47 Cardboard And Duct Tape Yachts Hit Santa Monica Pool

SANTA MONICA, CA — It might be beautiful ... but can it float?

Forty-seven teams of master craftsmen put their duct tape and cardboard construction skills to the test on Saturday at the ninth annual Annenberg Community Beach House's cardboard yacht regatta.

Colorful themed boats raced (and were dragged) across the pool as a crowd of family, friends and onlookers cheered for their favorite boats: a bright yellow duck, an airplane, favorite animated characters and more.

Competitors crafted each boat, no matter how long it lasted in the water, in the days and weeks before. Before they set sail, they were judged in five key categories: best use of theme, fanciest, crowd favorite, most spirited crew and most likely to sink. Winner of the most likely to sink category, the USS Silver Bullet, sunk as forecasted.

Heats made their way across the pool from 11 a.m. to just after 3 p.m. in three categories, divided by the teams' age: youth/youth, youth/adult and adult/adult. Ultimately, three winners walked away with the fastest time in their age category: The Zeetano, Old Faithful and the SS Whale Shark.

Some contestants certainly had practice, and the boats showed it. There were multiple repeat competitors at Saturday's event and even some previous winners, said Nan Friedman, manager of the Annenberg Community Beach House.

"I have to say, the complexity and the expansiveness of the boat does not always translate to functionality," Friedman said.

Last year's event had to be canceled because of COVID-19. For similar reasons, this year's crowd was limited, Friedman said.

Even so, the crowd is one of Friedmans' favorite parts of the event every year — second, of course, to the boats.