The organizers of the Red Bull Candola race have announced the final 27 28 teams, selected from "thousands of submissions," that will race in the New River next month. While "boats in Fort Lauderdale" isn't anything new, these won't be the shiny 45-footers with names like Sea Dream II or Fun Fun Fun.
These teams, hailing from Florida cities as far away as Tampa (and one from Atlanta), have much better names -- and their boats are all home-built. A sampling of the teams:
- Adventures of Popeye: The Sailor Men!
- Boats n Hoes
- Double Secret Floatation
- Gnarnia
- Pedro 2012
- Shakers and Bakers
- Swamp Donkeys
- Team Cojones
- Team Dances With Moose
- Tebow's Ark
- The Mile High Club
- The Oatmeal Effect
- Titanic
In addition, a team called The Second Basemen will pilot a sailboat made of a giant pink bra, and the Double Secret Floatation team will be doing some kind of Animal House-themed food fight on a "human-powered boat/potential submarine."
Fort Lauderdale exterminator Corey Fink, who is building the Boats n Hoes entry with his brother Casey and friend Sean Dougan, said the crew was building a rowboat based on the movie Step Brothers, in which characters played by Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly destroy their father's sailboat while trying to film a music video on it.
He said the boat has taken $400 and a month and a half of weekends to build.
"We just love to build stuff," he said. "It's the perfect opportunity to build something and show off your creativity."
He said the crew also participated in Flugtag, another Red Bull-sponsored event for home-built flying machines, in October. They had a plane modeled on Dumb and Dumber.
"We didn't exactly fly," he said. "I grew up in Florida my whole life. I have a lot more experience with boats than I do with stuff that flies."
The race starts April 14 at 11 a.m. and will go from Huizenga Park over to Esplanade Park, but you can go as early as 10 a.m. to check out the boats and vote on other categories. Check out the Red Bull website for more information.
Representatives from Team Cojones and the Swamp Donkeys, both of Fort Lauderdale, couldn't be reached for comment.
