A message from your Organiser

What an awesome day!

We now know what 36 teams and 115 people on the River Arun in bathtubs look like!

I’ve just about got my breath back, and would like to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone, whether on the organisational side, or as competitors.  The crazy craft and colourful costumes were really outstanding this year, and everyone contributed to a fantastic carnival atmosphere.

Special thanks must go to: my right hand man and great mate Graham Smallbones for constant support, and taking a day off work to build the slipway!; Mum, Dad, Debbie, Dawn and Carl for Admin, Scrutineering and general Event Management; Erik Jack for his D.J. and P.A. skills; and arguably most important of all, BAM Nuttall Civil Engineers and Littlehampton Sea Cadets for the Safety Boats.

Everyone thoroughly deserved their trophies, and I don’t think anyone could argue with The Black Rabbit Trophy for Most Entertaining Entry going to the lunatics from The Beresford!  The sight of them dressed as cocktail waiters, and their bath featuring a bar with stools, pumps, drip trays, bar towels and optics was impressive.  Hysterical though, was the site of it overturning several times, shedding crew, stools and 48 new cans of Fosters along the way.  Fosters cans were retrieved from the river by many other grateful competitors!  The bar (featuring the name of the pub on the front,) broke away and sunk, taking the actual letter ‘B’ from the front of the pub with it!  The pub is now called The ‘eresford.

I normally spend the day at 100 miles an hour and miss most of it, but thanks to Jo and her Starboard Media team, there’s a huge gallery to enjoy and a DVD coming soon.

Wandering around The Black Rabbit on a sunny day bumping into Gnomes, Wolverine, Cave girls, Batman & Robin, Dalmations, Ghostbusters, a Tour de France team, Cows, Spiderman, Pink Ladies etc, etc, is a great way to spend a Saturday if you ask me, and I hope you’ll all join me again next year.

Cheers,

Martin.