August 12, 2015 at 4:21 p.m.
Ya gotta regatta at Pitlik's Sand Beach Resort
Ya gotta regatta at Pitlik's Sand Beach Resort
By Kayla Thomason-
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Those looking for a hilarious afternoon will find just that at Pitlik's Sand Beach Resort's 15th annual Polish Regatta Aug. 15.
This year's theme is TV Shows "A Blast From the Past" and the festivities will begin at noon.
"The themes are chosen every year in a manner to give teams plenty of room to be creative enough to come up with humorous costumes and team names," said event organizer Gary Pitlik.
The day will involve many land challenges to determine the lineup for the boat races.
"Our land challenge events are qualifying events that each team, (a) minimum of three participants, must compete in," Pitlik said. "We usually have four to five heats, each is heat worth a set amount of points per placement of finish. The team with the highest points gets to choose their position on the starting line and then second place, etc."
The Grand Champion of the Day will be announced once all of the land challenge and boat race points have been tallied. There will be cash prizes for first through third place.
The events at the Polish Regatta are not typical challenges.
"We always do goofy, funny games," Pitlik said.
One of the event's traditions is the Polish Baseball Relay.
"Every year we have the Polish Baseball Event which was our inaugural and only event during the first year," Pitlik said. "This is always our last land challenge event and always the funniest, most daring and most competitive."
In the relay four members from each team will consume a 16-ounce can of beer through a straw. After doing so they will spin around a baseball bat 10 times while their forehead is on the butt of the bat.
Once the dizzying laps have been completed they will run the 50-foot course relay style.
There will be an event each hour, one of which will be a mystery. The boat race will start at 5 p.m.
Before the Water Challenge Event approximately 12 snowmobiles will carry flags across the lake for the national anthem.
Participants' boat and team names, as well as team members' actions, must be appropriate for the children that will be watching the event.
Boats can be completely homemade or be a decorated rowboat of 14 feet in length or more. Boats must be completely powered by humans, no motors allowed.
Those in the POTR Division cannot have manufactured or re-manufactured marine products. Oars and oarlocks are not allowed unless homemade. Paddles are fine.
Each boat must be able to hold four people minimum and all participants must wear a life jacket.
All boats must have a minimum 1 inch in diameter removable drain plug below the water line.
Once the race starts the plug will be removed and the crew can use the bail buckets to frantically scoop water out of their sinking vessel.
Each crew will do two laps but in order to complete the challenge all crew members must be in the boat and 25 percent (chest level) of all shipmates bodies must be above water.
One member of the crew must be 21 years old, the rest have to be at least 16.
To keep the event fun and fair there are a few rules such as crews will be disqualified if people cut the course.
Splashing is allowed once the race has started but there will be no tipping of other boats.
All boats are required to have an airtight plastic jug with a 10-foot rope tethered to the boat to help aid in recovery should the boat sink.
Crews must collect every bit of their boat and take the vessel home by 6 p.m. Aug. 16.
There will be no sideline parking so viewers will have a place to watch all the antics.
Those who get hungry can sink their teeth into brats, hot dogs, burgers, Sugar Camp's popular parsley buttered baby red potatoes and, if they are of legal age, Pitlik's Sand Beach Resort's famous Ultimate Bloody Marys.
Other beverages will also be offered throughout the day.
Music will be played throughout the day and deejay Duddy will entertain the crowd at 5 p.m. Oftentimes the music that is played throughout the day reflects the theme.
For the third year in a row a portion of the ticket sales for a 50/50 raffle will be donated to the eighth graders at the Three Lakes Middle School for their Washington D.C. trip.
Last year $1,500 was raised through the regatta.
Pitlik has had a lot of people show interest in the Polish Regatta, so he is hopeful that this year will have the biggest turnout yet.
For more information, call (715) 479-6389 or email [email protected].
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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