CAMDEN—When in doubt, improvise—best motto ever. Members of the West Bay Rotary Club and volunteers decided to try a new route this year to elongate the time that the rubber duckies from their annual fundraiser made it to the finish line, though they hadn’t counted on the headwinds, high tide and sheer stubbornness of the little plastic water fowl.

On Saturday afternoon, The West Bay Rotary Club’s Duck Derby, was ready to start at 2 p.m. in the river shallows behind The Smiling Cow and Camden Deli. All morning, volunteers had set up nearly 300 floating “noodles” as barriers to guide the ducks to the finish line, which ended at the floating dock where The Appledore usually docks. More than 2,500 raffle tickets had already been sold, a great success, for the sale of each ticket benefits a number of charities West Bay Rotary supports such as food pantries and The Hospitality House. Each raffle ticket buys a rubber duck, so at 2 p.m., on cue, 2,500 pink, yellow and blue ducks were dumped into the drink.

They started off strong, spilling over the waterfalls to the cheers of many. Then, a flotilla of ducks decided they were going to go rogue and take the back side of the falls, coursing out into the harbor where a team of volunteers scooped them up with nets.

“This was the first time we’ve done this course,” said Rotarian Mark Masterson, who accessorized head to toe in duck wear. “As witnessed, sometimes Mother Nature plays tricks on us. In the past we’ve run them down the Megunticook River past the Bagel Cafe and captured them at the foot of the falls, which took 14 minutes.”

This year’s course took about 25 minutes and the ducks that “got the memo” stayed on course, bobbing with the tide, until they got hung up under a dock and had to be pushed through. Perhaps it was the headwinds preventing further movement, the high tide or a mutiny, but once the ducks broke through the first dock, they stopped moving. They most definitely were not going any further to the designated finish line. Word is, a union was involved.

“I don’t think my pink duck is going to win,” said a little girl on the sidelines.

The crowd watched and waited. Someone yelled, “Push the big duck into the water.” This was not received well by the person wearing the gigantic duck suit.

After some democractic voting by the public, Rotarian Peter Berke sitting in a kayak made the decision to pluck the very first pink duck in the lead. He called the first six winners of the Duck Derby by plucking out the rest one by one. They were:

1st prize-Seven nights at Vanderbilt Beach Resort in Naples, FL with $1,000 spending cash

Jane Lafleur

2nd prize-Etienne Perret designed black ceramic ring

Ira Mandel

3rd prize-One night accommodation in the Fireplace Suite and the Lord Camden Inn

Mick Mikkelsen

4th prize-25 pounds of lobster from Graffam Brothers Seafood Market

Gary Holzapple

5th prize-A gift certificate for two for dinner at the Hartstone Inn in Camden

Theo Perez

6th prize-A two-hour day sail for two on the schooner Surprise

Amber Heffner

For more pictures and updates, visit the West Bay Rotary’s Facebook page.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com