(Some) Fox Lake regatta racers float to finish

Whatever floats your boat.

In Fox Lake on Sunday, that was cardboard and duct tape.

And with the wind and choppy waters of the lake, not even that was enough to hold up some of the boats entered in the 14th Annual Cardboard Cup Regatta on Sunday at Lakefront Park.

Josh O’Hara, 22, from Woodstock, racing a boat from the nearby Edge Church, said racing a cardboard boat involves “a lot of trust.”

“You have got to trust who you’re going to be swimming with,” said O’Hara. “ (And) you have got to trust the cardboard.”

So is cardboard a reliable medium?

“If you wrap it in duct tape,” said his boat mate, Johnny McCormick.

Their boat, 58 inches long, contained a smokestack for smoke bombs. Several of the watercrafts were also decorated with creative designs.

Nine-year-old Amelia Guanci from Spring Grove, who raced with her 7-year-old sister Katie, let her imagination run wild. Her boat sported drawings of flags, a little boat with a drawing of a girl on it and even a cardboard life preserver.

“I like using colors that are permanent colors that will stay on, like reds and purples,” she said.

And Amelia is no novice. Last year she won two trophies on what proved to be a durable boat. Amelia and her mother, Amy Guanci, said the boat stayed intact well after the race.

“We took it home and floated it in the neighbor’s pool until it was destroyed,” said Guanci.

Amy Serafin, Fox Lake’s director of parks and recreation, said that this year 27 participants were registered near the starting time of the first race. This is nearly double last year’s draw of 15 racers.

The rules are simple, she said.

“Everything has to be made completely out of cardboard and duct tape,” said Serafin. “No plastic. No wood. No Styrofoam. Other than that it can be any length. Some people build floats. Some people build canoe style.”

The course is approximately 300 feet, and two divers are on hand to make sure everyone is safe, although the water is pretty shallow.

Libby Newcomb, 8, of Spring Grove, and her brother Zack, 10, were among the first in the water.

Libby said she did not want to wind up in the water during her first attempt at competition. But she wound up receiving her baptism nonetheless. Still, she wound up with a medal.

For at least one team, spray paint was an important element. The craft operated by Caitlin Murach of Fox River Grove and Trevor MacLaughlin of Barrington was spray painted with a “Jaws” motif.

MacLaughlin was one of the 2008 winners.

“If you’re going for best in show, you got have some color on it.”

And the key in operating the craft, he said, is to “paddle fast.

“If you stop, you’re going down,” said MacLaughlin.