The military scientists (engineers and other geeks) at my work are putting brains and brawn to work raising money for Christchurch, paddling a clever craft of their own design across the Auckland harbour as a fundraiser. The raft is a human powered paddle-wheel catamaran, constructed of corrugated roofing iron, plywood and glass fibre composite. It was built by DTA engineers in their own time after work and on weekends. It took about 200 hours to build and is surely the only one of its kind in the world.
It is a wonder to behold, and from recent SAT's (sea acceptance trials) it only takes 1L of water evey six minutes.
It is a wonder to behold, and from recent SAT's (sea acceptance trials) it only takes 1L of water evey six minutes.
Background:
Each year the Navy hold an intership raft race to encourage teamwork and seamanship. The DTA raft was originally constructed to use surf boat oars to compete in the 2010 Navy Raft Race. The basic hulls were made of scavenged galvanised roofing iron picked up off the side of the road and folded into two “U” shaped hulls, the front and back of these where sealed and crude bows were formed. Plywood beams were formed to join the hulls together. The craft was successfully rowed to become the Navy Raft Race Champion of 2010.
Due to the unfortunate events in Canterbury the 2011 raft race had to be postponed. Having modified the raft to work with a paddle wheel and with no race to compete in, the DTA staff will endeavour to cross the Waitemata Harbour from Devonport to the Viaduct Harbour - 3.3 kilometres (in a raft initially designed to only cover a 100 metre course). THis is being done in support of the Red Cross Earthquake appeal.
The Course:
The paddled raft will be run from the Devonport waterfront down the harbour to the No. 1 Visitors berth in the Viaduct for an estimated time of arrival of 4:30 p.m. on Friday 1st April – No it’s not an April fools joke, it just happened to be a good Friday to run it.
So why not come down to Devonport or the Viaduct on Friday afternoon (1st April) and witness some NZ history in the making.
Each year the Navy hold an intership raft race to encourage teamwork and seamanship. The DTA raft was originally constructed to use surf boat oars to compete in the 2010 Navy Raft Race. The basic hulls were made of scavenged galvanised roofing iron picked up off the side of the road and folded into two “U” shaped hulls, the front and back of these where sealed and crude bows were formed. Plywood beams were formed to join the hulls together. The craft was successfully rowed to become the Navy Raft Race Champion of 2010.
Due to the unfortunate events in Canterbury the 2011 raft race had to be postponed. Having modified the raft to work with a paddle wheel and with no race to compete in, the DTA staff will endeavour to cross the Waitemata Harbour from Devonport to the Viaduct Harbour - 3.3 kilometres (in a raft initially designed to only cover a 100 metre course). THis is being done in support of the Red Cross Earthquake appeal.
The Course:
The paddled raft will be run from the Devonport waterfront down the harbour to the No. 1 Visitors berth in the Viaduct for an estimated time of arrival of 4:30 p.m. on Friday 1st April – No it’s not an April fools joke, it just happened to be a good Friday to run it.
So why not come down to Devonport or the Viaduct on Friday afternoon (1st April) and witness some NZ history in the making.
How could you donate to this appeal?
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