Marina Festival Gibraltar

NOW in its eighth year, the now infamous Ocean Village/RAOB Charity Cardboard Boat Race took place at Ocean Village Marina on Saturday August 20 and with the temperature topping out at 32 degrees, many participants welcomed a refreshing dip in the marina waters when several of their cardboard boat creations, as expected, fell apart at the first hurdle.

The fantastically creative Children’s race entries ‘Killer Shark,’ ‘Killer Croc’ and the ‘Batmobile’ all paddled their way to the finish line in first, second and third place respectively.

The adult’s race had an impressive 10 entries, each more innovative than the last which made judging a slightly difficult affair. RAOB’s ‘HMS Buffalo’ – a cardboard tank-boat complete with turrets and team camouflage outfits – paddled their way to victory in first place closely followed by JP Haulage in their Simpsons themed car-boat and ‘Boat-Anic,’ suitably adorned with tropical plants from the Alameda Gardens.

The Titanic Sinking prize was awarded to ‘St. Bernadette Heroes,’ whose cardboard creation sank in the most spectacular fashion and a special prize was awarded to Clubhouse Gibraltar for the significant effort that had been made by the volunteers in the construction of their lifeboat inspired boat. 

The race was followed by other water based events which kept onlookers absorbed for the rest of the afternoon.

Emilia Hazell-Smith, Marketing Executive at Ocean Village said: “The Charity Cardboard Boat Race is always fun to watch and be a part of; it is such a vibrant atmosphere. It’s exciting to see the lengths that the participants go to and the effort that is demonstrated each year. As always, we would like to thank all of our sponsors in and around Ocean Village who each give generously to this event in aid of this year’s charity Autism Support Gibraltar.”