What started out 39 years ago as a lark for locals has morphed into a full-blown phenomenon. It’s the Darwin Lions Clubs Beer Can Regatta, and it’s set for Sunday, July 15 way downunder.
Mindil Beach is the site for some of the most creative assemblies afloat. Boats built from beer and soft drink cans battle it out for supremacy. Sometimes they harbor top-secret ‘weapons’ – fire hoses and other things with which to do battle.
And there are a bunch of battles to be fought. The Battle of Mindil is a boat race where virtually anything is fair game: flour bombs, water sprays and such. Intrepid skippers sail their craft around a course with the object of finding something that’s been hidden subsurface. Find it and you win.
More sportingly, there’s the Junior Soft Drink Can Boat Race, where the containers that go to construct the boat are just that – soft drink cans. Schools like to compete in this one.
Serious beer can boaters test their design and seamanship abilities against Mother Nature and the competition in the Adult Boat Challenge. Four folks come together to master – if just for a while – the elements.
Back on the beach the competition continues (Aussies are very competitive folks). If the boat you built doesn’t exactly float, not to worry. This is your venue. The Henley on Mindil competition clocks how fast you and your friends can heft a Henley boat in a straight line down the beach.
If you’ve got a beach about, you’ve got to have a proper tug-of-war tilt. The Beer Can Regatta’s teams are composed of eight people each. Even the kids compete here, in this case to build the best sand castles.
Proceeds from the regatta go to some decidedly good causes in Australia’s Northern Territory: Victims of Crime NT, St. John’s Ambulance Service NT, and Arthritis & Osteoporosis NT.
(Image: kenhodge13)
