The third annual pumpkin sailing regatta took place over the weekend (20th October ) proving that there's a lot more to pumpkins that a bit of Halloween fun or a huge bowl of pumpkin soup. Hundreds of onlookers lined the quayside at Lymington early on Saturday morning to wave and cheer the pumpkin shell boats and their sailors which included Blue Peter presenters Zoe Salmon and Konnie Huk closely followed by UK champion pumpkin grower Ian Paton and the Jubilee Sailing Trust's Dave Robins, who managed to get the pumpkins motoring on full throttle. After the cameras had stopped rolling Ian and Dave made a very good attempt on the record for the furthest ever UK pumpkin sailing attempt.... they motored 1/3 of the way across to the Isle of Wight before a swell and choppy waves scuppered the pumpkin boats.
The Pumpkin sailing regatta was the culmination of a week of pumpkin fun and games which started at the Jubilee Sailing Trust www.jst.org.uk Autumn Pumpkin festival held at Royal Victoria Country Park, Netley, Southampton and all goes to prove there's a lot more you can do with a pumpkin than just hollow it out for Halloween! 
'The early bird' certainly caught the pumpkin boat on Saturday at the Lymington River, Hampshire.
Our special guests Blue Peter presenters Zoe Salmon and Konnie Huq proved theres a lot more to the humble pumpkin than meets the eye and they were great sports taking on the challenge of pumpkin sailing.
But 'time and tide waited for no man' as the grower Ian Paton and his intrepid mate Dave Robins, took to the throttle and tested the pumpkin boats to their limits. They headed out in the mid day sun (Mad dogs and pumpkin sailors go out in the mid day sun comes to mind!) and headed for the Isle of Wight four miles away. Sadly mid channel after about a third of the voyage the sea began to swell and become choppy scuppering the sailors hopes of a complete voyage....but there's always next year providing they can grow a big enough pair of pumpkins.....
The Blue Peter footage, which includes the festival in a 9 minute film, will be shown on BBC One on Blue Peter on Wednesday 31st October.
Report filed by Sonja Davison, Jubilee Sailing Trust Volunteer
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