Great news!  The fabulous Craft Your Raft Race, run in support of St Helena which helps local families face incurable illness and bereavement, is back for 2019. Open to teams of up to 8 people from age 12 upwards and involving ingenuity, creativity, fun fitness and sheer determination this is a fantastic way to help this vital local charity.

Our reigning champions, the “What Ever Floats Your Boat” cadets from Brightlingsea Sailing Club, and our 2018 runners up, “The Holy Cows” ladies team, have already confirmed they will be taking part again and they are looking for challengers.

So get together with a group of friends or class mates, colleagues from work, members of your local club or sports team or  your mates from the pub and get involved.

Entry Fees will be £10 per Adult competitor and £5 per Child (12 to 18 years), all of which will go directly to the Hospice. And of course we hope you will also seek sponsors too to add to the fundraising effort. For those coming to spectate there will be a chance to put a donation in the collecting bucket if you think our competitors efforts deserve it.

The race will take place on the Saturday afternoon, 20 July, starting at around 2.30pm (exact start time to be confirmed in due course).

Further information about the race including how to enter will be published here shortly, and if you would like to take part please email events@sthelena.org.uk  to register your interest.  Half the fun of raft racing is the design process and team preparation so get those mates together and get your creative juices flowing!

The rules for the rafts are simple –

The size of the raft is completely open, so long as it is light enough to be carried, launched and recovered by its crew

The crew must not exceed 8 members, all of whom must be competent swimmers, wear life jackets or buoyancy aids and be at least 12 years of age.

The raft’s buoyancy must not use marine methods or materials. A raft is a floating platform made of materials that were manufactured for purposes other than a boat.

Acceptable and recommended materials are:
barrels, drums, containers, tyre inner tubes, large pipes, planks, insulation board and polystyrene.

Old oil drums or containers that have held fertilisers or toxic chemicals have to be seen to have been cleaned thoroughly.

Fixings can be lashings and ties, using any of the following:
rope, cord, wire, sticky tape, expanding foam and papier Mache.

Bolts and screws must be countersunk: bolts must be cropped and any sharp edges covered with suitable protective padding.

Rafts must be powered by paddles, oars or sails made from domestic materials. No motors will be permitted.

All parts of the raft are to be home-made, with the exception of the paddles or oars for which, if home-made, screws and bolts will be allowed.

All sharp or angled edges on the finished raft must be covered with protective padding.

Each raft must display their allocated raft number in a contrasting colour on both sides of a board at least 2 feet x 2 feet able to be visible from the shore.

The following will not be allowed on any raft:
alcohol, weapons (including flour ‘bombs’).

Any raft that does not comply with these rules will not be allowed to launch and the entry fee will be forfeit. The decision of the Raft Security Officer will be final.