The race saw several hundred competitors drag homemade cardboard constructions into the lake to help raise money for Tasmanian children living with Type 1 diabetes.

A $5000 donation from West Launceston Rotary contributed to a total fundraising tally of $9500, all of which will go towards Youngtown Rotary’s quest to purchase insulin pumps for Tasmanian families. 

Regatta chairwoman Sandy Astill said a dollar-for-dollar grant promise from Tasmanian entrepreneur Dick Smith would see the $9500 total doubled to $19,000, leaving the project only $10,000 away from its goal. 

“It's just been incredible, we only have to raise $5000 more and that grant will double that,” Mr Astill said.

“So we've got $5000 to go and we reckon we're going to do that in the next month or so.”

Mrs Astill said she had been thoroughly impressed with the structural integrity of vessels taking part.

“Some sank before they even got a foot away but others were amazing, some of them survived their heat so we had a survivors’ race at the end and they even survived that.

“Some of them have even made it back onto trailers so there's some pretty cool boat building techniques.”