Bringing back the raft race

140116PBDaniel PLUMBER DAN: Daniel Goldsworthy is bringing back the raft race. PICTURE / PAUL BROOKS

Daniel Goldsworthy is not your average plumber. As Plumber Dan he has gained a reputation for odd motor vehicles and his work premises reflects his eclectic taste in just about everything. There's the motorised bathtub he drove in a Christmas Parade and, underneath a drum kit, there are the 44 gallon drums and platform that make up a traditional 'racing' raft, one of two in the shed.
Daniel is resurrecting the Whanganui River Raft Race and everything is in place.
"We have a beautiful river and I want to involve the community and have something fun for people to do." The raft race in its many incarnations has been on again-off again for years, but its hey-day was in the 1970s when workplaces like Imlay presented winning teams and well-crafted rafts, courtesy of the fitters and turners' shop at the Heads Rd complex. The downside was the heavily-polluted river left contestants (combatants, more like) lightly tanned and reeking of raw sewage. The river is much cleaner now.
"I have permission from the council and permission from iwi, and I'm trying to get the Red Cross on board. We want to do it as a fundraiser for Plunket," he says.
"It's $50 per raft and that goes to the charity."
Some of the details have yet to be finalised but all the Health and Safety issues and council requirements have been sorted, and Daniel wants to rectify the reason the raft race was stopped.
"People were throwing rocks from the bridge so we'll have to get the bridges monitored," he says.
With the race being run from the Wanganui Motorboat Club slipway to its Putiki counterpart, the rafts will be going under the Dublin Street and City bridges.
"I also have a five metre duck - the duck being the Plumber Dan logo - so I'll stick that on the river. Just for something different."
Daniel is passionate about Whanganui, although he has left here five times to live in London and Melbourne and sail the Red Sea, but he has always returned. And he has ideas to match his toy collection. He'd love to see his eight-seater hovercraft doing trips on the river. It too is yellow, in keeping with the company colour. "It's bright, it's vibrant, it's happy," he says.
Daniel only decided at Christmas to hold the event and he has had help with the administration side of things from Shar Atkin.
The rules are basic: Each team must consist of a minimum of four members, each member must have a life jacket, no powered devices - only manpower, no polystyrene and no alcohol. The second-to-last rule is because polystyrene can break up and pollute the river.
Details are on the Plumber Dan Wanganui Facebook page, and the Raft Race will be held on Saturday, March 5 just after lunch. Daniel will be at the River Traders' Market regularly to take registrations and talk about the event.