Patch Boat to Float for Cardboard Regatta

This may surprise some people, but I've paddled a kayak on Lake Michigan.

It wasn't my favorite thing to do, and the minor ups and downs of the waves (I refuse to go if anything is what they call, "breaking") did start to make me sea sick. Go figure.

I did it because my boyfriend, Nick Schmidt, is a kayak nut. He's the crazy person some of you readers have probably seen launching his slim-and-easily-tippy (in my opinion) kayak from South Beach, loaded up with fishing poles and a few extra lures.

Yes, he's brought back some salmon and some trout a few times, and it's made quite the meal — but I still think he's crazy.

Fortunately, he's not alone — I've seen lots of people launch their boats through what is lately the muck of South Beach, either to enjoy the ride or try their luck with a fish and a line.

Nick has even spent a good part of the last couple years dreaming up boat designs to build his own kayak, and the past couple months has been drafting up formal plans for its construction.

So when Sara Grover, director of Port Washington Main Street Program, suggested Patch join the first annual Cardboard Boat Regatta as part of Port Washington Maritime Heritage Festival, I knew I had a man to build my boat.

For those of you who don't know what a Cardboard Boat Regatta is, it involves sailing boats made completely of cardboard — straight up, regular corrugated cardboard, not this wax-coated water-proof stuff — and floating for, according to Port's rules, 175 yards. Other supplies you can use include glue, duct tape (but only for the seams) and latex-based paint.

There's a captains meeting from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Yacht Club for more information.

It costs $15 for a single person and $30 for a team of 2 or more. Registration forms and more detailed information on the rules for building are available on the festival's site.

The initial registration deadline was Friday, but Grover said that will likely be extended — though time is still of the essence so you have enough of it to build your boat.