Darwin's unique regatta

Australia’s Top End is known for its idiosyncratic take on a lot of things. Even when an annual boat race is planned the locals do things their way, lashing together the city’s most available recyclable resource: empty beer cans!

This is the boat race where anything goes; flour bombs, water sprays, while the boats sail around the course attempting to find an object that has been hidden underwater somewhere in the course. The winner is not always the finder of the object, as it can be “pirated” away from them. The winner is the team who gets the object back to the registration tent on the beach.

There’s a Junior Soft Drink Can Boat Race and an Adult Can Boat Challenge, with a crew of four, testing the team’s boat-building and racing abilities on the water.

This year’s Beer Can Regatta is on Sunday, July 12^th, 2015, will be held at Mindil Beach, and of course the race is just part of it.

So you built the boat for water but it didn’t float. Don’t despair, as this is the race for you. How fast can you and your mates carry a Henley boat in a straight line in a race down the beach? This is always a very keenly fought race.

A great family day, there are beach events for all ages (tug-of-war and Best Novelty Hat, sand castle building, and thong throwing) and the water events will be spectacular! Bar facilities will be available and Mindil Beach Sunset Markets (food and craft stalls) will be trading all day.

To explain how it came about, the first Beer Can Regatta was an attempt to clean up the litter (mainly beer cans) in and around Darwin. Paul Rice-Chapman and Lutz Frankenfeld jointly developed the idea of a Beer Can Regatta, and things have gone on annually from there. The inaugural Darwin beer can race in 1974 was an instant success, and has developed into a major event with boat entries ranging from 1 to 12 metres and some even with ‘secret weaponry’.

See more at.........

Add comment

Www.Foodandtravel.Com.Au - Australia

Best Food Travel Website 2021

foodandtravel.com.au has been awarded

Best Antipodean Culinary Travel Expert, 2019

by the prestigious UK-based magazine...

Ready for a taste treat?

Embark on an unforgettable culinary adventure through the vibrant tapestry of Malaysia.

Led by the charismatic Malaysian ex-pat Chef Wanitha Tanasingam, this intimate journey promises to tantalize your taste buds and ignite your senses, sending you home with memories to last a lifetime.

Find out more....

The flipside of travel...

How not all of it is joyous.