Cub Scouts blow boats to finish at gutter regatta

"On your mark. Set. Blow!"

Each heat of Saturday morning's Rain Gutter Regatta began with those words from starter Donnie Phillips of Scott City, Mo., as 28 Cub Scouts from around the region competed to see who could blow homemade sailboats down the length of a 25-foot trough fastest.

Four troughs allowed for head-to-head competition. Some races were close. Some boats would have foundered if they hadn't been made of unsinkable balsa wood. A Scout whose boat capsized could only right it by using his teeth.

Ryan Manetz, a 9-year-old from Perryville, Mo., was the windiest Cub Scout and perhaps best boat builder Saturday. He went undefeated in the double-elimination regatta. Another Perryville Scout, Alex Hunt, finished second. The best of show award went to John McLain of Cape Girardeau.

The sailboat race was one of three events in The Great Scout Show, held all day Saturday at Westfield Shoppingtown, West Park. Cub Scouts also competed in a Pinewood Derby for cars and a Space Derby for rockets. The some 60 Scouts from the Shawnee District who registered for the event was a lower number than usual, which one organizer attributed to forecasts for bad weather.

Workshop instruction

As part of the show, Marble Hill Cub Scout Pack 24 set up a workshop in the mall where they helped Scouts assemble a camp chair or neckerchief slide.

"We're teaching the boys how to use different materials," said Vickie Layton, whose husband, Ron, dreamed up the idea. The materials are all recycled -- crating from Procter & Gamble for the chairs, and film canisters from Wal-Mart and laminated plastic from Lowes for the neckerchief slides.

The Scouts made the boats, cars and rockets themselves with help from their parents. Ryan Manetz's father, Ron, helped him with his speedy boat. Ryan painted a wolf, one of the animals Cub Scout ranks are named for, on the sail. Other Scouts painted messages on their sails such as "God Bless America."

"Scouting is all about family," said Missy Buckner, a Scott City member of the organizing committee. "It gives something for the dad and mom and son to work on at home."

Providing healthy competition is also one of the show's goals. Those who lost didn't throw tantrums. They shook hands.

"Our motto is, 'Do your best -- whether at winning, losing or competing,'" Buckner said.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182