I would like to put out a congratulations to everyone who participated in the Kla-How-Ya River Battle, hosted by the Gentlemen’s Leisure Club of Golden.
It is a fantastic event for this community, and I am glad to hear so many people came out to support it.
And a special congratulations to the two teams who went down the Columbia River on home made rafts.
As some of you may have heard on the radio, some staff members at the Golden Star, myself included, were building a raft for the event with a few friends, making an all girls rafting team.
I am proud to say that we did build a raft, and somewhat less proud to say that we nearly sank it during our test float at Cedar Lake the day before the battle.
Our brilliant idea to use large water jugs as flotation devices was a good one, in theory. They do in fact float—just not with the weight of five people on top.
It took two of us sitting on the “raft” with the water almost reaching our belly buttons, to determine that it would not support the other three girls.
There were several (uninvited) onlookers critiquing our attempt. One was even kind enough to film it. Thanks Joel.
And once the bubbles started escaping rapidly from one of the water jugs we knew it was a lost cause.
We briefly talked about duct taping a bunch of inner tubes together and floating down the river, but decided against it.
After this failed attempt, we are that much more determined to make it work for next year. I am hoping that many others feel the same way, and that this event continues to grow until the Columbia River is filled with rafts.
