Buffalo's Brick Boat

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Aug 10th 2005, 10:59am By George Johnson

iThe Worldis First and Only Brick Boati is how iRipleyis Believe It or Not!i archivist Edward Meyer describes the unique 25 foot sailboat floating proudly in the docks at Buffalois Seven Seas Sailing School.

Tim Parker, general manager of Ripleyis Believe it or Not Attractions in Niagara Falls, Canada, addressed the Seven Seas Sea Scouts in a press conference acknowledging the brick boat for its floatability, speed capability, and its daring uniqueness.

iIt all started a couple years ago,i Sea Scout director Bill Zimmermann said, iwhen my scouts came back from a Saturday morning sail, and we discussed the many resources used over thousands of years to construct boatsociting wood, metals, fiberglass, and in fact cement. When one scout commented that there certainly were no brick boats, the challenge was up to Zimmermann to write a poem called iThe Brick Boat.i

Two years later, Zimmermann met up with Buffalo businessman Bart Adams, owner of a unique brick company called FlexiBrick. When approached with the idea of creating a brick boat, it wasnit very long before iThe Brick Boati poem came to life! Now the Sea Scouts, a co-ed maritime program for teens aged 12-18, have been sailing the brick boat non-stop all summer.

iWe get some mighty strange looks when weire out on the water,i said Tobius Boehm, another Scout leader. iItis often because other boats canit believe weire such a fast boat, let alone not sinking.i

Will there ever be a second brick boat? iWeire thinking of doing a brick plane next,i Zimmermann said. They thought he was kidding when the idea of a brick boat was floated. Itis still a brick and mortar world after all.

So far, the brick boat has appeared through Ripley's Believe it or Not in over 250 papers in 60 countries in 17 languages, plus in the national magazines BOAT US and SOUNDINGS. Buffalo's Brick Boat will be leading the way to meet the Fair Jeanne, August 19th.

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digulios

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  1. peter Lange

    0 ratings12345
    Nov 4th 2006, 17:09

    There has been only one real brick boat built. Check out

    http://www.geocities.com/brickboat2002

    Sorry to spoil a good story.

    Cheers

    Peter Lange

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