OPAS is please to announce the next event in the OPAS Village Series; the 2nd Annual Village Cardboard Boat Regatta, Lake Oconee’s most anticipated event of the year, will take place on Saturday, August 14th at the Village Pond featuring the Tropical Breeze Steel Drum Band under the Miller-Brown/OPAS Orchestra Shell. The Regatta offers families, friends, organizations and businesses a chance to design, build and navigate a unique and fun boat made entirely of corrugated cardboard and powered by teams of 1 to 10 people.

The day will begin at 2 p.m. with all the boats on display for judging. Attendees will determine who will take home the coveted People’s Choice Award, Pride of the Fleet, by dropping dollar bills into their favorite boats designated jar with 100 percent of each teams proceeds going to the charity of their choice. The team collecting the most will be declared the winner.

At 4 p.m. the Parade of Beauty will begin as teams make their way to the boat launch for the speed races. Land lovers will watch as these teams compete for The Black Pearl, Second Hand Rose and The Third Wheel awards in each of their classes. Teams will be assigned class designations base on the size of their teams; Schooner Class will consist of 1 to 5 member teams and the Brigantine Class will consist of 6 to 10 member teams.

The final boating event of the day will be the Last Boat Afloat competition. All teams regardless of class designation will take to the water once more and battle it out to see who will be the winner of this year’s Unsinkable Molly Brown award.

The Tropical Breeze Steel Drum Band will take to the stage one more time as everyone makes their way to the stage for the awards presentation. In addition to the event specific awards the judges will present two additional trophies; the Titanic award for the most spectacular sinking and the Judges’ Choice, We Really Love You award, for the boat/team voted as the judges’ favorite.

The OPAS Village Series is made possible by the generous support of OPAS by MCG Medical Associates Lake Oconee Village, Reynolds Plantation and MandeVilla, Inc. Flowers Gifts and Accessories.  

All teams wishing to participate must complete the Registration and Participant Waiver forms. All forms as well as the Rules & Boat Building Tips can be downloaded from the OPAS website at www.opas.org/VillageRegatta2010.htm.