Creativity, teamwork and plenty of laughs were on display at this year’s Māui Dolphin Day Recycled Raft Race, with teams taking to the water in homemade vessels built from recycled materials.
The annual event is part of Māui Dolphin Day, which brings the community together to celebrate and raise awareness for the Māui dolphin – the world’s rarest dolphin, found only off the west coast of the North Island.
This year’s raft race featured an eclectic mix of designs and plenty of ingenuity.
Raddest Raft: The Bush Bamboozle – Bush School Bandits: Constructed from bamboo, sewerage pipes, tyre tubes and a lot of 10-litre paint buckets. This award is proof the judges value style over performance, as the raft barely moved no matter how furiously the team paddled. They made it just past the bridge before notching a DNF. Shout-out to dad Tom for driving all over Raglan on Friday to find more paint buckets to help with buoyancy.
Best Junior Raft & Second Place: Sea Lurker. Zak and Levi were quick to tell us that they made this raft entirely themselves with no help from adults. It included a sail with a pulley system and a bike that had its rear wheel converted into a paddle-wheel. Other materials included blue drums, drain pipes, old decking, a surfboard and a trampoline mat. They put their friends on the raft and passed the dads from the Kindy on the home straight. A big day for the boys as they took home two prizes.
First Place: Chocolate Substitute. This was supposed to be Mike from Raglan Chocolate’s raft but he couldn’t make it, so Jordan and two friends from her soccer team jumped on board and put their pre-season fitness training to good use. The raft was made of broken windsurf boards, timber and a couple of deck chairs. A sleek design with determined paddlers. Jordan has been entering the recycled raft race since she was 7, so was pretty stoked to get the victory.
Second Place: Sea Lurker.
Third Place: Raglan Kindy – but with the dads on board. Actually a good result on the day considering raft builder Sam fell straight off on the practice run. The redesigned raft consisted of two barrels, timber and a surfboard sliced down the middle and used to make the sides of the raft – something we’ve never seen before in the recycled raft race.
Special Mention: Waitetuna Warriors. Travis Browne and the kids from Waitetuna School brought the drama as their raft fell apart soon after the start. An ominous crack in some structural bamboo was followed by desperate attempts to hold the raft together with hands before the ropes tying it all together unravelled and the two rows of blue drums started to separate. A disappointing day for the kids, but they’ve got a great story to tell.