Every year West Bay holds a raft race for the RNLI on Ire Pool, where the River Brit meets the sluice gates — the whole thing's been running since the 1960s, when a local named Ernie Hicks first set it going, and it's been held on the last Thursday in July for years now. Rafts make a U-turn up the river while a crowd lines the wall to watch, and every year until now we've been part of that crowd, cheering other people on.
This year we thought we'd actually build one.
It turns out building a raft is a lot more involved than it looks from the riverbank. What we ended up with was a blue barrel pontoon topped with a picnic table, a stripy beach umbrella, a flag advertising ice cream in case anyone was in any doubt who we were, and — the bit that really did it — a giant seagull head on the front, beak open, looking exactly like the ones that circle West Bay eyeing up everyone's chips.
The team
Out on the water: Sam, Sherwin, Andre, Ollie, Tabby and Iris, paddling for their lives in strawberry and pineapple costumes while a crowd lined the wall along the Brit to watch.
On dry land, a huge thank you to Jane, Alex, Benny, Annie and everyone else who came down to help build the raft and cheer from the sidelines — a raft like this doesn't get built by six people alone. And thank you to Bridport Building Supplies, who kindly supplied the paint that turned a plain picnic table and seat combo into something that could pass for a seaside float.
Best dressed
We're not going to pretend we were in serious contention for fastest raft — a giant fibreglass seagull head is not, it turns out, particularly hydrodynamic. But we did walk away with the trophy for best dressed, which feels about right for a gelato company. Well done to everyone else who took part too — it's always a brilliant evening, and it's all in aid of the RNLI, who do the real work on that water the other 364 days of the year.
We'll be back next year, and we're already threatening to make the seagull bigger.
See more from the day on our Instagram.