WE ALL KNOW that the first week of September brings a plentiful supply of juicy blackberries and the boardwalk festival in their honor here in Bremerton, but did you know that it also used to bring a fleet of boats… made out of bathtubs?!
For its first seven years, The Blackberry Festival played host to the International Friendship Bathtub Race which brought together American, Canadian and even Australian Bathtub Racers in the name of good, clean fun. Sorry, couldn’t resist the pun!
You might be wondering what a bathtub race is…
Well, it’s exactly what it sounds like. The first Bathtub race was held in Nanaimo, Canada in 1967. Rumor has it, a man in a bar issued a challenge to a boat captain: “I could sail a bathtub to Vancouver better than you can sail that boat!” Whether or not that’s how it happened, folks in Nanaimo started strapping outboard motors to cast-iron bathtubs and trying to sail them to Vancouver. Stabilization was a must as the tubs could be ‘tippy’ on a good day. Tub captains had to be at least 15 years old and always wear life jackets.
The Bremerton Chapter of the American Legion formed a ‘Tub Club’ and sent their first bathtub up to the Nanaimo races in 1970. A Bremerton boy finished first in 1971 and almost received the prestigious ‘Order of the Golden Plug,’ but was disqualified. The Legion Tub Clubbers kept at it though. They upgraded to a fiberglass tub that clocked 18 mph in the waters off Lions Field. They finished 15th at Nanaimo in 1973.
Finishing the race at all was a triumph, as three-quarters of entrants were sunk by rough seas. As per tradition, the first to sink was awarded the silver plunger award.
By 1974, Bremerton had even more teams than the American Legion’s ‘Tub Club,’ and rivalry was getting fierce. Grudge matches were launched from Illahee where the tubbers raced up and around Bainbridge Island. These matches turned into annual tournaments, and races started popping up all over the county. Keyport launched a bathtub race on Liberty Bay, escorted by Navy torpedo boats. Fathoms o’ Fun brought tub racing to South Kitsap. Hardware stores and taverns were sending teams. Bathtubs were launching from Evergreen Park and Fay Bainbridge.
In 1978, we started crowning bathtub race queens! And, the 80’s saw the rise of sponsored, professional bathtub racing.
I swear, I am not making this up.
When the first “Blackberry Festival and Ethnic Food Fair” kicks off in 1990, tub races are on the docket. They had been a local tradition for 20+ years and helped draw in a crowd for the fledgling festival. The bathtub races stop appearing at the festival around ‘97 or ‘98. The last mention I could find of a bathtub race happening locally was from 2014. But don’t worry, the race that started it all is still going strong in Nanaimo…
And I can’t stop wondering how many bathtub boats are laying at the bottom of the sound. // DEENA TAYLOR
CHECK OUT DEENA’s Bremerton History Podcast Bremelore. Find it wherever you podcast. And at bremelore.wtf. And for historical reference on this story, check out: “Bathtub racers go the 25-mile distance for Thrills, Spills and Fun” No Listed Author in the Kitsap Sun Archives, September 1, 1994, pg 55
