Bathtubs will ply the water on Okanagan Lake at the Great Ogopogo Bathtub Race on Aug. 18.
The fourth annual bathtub race will be held at Powell Beach beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Jim Cavin, chair of the organizing committee for the race, said 22 bathtub boats have been registered in this year’s race.
These include boats that will be skippered by 16-year-old racers, home-built boats and boats in the super modified category.
During the day, there will be qualifying races. The fastest boats in each category will compete in the finals.
While Cavin and other organizers would like to have more racers competing in the bathtub race, he said crowds will show up to see the unusual watercraft competing.
“People just want to see a race,” he said.
Racers in each category complete a number of loops in a course.
Last year, some of the boaters did 13 loops instead of the required 10, and as a result lost the race.
“Counting is very important,” he said.
The bathtubrace, presented by the Summerland Yacht Club, is a fundraiser for the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation to raise money for equipment for the Penticton Regional Hospital Tower.
Initially, the race was intended to raise $60,000 for the hospital tower fundraising campaign, but last year, the total raised had topped $75,000.
When this year’s race is completed, Cavin anticipates the annual race will have raised n excess of $105,000.
