Hoping to Disappoint, Again, at “Seize The Carp” Day

Back in 2014 Judy Joyce shared her goal to create a local riverfest, to encourage folks to take more interest in the Iowa River. She chose “Seize The Carp” as a play on Carpe Diem to name this lighthearted event.

For my role, I offered to build kayaks from recycled materials – OK junk – and race them on the river. That winter, in our laundry room, Mark Jagnow and I built three kayaks of similar design, all with a rib-and-strake* frame covered with scrap plastic. One was framed with willow sticks, accompanied with a willow-framed paddle.

The second frame was bent into kayak shape from a piece of deformed steel sidewalk-reinforcing mesh, with a paddle made from a pair of aluminum crutches and license plates for blades. The third was assembled from scrap plastic pipe and irrigation tubing, and its paddle had a plastic pipe shaft with blades cut from a plastic bucket.

All three frames were membraned with scrap Tyvek, that white sheeting you see flapping in the wind around construction sites. It is designed for unpressurized uses, allowing water vapor but not liquid water to pass through walls. I tested it under low pressure by making a bag from it, containing a gallon of water, which didn’t leak.

The first Seize The Carp event was held the next summer in 2015, in the vicinity of the Coralville Marriott at the Iowa River Landing. We did race the kayaks and to the disappointment of some spectators, they didn’t leak a drop, much less sink. In 2016 the event was moved to City Park in Iowa City. My kayaks were used all morning, and after being run up onto the shore numerous times, the Tyvek started to develop pinhole leaks at select wear points. Duct tape to the rescue! One boat finally came in with a gallon or two of river on the inside, but part of this was paddle drip from steady use. There were numerous other activities on those days, but I was preoccupied with easing people into and out of the kayaks with a minimum amount of damage to either.

The next Seize The Carp is coming up soon – August 5 from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., again at City Park. For details go to 2017 Seize The Carp. My same three kayaks will be there again, now a bit more used from grandchildren playing on our pond. So wear some casual clothing, bring a little towel, and come join me in the morning for your opportunity to race a recycled kayak. Isn’t this on your bucket list? And I’m bringing more duct tape and hoping to disappoint some folks again. And when you visit, lets chit chat about projects you might do utilizing recycled materials.

*strake is most commonly used as an abbreviation for lapstrake, referring to continuous longitudinal boat planking that overlaps and forms the outer hull. But it can also refer to individual linear structural elements running longitudinally along a boat or aircraft hull, which is what I have holding ribs together.