CAMDEN — Nearly a dozen handcrafted boats were launched at the head of Camden Harbor Sunday at noon, all hoping to win the race around the finger floats, and most importantly, to stay afloat.

The Camden Windjammer Festival's Build-a-Boat contest is designed as a family-oriented event combining design ability, building skills and seamanship. Eleven teams competed against each other by designing and building a unique and sea-worthy boat in a day, which they then launched and raced around the harbor the following day.

The race itself is designed to test each vessel's floatability and maneuverability, while also challenging the strength, agility and handling ability of each boat's crew of two.

This year's race was a fast one, with all of the boats easily making it out of the starting area at a good clip. The first boat to finish with both crew under 16-year-old was Hornet, followed by Catch of the Day.

The Best Design award went to the Dorr Family Trimaran, as judged by John Bart, Scout Bookham, Richard Stetson and Dan Bookham.

The People's Choice award went to Narhwal, while the dubious honor of first-boat-to-sink went to the Stern Paddle Wheeler.

This year's contest was organized by Jory Squibb, with special thanks to Hamilton Marine for donation of PFDs, to EBS for donation of building materials and wood and to Sikaflex for the awesome glue that helped keep the boats watertight.

As has been the custom, entry into the Build-a-Boat contest is free for the first 12 teams. Captain and crews are required to participate in the building, with a minimum of two participants in each boat during the race. Boats may be designed for rowing or paddling, and boats and oars/paddles must be constructed with materials provided.

The following materials were supplied to each team, which was required to provide their own tools to assemble the boat and its propulsion device (paddle, oar, paddle wheel, etc.)

Boats were built on the public landing during the day of the festival Saturday, and then contestants could take their boats home Saturday night for painting and decorating.

Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards can be reached at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com or 706-6655.