Will It Float?

This coming Saturday the 13^th Annual “Raft the Rio” event takes place here in Las Cruces. The following article appeared in the local news.

“Fun for participants and spectators alike, Raft the Rio is an annual "race" and festival hosted by the Southwest Environmental Center designed to celebrate the Rio Grande.

The thirteenth annual Raft the Rio will be held on Saturday, June 12, 2010 on the Rio Grande, near Las Cruces. The family-friendly event is open to individuals and teams of all ages willing to get wet and have fun. Creativity and the use of discarded materials in building rafts are highly encouraged.

The three-mile rafting adventure will begin at La Llorona Park beneath the Picacho Street bridge, and end just upstream from the Calle del Norte Bridge (“Mesilla Bridge”). There will be refreshments, food vendors and live music at the finish line.

Prizes will be awarded to homemade boats in the following categories:

• First to finish
• Least likely to finish (must be floating at start of race)
• Best use of recycled materials
• Most spirited (most enthusiastic crew)
• Best theme (most thorough application of a theme to vessel and crew)
• Champion of the River (best promotes appreciation for the Rio Grande)

This year there are two divisions: Kids and Open. Prizes will be awarded in both divisions. The Kids Division race begins at 10 a.m. sharp, followed by the Open Division at 10:15. To be eligible for the Kids’ Division, at least half the sailors on a boat must be under 13 years of age.

The river is expected to be full, due to releases of irrigation water from Caballo Reservoir. Teams may register at the starting line beginning at 8:00 a.m., or in advance by contacting the Southwest Environmental Center.”

Well, this is the event. I invited a few of the more free-spirited from our congregation to join me in making a raft and entering this event. We met a few weeks ago for food and planning. Then I invited the congregation to save milk jugs, juice containers, and any plastic container with a screw top and they responded.

Last night (Sunday) we met to actually build the basic raft. So once again we gathered to eat and then we got busy. We took two pallets and bolted them together. After scratching our heads a time or two we came up with a plan that will hopefully float. Now mind you none of us are engineers but we put something together. I’ll show you.

We talked about how the pallets being wood will float themselves and that the jugs & containers will support so much weight. Two of us will man the ark / raft / boat / water thingy. Since we each weigh a bit over 200 lbs. we are talking about a fair amount of weight that needs to float.

Will it? I’ve had more than one person come up to me and say “you are going to sink”. Oh well. Even if that happens we have enjoyed ourselves thus far.

Next Saturday is the event. We figure we will get there early to try it out. If it sinks, we will quickly fish it out throw it in the truck and take off thus diminishing our public shame. Tune in next week.