Though I may have been interested, for years I wasn't close enough to the even to take it in.
This year, for the first time, I was close enough to Windsor to make the trip. Actually, Jeannette, her parents, and I were all close enough to make the trip.
Yesterday afternoon after an early holiday meal we made our way to Windsor. Within a few kilometers of Windsor it became apparent that we were about to be attending a popular event.
Traffic slowed to a crawl and we soon saw that people were beaching their cars almost anywhere they could find room. The highway off ramps were almost completely lined with parked cars. Not surprisingly, as we drew nearer there were even fewer parking spaces.
At about this time we also began to see the crowds. My guess would be that there were a few hundred people on the Falmouth side (the starting point) and maybe a few thousand on the Windsor side (the termination point).
Another surprise was the weather. Instead of the nice seasonal 10 degree day that I expected we were confronted with a sunny day in the high twenties. Almost immediately I was hot and felt as though I was burning. Of course because it is now October I didn't think to wear sunscreen.
Though we arrived at the scheduled starting time instead of immediately seeing giant pumpkins sail across the water we first had the pleasure of listening to a number of dignitaries speak through an insufficiently powerful PA system. The only amusing aspect of the speeches was that we could hear delayed versions of the speeches coming back across the water from the Falmouth PA system.
Eventually they were ready to start the first heat, or the experimental heat. Instead of calling this heat the experimental heat they really should have just called it the "with frame and motor" heat.
Almost immediately one of the three boats pulled out ahead. As the race went on their lead continued to grow and grow. I think that the winner likely finished a minute or two ahead of their competitors, which is a rather impressive gap given the relatively short length of the course.
The second, and final, heat included the single and double paddle powered pumpkins. Though I expected that the doubles might have an advantage it soon became clear that about five singles were way out in front and were clearly going to win. Eventually one of the singles pulled away and developed quite a lead.
Many minutes after the first single finished the bulk of the singles began to near the finish line. And after this bulk made their way to the finish line the stragglers gradually came towards the shore.
I think that all of the doubles were in this last group. And also seemed to be the case that those individuals in the doubles were not effective rowers.
The more we thought about it the more we realized that the doubles were actually mostly filled with girls, likely because two adults wouldn't fit in most pumpkins. Anyway, it seems that these doubles were really quite slow. Though, much to our surprise, a few of these inexpertly rowed pumpkins managed to finish the race. There was one pumpkin in particular that we really thought was going to tip over at several points.
And after these two heats all that was left was the awarding of medals. Though we didn't stay around for the medals ceremony we head towards the dock to examine the pumpkin boats before we left.
This inspection also allowed us to see how the motorized pumpkin boats worked.
I was a little disappointed to see that a number of the motorized boats used the same design and that it appeared that these were anything but experimental and that rather the same design has been used year after year. Maybe next year they should require all participants to come up with new designs?
So while the event was definitely a pumpkin regatta I feel that it could do with a bit more sprucing up to really make it into a full-fledged outing/afternoon. As it stands the whole thing is over in about an hour and a half, and many of the thousands of people were out of their in less than an hour after it started. Hell, you can't even buy pumpkin themed confections while you are watching the races. Windsor is really sitting on a goldmine with this event so it is unfortunate to see them failing to capitalize on it.
Starting points for improvement might be to increase the number of heats. Two heats is just not enough pumpkin boat racing. They should also try to incorporate a few related events. Maybe they could have farmers selling pumpkins or pumpkin baked goods or even a pumpkin smashing event (for the misshapen/rotting pumpkins that many farmers must have). Basically there should be so much to do that people won't want to leave without spending a few hours and dollars in Windsor.
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