Everyone has fun building, racing boats

Markus Matantsev, 16, defends his Bayfest Build-a-Boat title in Port Rowan winning the final August 30th race.

Chris Abbott

Editor

‘If you build it, they will come.’

Sounds of hand saws and hammering drew a few dozen curious people to the Port Rowan harbour to watch Saturday’s Bayfest Build-a-Boat preparations. At 12:30 p.m., hundreds of spectators watched 10 hand-crafted boats race (or in one case sink) in three heats and a championship final.

“Basically, they get a material package – they don’t know what is in it beforehand,” said Russ Furler, assistant manager of Port Rowan Home Building Centre - the organizer and co-sponsor - owned by Brandon Vermeersch. Bayview Harbour Marina also co-sponsored the event, supplying the start-and-finish barge and safety boat.

“It’s always a fun event,” said Furler. “They get three hours to design and build, then a half-hour break, then they race across the channel around that buoy and back. The main thing – the whole point of it – is for them to have some fun. A little bit of learning, while having fun, and getting kids used to working with their hands and working with hand tools or (battery-powered) tools.”

Ten is the maximum number of entries.

“Tuesday morning (August 26), we had one entry. Tuesday night we were completely full… and people calling wanting to get in. Deadline was Wednesday.

“A few are here for the first time, a few did it when they were younger with someone else, now they have their own teams.”

Teams of two or three began designing and constructing their boats about 9-9:30 a.m., giving them just under three hours, using a variety of materials including aspenite (composite wood), tarp, wooden skid, duct tape, screws, nails, 1x2 or 2x2 wood, and this year thin, lightweight mahogany underlay.

All of the materials are optional – use them or don’t – and equally distributed.

Boat designers had to decide how long it would be. Flat-bottom or v-hull? How much freeboard? Keel or no keel? Tarp-wrapped or just duct-tape sealing? And paddles… canoe-style or kayak-style? So many decisions that might impact the race.

In the end, the only thing that mattered was having fun – and they did.

Markus Matantsev, 16, in his third build-a-boat year, defended his 2024 title winning the final August 30th race, edging a boat raced by his 12-year-old brother, and third-place Sam Reddekop.

“Won it last year, and the year before they sank,” Furler noted.

“My dad’s boat sank, we just finished last that year,” Matantsev laughed.

“Narrower and curved sides instead of straight,” he said, describing this year’s winning design. “Last year it was kind of angular. This year, we were kind of going for a streamlined canoe/kayak design. Definitely more ‘hydrodynamic’ than the ones we built before.”

It turned out to be streamlined and fast… and tippy.

“Oh, it was tippy!” Matantsev laughed. “Oh my goodness, yeah.”

“I told him to make sure he wore his bathing suit,” Furler joked while handing out the medals.

Matantsev kept it stable powering home in come-from-behind fashion.

“Almost tipped – it was a little scary. We were neck-and-neck or they were slightly ahead around the corner. They (Alex and Curtis Matantsev) had the same design last year and they figured out that they just needed to do the corner better.

“Next year I might do it with my brother, let him drive,” said Matantsev.

“This is our third year,” said 14-year-old Samuel Fehr from Port Rowan, who finished second his first two years, and second in his heat this year – the closest race of the day.

“Last year we had two in the boat,” noted Dave Fehr.

This year they changed the entire design, going back to their first boat for inspiration.

“It was a better design,” Samuel nodded.

Not only was this year’s a better racing design, it looked good, too. Bull horns attached to the prow gave them an edge in voting for best design, which they won.

Over the years, Titanic has been a popular name since Bayfest’s first build-a-boat in 2013. 

“All by themselves, from scratch to finish, that’s completely 100 per cent them,” said Peter Bartsch from Vienna, watching Sam Reddekop and Caleb Bartsch finish their 2025 ‘Titanic.’ “Awesome - it’s looking great.” Black Pearl has also been popular, first raced by eight-year-old 2014 winner Aubrey Wood, who raced a sleek kayak-style boat built by dad Rick.

Saturday, Mercer and Memphis Shewaga were assisted in their construction phase by JJ Shewaga, who operated the battery-powered tools.

“Our third year,” said Mercer in the final half-hour of building.

The Shewaga boat featured a prominent keel, which seemed to be a popular design decision.

“We did a small (keel) the second year and we realized how much it helped,” said JJ, noting their 2024 boat won ‘best design.’ “Now we’re going ‘full keel.’ We noticed in the first year, without one, every (stroke) the boat was turning, back-and-forth, back-and-forth. You lost half your stroke.

“This is our first year having two riders, normally we have one. So we went bigger. Not sure how it’s going to work out…” JJ added with a laugh.