All at sea with the annual Looe Raft Race

The annual Looe Raft Race took place on June 16th to the delight of all spectators.

The event, jointly organized by Looe Boat Owners and Looe RNLI, offered fun junior, elite and adult courses to choose from – all raising funds for the local RNLI.

Initially assembled on East Looe beach, the home-made vessels of various sizes and descriptions included the inevitable yellow submarine, a host of rafts made from kayaks with superheroes armed with oars, a Talland Bay cafe complete with teacups, plates and teapots, and a floating bar from the Fishermans Arms.

They all proved themselves to be seaworthy and accepted the challenge of running in costume from the beach, up the river and back to the ramp.

The orange wigs of the 14 strong teams from Looe Pioneers and Looe Sea Swimmers were hard to miss as they manned two refurbished blue rafts captained by Julie and Martin Gregory.

Julie said: “In orange wigs and tutus, both teams never got on the podium but we had fun and laughed and entertained the crowds! Massive thanks to all the organizers and volunteers and the wonderful people who helped us tow our rafts.”

The crews also took part in the Plymouth Race for Life a day earlier, running a 5K for the cancer research charity run by Anne Libby. They decided to support their friend and everyone affected by cancer by entering the race. Anne, who was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in 2018, said: “I am so grateful for the treatments that have kept me stable and enabled me to live well with cancer. This is why I am so passionate about raising awareness and supporting CRUK.”

Tributes were paid to Laure Watson on Tuesday as the RNLI closed its shop and boathouse as a mark of respect for the volunteer who died recently. Laurie was the main organizer of the annual raft race with the Looe Boatowner’s Association and was involved in both RNLI lifeboat appeals as well as taking on the role of lifeboat press officer until early 2017.