The annual Arundel Bath Race sets sail (From The Argus)

The annual Arundel Bath Race sets sail

12:00pm Monday 10th August 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(2)

The weekend is always a good time to enjoy a good soak in the tub.

But for these intrepid sailors, the bathroom just wasn’t wet enough.

Hundreds of people flocked to the banks of the River Arun this weekend to watch a record number of teams take part in the eighth Arundel Bathtub Race A fire-breathing dragon, a team of ghostbusters and a bar were just some of the more unusual vessels to set sail from the Black Rabbit Pub in Offham.

Competitors paddled their craft a route of three miles back to the pub as spectators soaked up the August sunshine.

Organiser Martin Harvey said he had been extremely busy in the run up to the event.

He said: “The course usually takes people about an hour to two and a half hours. I am competing with my friend in our camouflage bathtub called Tub Squadron.

“A team from The Beresford pub has built a floating bar which has a banner holding the optics and they are using four beer barrels as buoyancy aids.”

This year, the money which is collected from the bathtub race will be donated to the Chestnut Tree House Children's Hospice in Poling, near Arundel.

The race began as the Grand Arun Bath Race more than 25 years ago when cast iron baths were used.

It started on the west bank of the River Arun in Arundel, just south of the A27 road bridge and there would usually be more than 100 entries, including companies such as British Airways, who would race with the tide about five miles down to Littlehampton harbour and come up the slipway by the lifeboat.

Not everyone got off to the best start on Saturday afternoon with at least two teams capsizing as soon as they started.

Mr Harvey said: “I think traditional rowing is the best way to get along the river, rather than paddling. Some people have tried building a waterwheel in the past.”

The Adur Bathtub Race also took place on Saturday despite it no longer being a public event.

Last year, the race was almost cancelled because the event organisers could not get insurance.

But the race was taken over and is still taking place each year. The route runs down the River Adur from the King's Head in Upper Beeding to Shoreham.