This could be a sticky situation: 5th annual Ducktape Regatta

There may be a thousand uses for duct tape, but helping hold together a boat as it splashes toward a finish line? That just doesn't seem to hold water.

Yet that will be the case when about 50 rowboats take part in Saturday's fifth annual Ducktape Regatta.

In this regatta, the question is not only who will win, but who will stay afloat.

This will be Jay Burns' third year of participating, and he has rowed in a couple of the approximately 100-yard heats in past years. He stayed afloat, but in one of last year's heats a team member wasn't so lucky.

"He was sitting a little too far back in the boat, and it stood up straight, nose in the air, and sank like a rock," Burns said.

In this fundraiser for Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, that type of mishap is just part of the fun.

That's not to say some of the teams don't get serious about building and racing their boats. Burns, who installs fire alarm systems for a living, and his crew have been planning for this regatta all year. They have had three practice builds in his Hampton backyard and feel they are ready.

"It's an exercise in boat-building engineering and some creative construction," Burns said. "Duct tape does not stick when you get it wet. That's part of the challenge."

On the morning of the event, teams get a sheet of plywood, a couple of 2-by-4s, a pound of screws, 60 yards of duct tape and four hours to build their boats.

Then the one-person vessels take to the water for a dash between the piers, around a buoy and back.

Chris Neikirk, a member of the Union of Hands Circle of The King's Daughters, which is coordinating this year's regatta, said the family event has raised almost $100,000 over its four previous years, mostly from corporate and individual sponsorships, donations and sales of raffle tickets and food.

"Some people get very creative," she said.

Participants have been known to dress up as "Gilligan's Island" castaways, and an Elvis usually shows up. Also plan on seeing plenty of Hawaiian shirts and duck hats. Boat decorations in the past have included fluttering flags and streamers, along with paintings of colorful mermaids, fish and palm trees.

"The crowd goes wild when someone sinks," Neikirk said. "The crowd cheers them on. It's a lot of the fun seeing them trying to paddle when they are sinking."

But not to worry. Safety is a priority, and there will be a Jet Ski rescue craft close by.

Along with the races and food, Neikirk said, there will be music and children's activities, and there may still be time to enter your team.

Burns said their boat last year, named Artificial Reef, had a colorful paint job sporting little foam fish. They haven't decided on this year's boat decorations, but the team does plan on wearing rubber-duck bandanas.

Concerning the boat construction, he said they will be doing a few things differently from the other teams. Don't expect Burns or many of the participants to share their boat-building secrets, but he's sure to walk around and check out other teams' designs.

"You just look at them and say, 'You've got to be joking. They really think that thing is going to float?' And then they actually do float, but probably about 50 percent of them sink."

Sink or float, win or lose...

As Neikirk pointed out, "It's all for the kids."

Roy Bahls, (757) 446-2351 roy.bahls@pilotonline.com