The Loyal Nanaimo Bathtub Society kicks off the 44th annual Nanaimo Marine Festival July 22, beginning four fun days and nights of great food, fireworks, a kid’s carnival with harborside playdock and finally the main event: the “great” International World Championship Bathtub Race. The Bathtub Race is a grueling 1 1/2 hour voyage circling Entrance Island then up and around Winchelsea Island and finishing at Departure Bay. In past years it was a challenge just to get out of the choppy waters caused by hundreds of extra escort and observation boats. Nowadays there are some pretty spiffy motorized tubs out there giving a new meaning to the word ”whirlpool.” 
This year’s Nanaimo Marine Festival is a salute to the “Canadian Naval Centennial 1910 to 2010″. The salute is also the theme of the festival’s “Sail Past on Wheels Fun Parade”. (more…)
