Dinky Regatta
Also known as the Dinky Gourd Stone-Logic Regatta
Have you ever seen people race a foot race while carrying the most haphazard, ill conceived boat looking things upon their bodies? Where winning is not the main goal - completion while constructing something so impractical and yet ephemeral that tomorrow you'll be using it for compost? This is the Dinky Regatta and it is amazing. Situated on the Dinky Gourd stream, when the dry season has evaporated all the water from the tributary, and left a sandy ditch behind, the folks of this area of Solaris gather to bring levity, community and a little of the absurd to the area. And to see who can be the most unreal.The Conflict
Prelude
The start of the regatta is the arranging of the judges. Heralding from the nearby towns, these are merely the first 5 people who come without a boat. History does not state why 5, nor does it state when crushed eucalyptus leaf cigars were used as a sign of comradery between judges. It does state that a human was rushed to an apothecary (if you know which record to look in). But idle smalltalk, cigars and watching the boats and their racers are the first steps of the regatta.
Deployment
Sometime around when Morticia is the highest in the sky and Debron is mulling around, the lines are drawn in the dusty sand of the dried river bed - one at the start, one at the end - often not straight, no noone cares if they are. Boats line up on the line, many single person constructions, many more hoisted by two or three person things, built from scraps hoarded through the year until they can be worked together into some sort of mad thing.
Battlefield
The race takes place across almost a kilometre of bed, deliberately long enough to watch the almost well made fall, and good enough that the casks of mead and Nocturne Beer and wine can arrive and be cracked, gourds and mugs brought out ready to give racers and audience alike a taste of something cold and fresh and liquid. Often the 'battlefield' lies on one of the bends of the river, offering temptation to those who think they can climb the steep sandy banks and make it down the other side in one piece. Many try, not many succeed - the audience is always amused.
Conditions
The regatta is always when it is hot and dry - wet conditions are instant cancellation of the race, and folk laugh when the idea of racing in the wet is suggested - this is a battle of the dust and the heat.
Ilgor Grasslogic
Judge 3 years running, the Forest troll has a massive beard laced with thick fungus that trails from his broad shoulders, and he blows the best smoke rings. He often keeps a fire circuit on the back of his hand for lighting the thick eucalyptus cigars he keeps, and he is often seen with his desert-hound What.His best contribution to the Regatta has been the massive cask of carbonated Starberry wine that he gets the winner to open to explosively funny effects.
They say Ilgor is writing the next best local fauna Binding, though where he is finding his information is unknown to the locals of the Dinky Gourd Stream
Conflict Type
Sports Event
Battlefield Type
Land
Location
Thank you for reading, feel free to give feedback.
That sounds like a massively silly event, but so is the cheese race in the UK and probably many other "sports" events around the world, so of course our worlds should have those as well. Really cool idea!
I love being inspired by real life. And I love using it in our worlds. Thanks for stopping by.