Cardboard boat racers on Delaware River at Port Jervis sink or win

A more-than-unique boat race held on the Delaware River on Saturday drew more than 300 people to the picturesque shoreline at the West End Beach in Port Jervis, N.Y.

With boats made only of cardboard, the first-annual Delaware River Cardboard Boat Regatta and Beach Party, brainchild of local resident Laura Meyer, is a time-trial race, pitting 12 entries against each other and the clock.

The idea is for boaters to race their homemade craft out to and around several buoys.

The boats must be made out of cardboard, with duct tape holding them together. They may be painted but no foam, no plastic bottles or Styrofoam or foam board or corrugated plastic allowed that could aid in their flotation. The construction makes it not only a race against time, but a race against sinking.

The regatta is part of a larger plan to bring more events to the river town at the gateway to the Hudson Valley in New York.

“We have a lot of events in Port Jervis, we’re trying to have one a month, that’s our goal,” said Meyer, who entered a boat herself.

Port Jervis resident Matthew King named his boat the S.S. Disaster, perhaps foreshadowing problems to come.

“The reason it’s named that is because we expect it to sink very quickly,” said King, adding, “I used about three and a half rolls of duct tape, and that’s an effort to float, but I’m not keeping my expectations very high.”

Indeed, those expectations were met as King was unable to reach the first buoy before his apt-named craft was swamped.

Milford residents Jack Lutfy and Aidan Kane learned about the race at work, and built their craft, the S.S. Sinker, to carry both of them to victory. But, Kane said, “We plan on winning today, but if she ends up at the bottom of the river, hence the name.”

Lutfy and Kane were not able to pilot their craft to victory. Kane was forced to abandon ship while Lutfy completed the race with a barely recognizable craft.

But there were boats crossing the finish line intact and moving at impressive speeds, including the four-person manned “Witch, Please.”

The winners, sisters Carla Kidney and Roberta Card, both hailing from Deerpark, N.Y., helming the boat, both said: “It was definitely a blast. We’ll definitely do it again.”