‘Here’s One I Made Earlier’ – Latvia’s Milk Carton Boat Race
Remember those rainy days of childhood when mum or dad sat us down with a collection of cardboard tubes and some PVA glue and told us to let our imaginations soar? Well, the Latvians have taken their arts-and-crafts skills to the next level, building and racing large-scale boats using nothing but empty milk cartons. This year’s race marks the ten-year anniversary since the first amateur mariners took to the water in what is surely one of the funnest ways to recycle ever.
Image Courtesy of http://www.hoteljelgava.lv/?id=62
The milk carton regatta, taking place this year on August the 29th on the Leilupe River in Jelgava, Latvia, is one of the highlights of the Latvian ‘Milk, Bread, and Honey’ festival – also famous for culinary feats such as 25-metre-long loaves of honey bread, and a 600 kilogram rye-bread cake. All this bread and locally-produced honey is needed to feed such a large and hard-working naval force, because while the course is only 50m long, the contestants must use nothing but pure, Latvian muscle power to drive their craft to the finish line. And let’s face it, milk cartons are hardly the most aerodynamic of building materials!
Image Courtesy of http://www.jelgava.lv/the-city/news/news-from-jelgava/news-from-jelgava0/summer-ends-with-milk-bread-and-honey-festival
Last year saw 36 teams in the competition, using around 45,000 empty milk cartons to construct boats of varying levels of success – strong headwinds made getting to the end of the course a struggle, and some contestants even had to get into the water to give their teams a helping hand. Luckily in this race, speed isn’t everything, as there is also a prize given out for the funniest boat design.
Image Courtesy of http://www.neatorama.com/2011/09/25/latvian-milk-carton-boat-race/
The Latvians are obviously very proud of their locally-produced dairy products, just as proud as the Australians are of their robust drinking culture (see the ‘Australian Beer Can Regatta’ below). Which leads me to question, what would a similar British event look like? Would we be attempting to make sea-worthy crafts out of soggy steak bakes from Greggs? Rafts of tea-bags? Commemorative Will & Kate Royal Wedding breakfast trays? None of these sound like a very good idea, which is probably why Britain, unlike Latvia and Australia, has so far stuck to racing actual boats.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFhSLG4uUjo
About the Author
Adrian Simpson Adrian Simpson is a writer and TV presenter with a profound love of the outdoors. His family, snow, sea, brewing, vinyl, guitars and VW buses mean the world to him.
