Genghis Can

Floating Darwin's Latest Theory Of Evolution

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This post is for my fellow bloggers, the entertaining US chroniclers Mushy and FHB, who had a great time together when they met recently for the first time. If you haven’t been following their jottings (gotta get both sides of the story, mate) on Fat Hairy Bastard and Mushy’s Moochings, then you need to get there, like, ASAP.

I chuckled in mock horror at a photograph of the cases of grog shipped in for the summit meeting – and I told the Dynamic Duo that even Judge Judy didn’t turn over that many cases in a week! Recently, when I posted the story Running On Empty about how Englishman Jack Kirby built a racing car out of 4000 empty beer cans, Mushy was quick on the uptake. ``I could probably build a battleship with my empties,’’ he said.

Maybe Mushy and FHB need to get on a plane to sunny Darwin, capital of our Northern Territory. Why? Read on. You can have your Oxford versus Cambridge boat race. You can have your America’s Cup. You can even have your Henley Regatta. But if you haven’t heard of the Darwin Beer Can Regatta, you haven’t found the meaning of life.

There’s two different skill sets involved. The first is drinking copious quantities of beer to combat the heat and humidity. The second is how to build a vessel out of those empty cans. Mushy and FHB would fit right in with the locals on the first factor, but they might need some help with the second.

I once spent two months up in Darwin, but I stuck out like a sore thumb because a) I don’t drink and b) I’ve never been able to build anything that floats. In the dry season, Mindil Beach is the scene of the annual Beer Can Regatta, now a world-famous event. You reckon it’s impossible to have a race between vessels built entirely out of empty beer cans? You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. There are humble canoes, sleek speedboats and intricate Viking longships.

But there is a poignant background to the event. Back in 1974, after Darwin had been flattened by Cyclone Tracy, the members of the huge workforce that rebuilt the city found they were drinking plenty of beer in the tropical heat. Work sites were littered with so many piles of empty cans that a new use had to be found for them. Back then, there were no recycling programmes.

So a local, Lutz Frankensfeld, came up with the idea of using the thousands of cans to build ``boats’’ that would race against each other. Now, three decades later, the event is organized by the Combined Lions Clubs of Darwin and the proceeds go to charity. It’s such a great cause, we’ll drink to that.

FOOTNOTE: The king is dead, long live the Viking.