beatles; his sister Grace, 16, or “John,” and cousins Jesse Gardner, 14, or “George” and his brother Sam, 12, portraying “Ringo,” made up the crew.
They raced last year, winning second place in the kids’ division. This year they built a larger boat, measuring 17 feet long and 10 feet high.
Dione and Jason Mercer, of Selinsgrove, assembled a watermelon-shaped boat because it was built of melon boxes. “We didn’t test it. This is its maiden voyage,” Jason said of the pink craft with a green rind and black seeds.
The Batmobile, when it entered the Susquehanna River, blew out smoke. Paddling were Quinn Hartung, 15, of South Williamsport and dressed as Batman, and his cousin Morgan Hartung, 7, of Doylestown, as Cat Woman.
Quinn, his mother, Sheila, and his dad, Steve Hartung, also of South Williamsport, built the boat and a Crayola Cousins Boat manned by Emma Hartung, 8, of South Williamsport, and her cousins Ayla Coles, 12, and Leah Coles, 10, both of northern Virginia.
“It took a good week building,” said Sheila who is president of the Central Pennsylvania Rowing Association which sponsors the regatta. They charge $15 per rower with a cap of $50 per boat. This year’s new corporate division included a $100 fee with half the entry cost going to the entrant’s choice of charity.
The Jaws crew paddled in blood-splattered shirts, wore “bloody” bandages and the shark rode on the back of the boat. “We are the defending champions from last year,” said Kim Colonna, of Harrisburg, who entered the boat, with her sister Colleen Colonna, of Selinsgrove. “Last year we won by half a lap. We will try to defend our title but there are a lot more adult boats here this year,” Kim said. “It gets bigger every year and it should,” she said.
Quica Ostrander, of Lewisburg, and her husband, Howard, built a water bug boat painted in rust and black. “We figured it needed to be something related to water. We started with a mermaid but I couldn’t figure out how to build that,” she said.
Ben Caviston, 13, of Montoursville, decided to build a Vikings boat with a dragon head and tail. Rounding out his crew was Peter Chlebowski, 13, a friend from New Berlin. “We got first in our age division last year,” Peter said. Ben water-tested the Viking ship earlier, having won first place at a Lock Haven river regatta with a cousin.
Last year’s regatta attracted 18 boats, chairman Sally Thomas said. The first year, there were 10 entries.
Blowing the air horn to start each heat was Snyder-Union Counties President Judge Harold Woelfel Jr.
A crowd sat on the rocks near the boat launch as well as close by in the shade, cheering the boats on.
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