The Damariscotta Pumpkinboat Regatta, one of the marquee events of the Damariscotta Pumpkinfest, brought out hundreds of spectators and a large media contingent, including a crew from The Travel Channel.
Christian Rioux, a first-time racer from Brunswick, won the main event, the powerboat division. Topher Mallory, the 2010 winner, finished a close second.
Rioux built his pumpkinboat in a single day – the Friday before the Regatta – using an 800-pound pumpkin and a 15-horsepower Evinrude motor.
Peter Geiger, last year’s champion in the paddleboat division, successfully defended his title.
Mallory won the powerboat polo competition, a 2011 addition to the festivities.
Other entrants enjoyed less success, but still enjoyed the event.
Jaja Martin, of Bremen, didn’t mind a dip in the Damariscotta River after her pumpkinboat proved less than seaworthy.
“It is refreshing,” second-year paddler Martin said of the October water. “It’s wonderful to swim in a gown. I know what it would be like to be a squid or an octopus now.”
Martin and her teammates on Team Pink wore pink gowns and Martin’s brother, Robert Watts, of New Jersey, donned a pink bathrobe. Even Team Pink’s disappointing vessel, Priscilla the Pink Pig Pumpkin, didn’t lack for style.
The event started on a somber note, as Rev. Bobby Ives asked for a moment of silence to honor the memory of Marvin Tarbox, Jr., the Hancock man who died during the Giant Pumpkin Parade Oct. 8.
“We extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends,” Ives said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with them.”
Following the moment of silence and the singing of the national anthem, the event returned to a mood of high spirits and friendly competition.
Phil Robinson, of Damariscotta and Greenwich, Conn., is a second-year paddler.
“It’s such a fun community event,” Robinson said. “No matter what happens, you get a kick out of it.”
