Tinaroo Raid

The Wooden Boat Club of Cairns organised a gala event for Queen's Birthday weekend at Lake Tinaroo, dubbed the Tinaroo Raid. It's really an excuse for builders, collectors and restorers of traditional wooden boats to compare their prized wooden boats. The club organised an excellent curry night on Saturday in the marquee by the Lake. Sunday was the important day with a tongue-in-cheek competition which centered around a pirate boat throwing coloured ping pong balls into the water which contestants then had to retrieve and throw into a basket suspended between the two masts on the pirate's boat. MDR was in his little dingy acting as safety officer and actually rescued someone from a capsized dinghy.
There was also a peoples choice award for the best boat and a dragon boat demonstration. The dragon boats were actually Crocodile Boats as featured in the accompanying picture. The croc boats scooped the pool, winning both the pirate competition and the peoples choice award. The work and skill that went into these boats was amazing, really spectacular and very deserving of their popularity.