Valley Nation Princesses set sail at 1st ever Rain Gutter Regatta!

The mighty Valley Nation recently held its first-ever Rain Gutter Regatta event.  This is similar to a pinewood derby.  The girls build their own boats and race them.   There is one key difference: unlike the pinewood derby where gravity propels cars to the finish line, the girls have to do all the work:

A regatta can be run in a couple of ways.  You could do it similar to a pinewood derby where girls get their boat kits a few weeks ahead of time and build the boats at home.  We took a different approach.  Each girl received their boat kit the day of the race at registration.  Once everyone was registered, we started a 45-minute build period for all of the racers.  The room then erupted into a flurry of sanding, painting and decorating:

As you can see, the results were impressive. The girls really outdid themselves considering the short time constraint.  In addition to our racing competition, we all voted on best design and awarded six medals.

Once the boats were all complete and the paint (mostly) dry, we launched into racing.  After quite a bit of drama, our four semifinalists emerged:  Lea A. (K-1st), Kayla S. (2nd-3rd), Abby R. (4th), and Kate G. (5th and up).  Fresh from a stint at the US national rain gutter regatta training center, Abby surged to the finish to claim the title of Valley Nation Rain Gutter Regatta champion.

After losing a close first-round matchup against that same Abby R., Jessica S. bounced back as the runaway winner of the second-chance bracket.

We were accompanied by a great nautical-themed soundtrack including such classics as The Tide is High by Blondie, Southern Cross by Crosby, Stills and Nash and Brandy by Looking Glass.

All in all, it was a fine day on the high seas for our braves and princesses.  Here's to sailing again in coming years!