600 pounds of pumpkin, one paddle, and a finish line in the fog.
Giant pumpkins, hollowed out and launched on a misty lake. Race tonight's online heat, then paddle the real one on October 31.
Each pumpkin sinks until it displaces its own weight of water (Archimedes), so a heavier gourd sits deeper and pushes a bigger wetted face through the lake: drag grows as ½·ρ·Cd·A·v². Paddle in a steady rhythm, or your pumpkin yaws off course.
An Atlantic Giant pumpkin is about 90% water, yet a hollowed one rides the lake like a heavy bowl. Three pieces of physics decide who wins a heat: how deep the shell sits, how much water it shoves aside, and how evenly its crew paddles.
ρ_water · V_submerged = m_pumpkin + m_crew
The hull sinks until the water it displaces weighs as much as the boat. We model the shell as a 1.8 m sphere, so the submerged volume is a spherical cap, V = π·h²·(3R − h) / 3, solved for the draft h at every weight setting.
F_drag = ½ · ρ · Cd · A · v²
A is the wetted cross-section of the cap, Cd ≈ 0.8 for a blunt round hull. Double your speed and the lake pushes back four times harder, which is why a pumpkin glides after each stroke and then stalls.
ψ″ = −c·ψ′ − k·ψ ± κ · stroke
Strokes alternate port and starboard. A regular beat cancels the twist; a ragged one lets the pumpkin yaw, which wastes thrust (cos ψ) and turns more of the shell into the water. The whole shell also pitches and bobs like a damped spring.
Saturday, October 31, on the public beach of Lac-Brome. Heats run every twenty minutes from noon until the fog rolls in and the lanterns go on the water.
Bring your own giant or rent one of ours, carved and sealed the night before.
Hay-bale bleachers, hot cider stand and the lantern launch at dusk.
Carve a jack-o'-lantern face into a regatta pumpkin and watch it glow on the water.
A regatta pumpkin gains up to 25 kg a day in late summer. Our growers picked the gear they actually use; links below are partner links that help keep the regatta free for spectators.
Five seeds from a 1,400 lb mother line, hand-numbered with their pedigree card.
$24.99 See the seed partnerBalanced 4-6-4 granules plus calcium so the shell stays thick enough to float a paddler.
$38.50 See the feed partnerA giant drinks 40 to 75 litres a day in August. Timer, 30 m of line and emitters.
$64.00 See the irrigation partnerMeasure over-the-top and side-to-side, read your estimated weight. Laminated, rain-proof.
$9.00 Get the chartStart seeds indoors, 30 °C soil.
Plant out under a hoop tunnel.
Hand-pollinate, keep one fruit.
Bury the vine, feed weekly.
Peak growth, shade the fruit.
Harvest, hollow, launch.
Partner links: haunted.boats may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Prices in Canadian dollars.
The online heat resets at midnight. Same physics as the lake: pick a weight, find your rhythm, beat the fog.
| Rank | Pumpkin | Weight | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Squash Buckler | 460 lb | 24.12 s |
| 2 | Gourd Speed | 520 lb | 25.47 s |
| 3 | Fog Runner | 600 lb | 26.90 s |
| 4 | Seedy Business | 680 lb | 28.35 s |
| 5 | Lady of the Lake | 820 lb | 31.08 s |
| You | Your pumpkin | 600 lb | not yet |
Grew a 1,104 lb giant in 2024 and paddled it 300 m before it filled.
Naval architecture student. Wrote the draft and drag model behind the online heat.
Runs the seed swap and the August weigh-off of the Eastern Townships club.
Certified lifeguard, master of the dusk lantern launch and the rescue canoe.
"I trained on the online heat for a week. Steady strokes really do keep you straight, I placed second in my real heat with a 640 lb pumpkin."
"The lantern launch over the fog is the most beautiful thing in our fall calendar. The kids still talk about the glowing pumpkins on the water."
"Bought the seed kit after the race. My first giant reached 612 lb, which the chart says will sit 15 inches deep. Next year it floats."
Prices in Canadian dollars, taxes extra. Paddlers must be 14 or older and able to swim 50 m.
Heats fill by the first week of October. Leave a name and a phone or inbox address and we will hold a lane for you until the weigh-in.