Every year, the college town of Tübingen holds a “Stocherkahnrennen” on the Neckar River. Basically, a fraternity punt-boat race! There were fifty-five punt boats entered this year to race 2km up and down the river…all for a barrel of beer…which the cultural office pays for!

The crowds and the punters were getting ready pretty early along the Neckar.

But first, the Kostümparade (costume parade)!

There were some Spidermen…

…and some Hula-men.

You know you’re in for an interesting day, when the ambulance is on-call and ready to go!

The A-team had a small run-in with the tourist boat.

Then there were these guys. I’m not sure how a German flag constitutes a costume, but hey, that’s one way to do it!

Here were the winners of the costume parade…the Lego-men! They were pretty impressive!

Finally, it was time to start the race. 1km downstream and then 1km upstream.

Of course, there was a catch: halfway through the race, the punt boats had to make a 180^o U-turn through the “needle eye”. About 10 feet across, the “needle eye” is where all the drama of the race takes place: traffic jams, collisions, shoving, sinking!

The “needle eye”

Everything started pretty calm in the beginning.

Looks like the spider-men had a busy day!

Just a few crashes…

…a few men overboard…

…and even some voluntary disembarkments.

Hopefully the knee pads will help him float.

Then, more of the 55 boats started coming into the danger zone…all at the same time.

Eventually, no one was moving. The boats had totally jammed themselves into the tiny crevice under the bridge! Emergency services were not needed, thank goodness, and the boats slowly pushed and shoved themselves out of the needle eye. After the 1km haul upstream to the finish line, the losers got to claim their prize…a liter of cod-liver oil, which they had to drink in front of all the other boats.

We didn’t stick around for the “drinking ceremony”, but at 54 losing boats, about 6 members per boat, I calculate over 300 liters of cod-liver oil imbibed! Gross!

I never thought I would stand over the Neckar River and watch a bunch of boys put so much effort into winning a free barrel of beer! I guess this is just another delightful discovery we were able to enjoy during our journey though Germany. Maybe we’ll return to Tübingen sometime and try out those punt boats ourselves!